Actually this was the main reason for buying a top-of-the-class (at the time) PC for myself, and this is the reason I still use it (more than 10 years later) in exactly the same HW and SW configuration. It is perfect to my needs. And when it recently died, I spent a small fortune in time and money to get it resuscitated. Successfully, TG.

The sound input hardware is great, yet the "demo" program I got with the machine, unintentionally, is operationally fantastic. It is called "WaveLab" and it has flexibilities that for a non-professional like myself are simply dreamlike. I can record, view, edit, fade in and out, create silence in between songs, etc. The resulting .WAV is as close to the original as any purist would like to see in a digital recording (I don't believe in MP3 to their kinds, sorry). Actually, originally I purchased also a semi-professional program called CLEAN! that was supposed to clean the audio from hiss, crackle, hum... etc. I cannot say it did not do the job, however it had several drawbacks: 1 - it was extremely time consuming, once set correctly; 2 - it needed setting for each type of music, each type of record, etc; 3 - even when perfectly set, there were portions of the music that were negatively influenced, if the piece included a variety of sounds. So I gave up on using it.

Why did I start with it at all? Because I have a big collection (several hundreds) of LPs and 45s and I decided to preserve them longer than their due by transferring them to CDs. So if I want to listen a lot, or in the car - the CD is the way. If I want perfect sound (crackles included, lol) then the turntable is still there. Since I am a... ahmm... perfectionist in almost all I do, LP to CD included, I decided also to create CD covers and CD lables as true to the original as possible. Yes, a lot of ink $s spilling there, not to mention work (how do you scan an LP cover on a A4 scanner?). Presently I am about 70% through recording wise, and 20% through covers wise. Enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life. Why don't I simply... buy these records in CD format? Well, at least 60% of them are not there to be bought. And anyway - memory slash nostalgia plays an important place as well in this decision.

My next project? Transfering the hundreds of...VHS I have to DVD. If I live that long, lol. (Seemingly I lived that long since it happened as well - one hell of a job involving research, purchases, etc. BTW, also my records to CD project is finished by now, though I rushed a bit the covers creation towards the end to be able to complete it all while, ahm, still alive :) ).