The big thing when dealing with a phonograph is that you need some piece of gear with a Phono preamp in it. This can usually be a receiver like Jon is describing, though newer ones don't always have a phono input on them. You need to make sure that it is specifically a phono input for two reasons, one is that a turntable puts out a different level than other components and also because there is a equalization curve on those inputs that is needed. Basically certain frequencies are boosted or cut in the mastering process for vinyl and those must be compensated for with a specific EQ curve on the phono input. You can get a standalone phono preamp as well, here is a site with a selection of them.

I have a receiver - (completely blocked from view) I believe that it's set up to have a cassette player or at least something aux connected to it too so I should be able to follow Jon's method.

And I've marked all relevant posts for future reference. Thank you so much! It will be so m uch fun and much cheaper to convert records to mpgs and then burn them rather than buying more cds.

We are 40 posts away from a new tech thread. I've just proposed these early ideas in the bureaucraxy thread Daniel C. Jensen "Bureaucracy 3: Oh, so now you want to be part of the SOLUTION?" Dec 30, 2006 9:15:09 pm PST:

Buffistechnology3: clocking a pretty scary amount of computer time.
Buffistechnology3: I'm jacked in, I'm jacked in, I'm jacked in...
Buffistechnology3: Technopagan is the term.
Buffistechnology3: It's the computer age; nerds are in.

All from "I Robot, You Jane," so far.

It will be so much fun and much cheaper to convert records to mpgs and then burn them rather than buying more cds.

If you want to digitize your LPs specifically to convert to CDs, then you should save them as .wav files (or .aiff on the Mac) when you record, and not mpegs. Mpegs, especially mp3s, are a "lossy" format, which means you'll lose fidelity in the process of making the CD. Wav and aiff files are not lossy. They will take up more space on your hard disk, but if you're just burning them to a CD and then deleting the files, size won't matter.

Actually you can do .wav files on the Mac as well. Both formats are pretty much the same thing just with a different header on the file. Wave files are more prevalent at this point.

Say I wanted to take a composite video and stereo audio signal from a TV tuner and record it onto my Mac Mini. I assume I'd need some sort of USB or Firewire device to capture video? What's a good cheap piece of hardware to do that? I don't need the Mini to act as a DVR; I just want to be able to record video and then do some simple editing.

Not exactly "cheap", but [link]

That's a nice looking box, Tom. But it seems like the EyeTV Hybrid gives me what I want, plus DVR functionality I don't need, for less money? [link]

Does that have composite input, or just RF?

EyeTV Hybrid also comes with a break-out cable for composite video and S-Video, enabling you to connect a set-top box for premium channels, digital cable or satellite.

That'll do what I want, no?