JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques General Technical Forum plastic to cd's?

I am a novice lyricist and not a techie type: I have some old albums that I would like to convert to cd's so I can play them in the truck ... the some of the albums are not available on CD, like Merle Haggard's "Back to the Barrooms". Is there a relatively simple way to do that? What do I need to turn my plastic into cd's?

You need a way to play your records. The stereo that you use must have some type of outputs. Usually they will be labelled as "aux output" or "tape out." Either will work.

Since you are using the internet, I presume you have ready access to a computer. Furthermore, I presume that computer has a sound card (if it makes any kind of audio sound, it does).

You'll need two more important components: a digital audio recording program; and a CD burner in your computer.

There are lots of programs ranging from free to several hundred dollars. You do not need fancy...find a shreware program or buy something cheap.

You need to connect the outputs of your stereo to the input of your soundcard. That will require some kind of patchcord/adapter. It almost certainly will be a "Y" cord with 2 RCA male plugs at one end, and a stereo 1/8" male phono plug at the other (Radio Shack, a few bucks).

Next, you have to "play" each song into your computer, record it using the audio program, and save it as a .wav file. Then, using your CD burning program, burn the files you want onto a CD.

This is extremely easy for people who know what they are doing, and quite daunting for those who do not. Read, experiment, don't get too frustrated by your failures, and you'll do fine.