any thoughts on vinyl to cd recording

Don't, the time spent is better used in just listening. I have a lot of broadcast reel to reel tapes that took vinyl as the source and cut 7.5 ips tapes. The quality of the process was always an issue when these were done, all before the cd came. I've talked to many people who were invloved in creating the tapes. All said it took a lot of work to get a good product, so the same will be true for your vinyl to cd effort. Frankly, I don't think you will be happy with the effort vs. the reward.

I agree with Buconero. I did it with 50 or so albums but doing it well is far too time consuming for what you get. The real-time monitoring of the process and then the cutting of each album side into individual tracks is tedious and full of chances to introduce glitches you don't catch until later.

A contrary opinion here. I need to digitize my vinyl, not to eliminate the need to listen to it, for I will continue to listen to vinyl on the big rig. However, for casual listening, and especially mobile use (car, iPod, etc.), I must digitize my vinyl. If money were no object, I could buy downloads or CDs of my LPs, but money is an issue. Besides, my results so far, even on my modest rig, have been delightful. CDRs I make sound much more dynamic and smooth than the majority of my commercially produced CDs.

My virtual system is posted, but the basic chain is:

Thorens TC-166 MkII/Ortofon OM-30 Super -> Conrad-Johnson PV11 pre (w/phono) -> Kenwood GE-7020 EQ -> Marantz CDR-632 stand-alone CD recorder. I use inexpensive, but good quality CD-Rs from Taiyo-Yuden. The EQ allows me to make subtle adjustments that work well in my car. I clean my LPs with the KAB EV-1 record cleaner (a no-frills vacuum cleaning machine), and surface noise is not really bothersome (but there is some, of course). I monitor the recording using Grado SR-60 cans (a terrific value).

Although many audiophiles suggest the Alessis CD recorder, the Marantz (TDK rebadges the same machine, too) is a lower-cost, less feature-laden machine that does a very nice job with analog to digital recording. I think it is on sale at SuperMediaStore.com this weekend. SuperMediaStore is a good source for blank media and other related items, too.

I spend more time listening to music in my car than anywhere else, so I am continuing the long slow process of digitizing my LPs. I do one LP each night, manually inserting track numbers in real time (I miss about 5% of them by a second or two). To save time, I just use large Post-It notes to hand-write the track listings, and stick them in the clear side of the jewel cases. I use a Sharpie to label the CD-R.

IMO, the whole process is kinda fun.