Submitted by Jim Christensen, Las Vegas, Nevada
Idea posted October 26, 2004
First, you must get the music onto your hard drive. Patch your CD player into the "line-in" jack on your computer sound card. Usually, you will have to use an adapter cord; RCA plugs to stereo mini-plug. (You can get one at Radio Shack.)
Next, you want some software that will do recording, cleaning (marking tracks, cleaning up hiss and other noise and enhancing the sound), and mastering to CD in one package. The best single package I've found is MAGIX Audio Cleaner (I use Version 3, but they now have a "2004" release). Usually you can find this stuff at any larger chain electronics store, but you can also purchase direct from the company online. Use the tutorials and burn a few non-vital discs before you re-master your precious stuff.
You can even eliminate (most of) the crackles and pops from vinyl recordings. Usually the re-mastered recordings sound infinitely better than the source material. It's not exactly like the pros but awfully good anyway.
Another alternative is to look in your catalogues and/or contact the publisher to see if they have released CD versions of your music. It will sound best and help the publisher to continue to put out worthy products.
See if you can find an audio freak amongst your sphere of influence. Usually such a person will jump at the chance to help out.