question on sound cards and minidisc players

[plethora]

hi. here's my situation: i want to get a minidisc player and record CDs onto it via my computer. my CD-ROM can't do DAE, so i'm wondering if using an optical out port (as opposed to a regular line out port) would serve any purpose being that the CD-ROM isn't doing DAE.

also, will the fact that i can't use DAE affect sound quality significantly?

all help appreciated...

 

[LXi]

Well, I have a method which is simpler, but takes longer to do. Rip the songs you like to MP3s, and then make a playlist of the songs in Winamp, after that, record it to the MD using regular anolog cable, sounds just as good.

 

[plethora]

so you've done this before? does your sound card have a separate line-out, or a combined line-out/speaker-out? i ask because i'm getting some conflicting information about whether a combined line-out/speaker-out is desirable for MD recording.

 

[LXi]

My soundcard is SB Live!, so its a lineout/soundout combined. It's probably not the best solution because you dont get pure digital and everything. But personally, I think it sounds just fine, heck, I cant even distinguish the sound quality between CD and MP3.

 

[plethora]

hmm, can you control amplification? someone told me that the problem with a combined line-out/speaker-out is that its amplified, which can mess up the sound when recorded to an MD.

 

[LXi]

Yes, I think you can adjust that on Winamp, play around with the volumn controls, play around with the recording mode/volumn on the MD player. Eventually you'll find a good setting that records everything noise-free.