Has anyone found a decent model of turntable to convert vinyl to MP3 format? The one we bought a few years ago has dreadful sound quality and no means of improving it. I have all sorts of LPs and singles I can't find on CD and can no longer listen to.
Is there a decent system out there or do I have to buy a new normal deck?
I would just get and deck and connect it to your computer.
Audacity is surposed to be a good piece of free software to do this with, although not used it myself.
Most of the modern turntables that promise to digitise your vinyl records are simply junk. If you've no longer got a "hi fi", buy secondhand separates off eBay. You just need the turntable and a pre-amp. Better budget for replacing the stylus too, and maybe the whole pickup.
Or maybe you could use a suitable machine belonging to someone else? We still enjoy our vinyl records and have a lovely turntable to play them on. Ask around.
As Chrispy says, you'll need software on your computer to convert the signal to MP3 or whatever format your prefer, and of course a suitable cable (my hi fi has RCA type plugs, so I'd need twin RCA plugs at one end and a mini stereo jack at the other to connect to the computer).
You can also get cheap devices to connect directly to the turntable (see Behringer UFO 202) BUT these contain a cheap-o pre-amp which will destroy the quality of a good turntable signal.