I have a Philips DR600 CD burner. It's also a player, but I use it just for copying and playback. I bought it 2nd-hand from a friend and paid £60, a fair price for a two-year old piece. You can get new ones with bigger hard drives, and they're generally available, you shouldn't have to go to specialist stores.

I looked at using a software programme for my computer, but had a couple of problems with this: I use Apple Mac, so the software choices are limited; and, more importantly, my computer is in another part of the house from the hi-fi, so even if I could get a long-enough cable, there'd be too much running backwards and forwards between the two. And I'm no hi-fi or computer wizz, so I went for the most convenient option. The burner fits in with the rest of the hi-fi separates, being the same dimension as the amp, etc.

I think the quality of the recording will ultimately depend on how good your record deck is, and investing in a new stylus is no bad thing. I haven't yet looked at the possibilities of scratch elimination, etc; some computer progs have all this, I don't know how good they are.

I'll probably still end up keeping the old vinyl albums - being over-sentimental, anally-retentive, you name it - AND have them on CDr, creating another pile of music - AND stick them on the computer, iTunes...
Norman