I have finally made a start in copying all my analogue recordings (vinyl, cassette, reel to reel etc.) to hard disk.

It's obvious that my existing computer, which is pretty clapped out anyway, isn't up to the job, and I'm going to have to buy something more powerful. As I tend to get lost on computer jargon, I was wondering if anyone might be able to advise me as to what sort of spec I should be aiming at.

To give people a rough idea of the size of job I've got on. I'm first of all recording the analogue material, to a portable digital source, and then transferring the digitised files to computer. I'm aiming to copy several files a day, which usually range in size from 0.1 GB to 0.3 GB. These will then be amplified, cleaned, sectioned and saved, using some sort of audio software such as Audacity.

Since these are very slow processes, I want to be able to carry on with other computer tasks; Eg., recording the discographical data to database, or spreadsheeting, or word processing, or just posting occasional messages to Mudcat.

At the moment this just causes the computer to run even slower, or hang or crash.

If anyone can help me, I will be most grateful.