Basic question about ripping to PC optically

[Andy1342]

Apologies if this is the wrong subforum or there is a standard answer somewhere - if so I couldn't find it.

I'm about to buy a new PC with built-in AC-97 sound. I have a whole bunch of minidiscs which I want to rip optically, because optical is the only way to get the correct track marks on the ripped version. My minidisc player is about 8 or 9 years old - a big thing like a brick.

I don't want to spend a lot of money just to get an optical input. Is there a simple way (ie cheap card or something) which will give me an optical input to the onboard AC-97 and which I can use with standard ripping software?

With many thanks

Andy

[Strungup]

M-Audio Transit USB external is Optical in/out and not very expensive , comes with interface software that lets you make quite a variety of adjustments , to gain, quality, bit rates, sample rates etc , very nice . but The idea of track marks is that the software or device will recognize the specific format of the track mark .

ie..... the unit you have if it has optical out , will put out its trackmark info , but the question is , will your software recognize it . Dont be suprised if it doesnt .

[Andy1342]

OK! - trial and error from here, I guess.

Many thanks

Andy

M-Audio Transit USB external is Optical in/out and not very expensive , comes with interface software that lets you make quite a variety of adjustments , to gain, quality, bit rates, sample rates etc , very nice . but The idea of track marks is that the software or device will recognize the specific format of the track mark .

ie..... the unit you have if it has optical out , will put out its trackmark info , but the question is , will your software recognize it . Dont be suprised if it doesnt .