BTW any old setup will *not* result in quality sound! some soundcards will have a lot of noise, while some will be cleaner. that alone is reason enough to seek better ripping gear. you really want to start with the best recording you can afford, since that may be the one you're stuck with going forward. processing the tunes from a mediocre rig can only do so much for them.

just comparing my integrated soundcard rips to my coaxial-->external card rips tells me all i need to know.

i guess it depends on how much of an audio whore you are...