Recording from LPs, cassettes, CDs, radio, VCR, etc.

Question

My iMac finally died after six years of service, and I replaced it with a MacBook. I think I have made a mistake in buying a laptop (For one thing, I hate the keyboard), but I'll just have to make the best of it. Anyway, I need to learn how to transfer songs from my cassette/CD player and turntable/radio to my computer. When my iMac worked, I just plugged one end of a cable into the headphone jack on my cassette/turntable, etc. player and the other end into the audio-in port on my iMac and then used SimpleSound to copy the song into my iMac.
How can I now do with my MacBook what I used to do with my iMac, transfer songs from cassettes, LPs, radio, VCR, etc. to my computer?
MacBook, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Take a direct output from whatever it is you want to
capture the sound from. Then on the other end of the
output, plug a 1/8in cable from the device into the
line input on the macbook. Then use GarageBand to
capture the sound. Try that, and if anything is
unclear, let us know!
Matt
I vaguely remember something about where to make the connection and what to avoid. When you say "direct" does that include the headphone jack? I know that works and is safe, but I am reluctant to connect my computer to the speaker jack for fear of blowing-out my computer.There is nowhere else to make the connection. One jack is safe, and one isn't. At least that's the way I remember it.