[Five]

Originally Posted by e6003

- Can consumer standalone hi-fi CD recorders typically be used as A/D converters without needing to re-rip the CD recorded? In other words, can you connect a turntable and hit record, but get a digital stream out of the recorder?

look on the back, check the manual. does your standalone even have digital outputs? you'll also need a soundcard that can take digital inputs.

Originally Posted by e6003

- I take it that vinyl > CD-R (hifi standalone recorder) > EAC > WAV > compress is NOT a legal lineage here, because of the prohibition on unnecessary CD-R generations?

The rule concerning unnecessary CDR generations mainly applies to Silver CDs (i.e. pressed bootlegs). You lineage would be legal, if you are sure this is your best option then it is necessary.

Originally Posted by e6003

- If I'm correct with my previous point, what about the following idea for conversion: record from the records onto a CD-R using a standalone recorder, then play the resulting CD back and stream the digital output of a CD player into the digital in of a PC soundcard? Would this be permitted by the rules here?

I don't think this is explicitly prohibited, but it is not the best choice. Extracting the CDR using EAC will provide an error log whereas playing it back from the standalone is more haphazard.

Originally Posted by e6003

I ask, because I recently bought a DAT recorder off eBay but when I got it home, it refused to work. The seller is understanding and I hope to get my money back. I could take my chance on other eBay DAT recorders, but "once bitten"...!

I don't understand what the DAT has to do with this... If the DAT has functional preamps and a digital output you could pipe that into your computer if you find it to be cleaner than the digital inputs on your soundcard (as often is the case).