A few years ago I realized that I wanted to digitally record music from my large collection of vinyl records. My audio-savy buddy Ned turned me on to the Sony Mini Disc. They called it a Net MD Walkman. The early models allowed you to go straight from the output of your tuner/amp to the Mini Disc Recorder/Player. Play the record, hit record, and then you have a digital copy of the vinyl record, or a variety of songs from different albums. I could go on and on, but go here to get more info:
http://www.minidisc.org/index.php
My albums are a big part of my musical life, so my little Net MD Walkman has been great for me.