hi there my step son has a mini disc player and i want to get some music off it and onto cd which way woyld i record it i.e. what program i have an optical in put on my sound card which if i remember is the same as one on the m.d. player

any help would be cool thanks

Assuming that the music on the mini disc is in standard format you will need to copy the music manually and in real time, much like you would copy cassettes or vinyl records to your PC.

This can easily be done using an analogue stereo cable, probably with a 3.5mm jack plug at each end. One end goes into the Line Out of the Mini Disc player and the other goes into the Line Input on your computer. Most portable Mini Disc players have an optical input socket, not output but if the player has an optical output you could get a mini-TOSLINK optical cable (that is what they're called) to connect the two and transfer the audio digitally.

You will need some kind of recording software such as the popular Goldwave (http://www.goldwave.com) to make the recording and then edit it before saving in CD-Audio format ready to burn to a CD.

I copy and produce audio on a professional level via a dedicated digital coaxial cable so if you get really stuck, send me the mini-discs and I could copy it for you.

Just as a matter of interest, what kind of music is it - commercial or private/live broadcasts?