I sometimes record vinyl records on CDR for my dad so he can play his old music in his new truck.

I first used one of those dual deck audio CD recorders. I routed an aux cable from the receiver to the dual deck CD recorder onto an audio CDRW. I then copied the CDRW onto an audio CDR.

The audio CD recorder stopped working, so I used my desktop computer. I used a Y cable with RCA L/R at one end into the receiver and a stereo 1/8" plug into the blue line-in jack in the back of my computer. I used MusicMatch to record the audio into mp3, then burn the mp3s as a music disc with Easy CD Creator. However, it's a pain moving the computer and monitor to the room where the record player and stereo receiver are.

My bro just got a new laptop but it only has a headphone jack and a mic jack. I was told that the mic jack is the same as a line in jack when it's in a laptop, and that the computer will automatically switch the mic jack into line-in mode. It would be so much easier using the laptop to record the vinyl records instead of lugging the computer and monitor.

your question? LOL..i get u...yes, it's the same...cos they both input sources...
i'm only guessing, but if i'm wrong, someone can fix me up!

No they are different, but can be used... provided you are careful. Mic ports generally provide some power down the socket to power the microphone whereas the linein port doesn't have this. The mic port also is a lot more sensitive, a very low level input where as linein is a line level input. Some Mic ports are MONO ... older ones generally. New ones are stereo.

The precautions are: set the record volume of the MIC input to a value low enough so it doesn't clip, on my card it is impossible and if possible, disable the power ... the power hasn't been known to damage devices but can cause hum.

My bro recorded a song and it sounded crappy. I'll try messing with the settings again...or maybe convince dad to buy one of those fancy/expensive cardbus soundcards. =)

USB would be a good alternative to cardbus! ... cardbus is getting old in my opinion, creative USB cards seem to be good - I have one and the noise and quality are unmatched!... spare a thought that it can be used for desktop PC too!

MIC is not the same as stated above, it will give you a HUM...it's not the way to do it, not made for that signal (the intervals are too high/low).

Yep, get yourself some firewire or USB card for the laptop, the MIC jack is not going to work for composite audio.

You may also want to check and see if those old recordings are now available on CD (most are) and they use equip and mastering software that surpasses your process. Try napster or iTunes if you don't want to buy CDs.