[wplug] Archiving audio (high fidelity)?

[Zach]

I would like to transfer my collection of LPs (record albums) and
audio cassette tapes onto optical media for archival.

I have a high end CD player and a medium end LP player and wonder
precisely how I can transfer these to DVD?

I would like to maintain the highest possible fidelity so even dumping
to .WAV or .FLAC is fine with me.

I have audio cables with gold plated connectors and my CD player is
connected to a powered amplifier.

Also I want to remove any cracks or pops from the LPs (especially)
before archiving.

What settings should my amplifier have (or the sound card) when I do this?

I have a relatively cheap sound card so what sound card would you
recommend for this project (it must be Linux friendly)?

I saw this USB device (apparently it uses a custom USB board to do the
D/A conversion with claimed high fidelity) Xitel Import Deluxe device
at Radio Shack:
http://www.xitel.com/USA/prod_inportdl.htm

But it only seems to save to MP3 and comes with MS Windows software only.

If you can be as specific as possible that would really help
(hardware, software, procedures, tips, etc.)

Regards,
Zach