Input devices grayed out (Vista)

[bluesman43]

First, I'm very new to Audicity and so far love it.
I've read previous posts about this problem I have but have yet to fix mine. I've checked "preferences/audio I/O/Recording Device" and nothing is listed.
I have a Realtec high definition audio sound card installed in the computer. When I check "Control Panel/Sounds/Recording" the only two options I have are "line in and microphone", neither is connected.
On another machine I have (XP) the preferences in Audicity are the same but it has several recording (input) options including Aux, Stereo Mix, Mono Mix, CD Player, Phone line.
Any help is appreciated

[steve]

When I check "Control Panel/Sounds/Recording" the only two options I have are "line in and microphone", neither is connected.

So how and what are you planning to record?

[bluesman43]

So far I've just used Audacity to clean up some vinyl records on the XP machine. If I did want to record anything from a cd I guess I'd be out of luck huh?

[waxcylinder]

You should be able to record from CD's - either play it on the PC and use the "Stereo Mix" input option - or play it on an external CD deck (plus you may need a preamp to boost the signal) and use the "Line in" input.

But better (and easier) will be to rip the CD to a set of WAV files using CD ripping software - there are several available for free I believe, and even iTunes can be configured to do this.

WC