I have an ESI Juli@ sound card and I'm doing transfers from both tape and vinyl and I'm getting tired of sliding out my computer and unplugging my turntable so I can plug in my tape deck.

What to do, what to do?

If I go to an outboard Analog to Digital Converter that will take a line-level unbalanced RCA signal for input and output to a S/PDIF that I can pipe into my Juli@ (my only remaining and unused input option from what I can tell) will I need an external A/DC or is there another way to do that?

Are there any good (at least as good as the internal A/DC on the Juli@) external converter boxes that do not cost an arm and a leg?

Any other ways to get two analog signals into this sound card without having to resort to this?
I looked at a passive (read: un-powered) preamps that I could use as an A/B switch box but all of those were nutty-expensive for what they did, and I was also worried about introducing any extra noise into the signal chain with a cheaper one.

Any suggestions?

Can you drill a few holes in an aluminum project box to mount some RCA jacks and a couple switches? A little thought should show you that switching one output (to the soundcard) between two inputs (one for TT, the other for tape deck) is pretty simple.