Saving audio tape to the computer

[Mort]

I don't know if this is the proper place to post this but ......

I have several cassette tapes of friends and family which I cannot
replace. I would like to transfer them to my PC (XP SP3) so that I will
have them safe and sound since one of the tapes is beginning to dry out
and tear.

I have a "standard" cassette player as a component of my stereo system
which has an earphone output jack. Is there some way I can connect that
to my computer so that I can save the contents?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance since the tapes are a keepsake
I don't want to lose.

Thank you.

 

[Bernd]

-------- Original-Nachricht --------

I don't know if this is the proper place to post this but ......

I have several cassette tapes of friends and family which I cannot
replace. I would like to transfer them to my PC (XP SP3) so that I will
have them safe and sound since one of the tapes is beginning to dry out
and tear.

I have a "standard" cassette player as a component of my stereo system
which has an earphone output jack. Is there some way I can connect that
to my computer so that I can save the contents?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance since the tapes are a keepsake
I don't want to lose.

Thank you.

Start here:

http://www.infopackets.com/news/hardware/2003/20030218_how_to_record_an_audio_cassette_to_cd.htm
http://www.infopackets.com/news/har..._to_record_an_audio_cassette_to_cd_part_2.htm

Bernd

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

You'll need a standard mini-plug cable. Plug the line out ( preferred ) or
earphone jack ( 30-50% volume or less ) to the line in of your sound card.
PCs have color coded jacks so you would want to use the line in socket.
This socket is colored Light Blue.

You'll have to set the Windows Mixer to recording and select the slider
for Line in as the source and adjust the volume control so that the sound
isn't distorted. ( De-select other sources or set their sliders to 0
Volume ).

You'll need a recording program and I'd suggest Audacity. It's a free app
and along with recording provides some noise reduction features.

Once you've captured the audio you can save either in Lossless formats
( Very large file size ) or choose a standard lossy format such as .Wma
.Mp3. If you intend to burn to an audio CD you're limited to 80 minutes
of time per disk so you may want to split your cassette recording to a
single side of the tape as an output file.

Adding to the above recommendation: It is very unlikely that the OP will
hear any difference when listening to the cassettes directly or in .MP3
format. Since most if not all modern CD players (some selling for $50 or
less!) can understand the .MP3 format, this would be the way to go. Using
the right tool he could create one .MP3 file for each tune and store around
11 hours of stereo tracks on a single CD.

 

[Paul Randall]

In addition to what the others have said, be sure to make copies of the cd
and distribute copies to others that might be interested in it so that a
single CD failure/loss does not wipe out everything that was once on a
number of individual media.

-Paul Randall

 

[dadiOH]

I don't know if this is the proper place to post this but ......

I have several cassette tapes of friends and family which I cannot
replace. I would like to transfer them to my PC (XP SP3) so that I
will have them safe and sound since one of the tapes is beginning to
dry out and tear.

I have a "standard" cassette player as a component of my stereo system
which has an earphone output jack. Is there some way I can connect
that to my computer so that I can save the contents?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance since the tapes are a
keepsake I don't want to lose.

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico