Record Music from a Cassette Tape to my PC

myself321

Hi there

i have lots of music on Cassette Tapes i want to record on my PC whats the easiest way to do this ? many thanks

googler

Take it you have a cassette player as well as the tapes?

What eventual FORMAT do you want them to be in?

Do you want to store them on the PC and play them back from there?

Do you want to burn them to CD or DVD and archive them/play them back from there?

Do you want to store them in the highest quality possible?

Do you merely want them stored as basic mp3 files of lesser quality?

myself321

Do you want to store them on the PC and play them back from there?
Yes

Do you merely want them stored as basic mp3 files of lesser quality?
Yes

Many thanks

googler

For the mechanics of it, you need to check what 'Audio In' or 'Line In' connections you have on the PCs sound card, either by inspecting the card itself, or by looking up its documentation, whether a paper manual that you have, or a download from the maker's website.

Usually, low-end sound cards have a 3.5mm jack socket. Assuming you have a standard cassette deck with twin phono audio outputs, you need to get a 3.5mm to twin phono lead.

Connect 'Audio Out' from Cass machine to 'Audio In' on the soundcard.

If you don't have recording software on your PC already, a straightforward and free application is Audacity. With Audacity or another recorder running on your PC, press Play on the cassette and leave for 30 or 45 mins.

Audacity has the facility to edit your audio files as recorded here, you can put track splits in, fades, level changes, etc. depending on how fancy you want to be.

You may have to tweak settings on your sound card software to get the signal to reach Audacity, but that's part of the fun of PCs, isn't it?

esuhl

As googler says, plug the tape machine into your PC and record with Audacity.

There's a tutorial here that might come in handy...