Cassette to MP3?

Does anybody have any idea how I can record from audio cassette to MP3?

Bob Greece wrote: I have a Walkman and I used a cable to connect the headphone output socket on the Walkman to the microphone socket on my computer. I can't hear any sound though on the computer.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: You need a line input - your walkman is not a microphone. So: 1. Look for a line input 2. If there is none, open the settings for your soundcard - many onboard chips use one multi-purpose input jack which you can switch between microphone and line-in 3. In the soundcard settings, verify that it is set to use the line input for recording

Jim Garten wrote: Ah - from cassette tape to MP3... that'll be good quality, then

I've had reasonable success in doing this - where I've used metal tapes, that is.

CR02 are OK, but still exhibit some hiss, even with Dolby C switched in - mainly because any noise reduction tends to make the sound dull, and the natural reaction is to try to re-EQ it to brighten the sound a bit.

Here's a band demo tape - a "technical thrash" metal band I was in back in 1988 - the source is a plain ferric "super" tape, so it's quite noisy; http://download.yousendit.com/2804EC4C2BD46946

Here's another demo that I made with my first home computer studio setup 10 years later - the source is a metal tape and is nearly perfect. It's a kind of electro-trip hop type thing that I built up using royalty-free samples; http://download.yousendit.com/408BBBA529990222

And here's a recording I made from the radio (on a TDK CR02) - as it's a radio broadcast, it's therefore public domain, so there aren't any copyright issues on this that I know of.

There's tons of radio hiss that I only partly got rid of using Dolby NR on the source - but the overall quality isn't bad, the sound is nicely dynamic - especially those pops!; http://download.yousendit.com/EC7EF6C93B298CF4

***If anyone knows of any Copyright issues, PM me and I'll remove it - but I have done my homework, and I'm pretty sure we're safe.***


All files were recorded into raw wav, edited and converted to mp3 or wma using my tool of choice; Wavepad. The tape source is my 3-head tape deck channeled through my Hi-Fi, which feeds directly into the Line-In on my SB Live! Platinum via RCAs - so nothing particularly hi-tech.
    

Edited by Certif1ed - October 23 2006 at 17:49

I use a program called Audacity; it's freeware, multi-track, multi-platform and fairly easy to use once you read the instructions. It can be downloaded here; http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

I recently purchased a product called Inport Deluxe, which includes some software that allows you to edit the file, etc.  The final result is a .wav file that needs to be converted to mp3 format.  This is easily done with the free Audacity software noted earlier.

I purchased the Inport to transfer some of my old albums to CD's and my iPod.  It works for cassettes as well.  The product works, although the resulting files have the hiss and pops that we loved in our old analog formats.  Recommended, although it will put you back about $80US.