Converting old cassette tapes ..

[akrasna]

What is the best way (which SW etc.)
to take my old tapes and convert to MP3 or back to CD.

At one point I used MusicMatch and it was ok .. any other ideas...
also best settings in terms of sound cards and how to get data in?

Thanks
Allen

[SaSi]

I have done a lot of this with tapes and LP disks.

I used CoolEdit PRO to record the tape as WAV and then to filter out noise, clicks and Pops. Cooledit has excellent filters.

I then split up the big 500Mb file of a tape or LP into separate tracks/songs and save them as WAV files, using Cooledit again to trim silence.

You can directly record the WAV files to CD with any CD recording tool (Nero, EZCDCreator, etc).

To make them MP3 I use the Xing MP3 encoder version 1.5 which I bought some 2 years ago. I believe Xing has been bought out and it's no longer sold. But, go to www.twocows.com or www.download.com or even better www.mp3.com and you will find quite a bunch of shareware or freeware MP3 encoders. Be careful so that you buy one that has good quality - not all do. Lame is one of the best choices - I think.

[feenix]

Funnily enough I've been doing exactly the same thing over the past couple of days.

I used a freeware program call Audacity which will record anything from your line in to wav and then you can apply a noise filter, amplify (without clipping) and a host of other options. If you want to export as an mp3 file you will need the Lame mp3 encoder but if you just want to burn as a cd then you can export as wav and burn that as you would normally.

Hope this helps

[akrasna]

thanks .. this does help.
Can't stop laughing that the best product is "lame"

[trialsofg]

Just my two cents worth: You are already using MusicMatch, so that solves the line-in part; next, if you are worried about pops, cracks, etc., I would look into a free or inexpensive program to work on those (I won't recommend any as I pretty much go with the sound as it is for nostalgic reasons); finally, if you want to separate into individual tracks, I have found that the easiest and best tool I have used is LP Ripper. After you've got all this, just use your favorite burning software and you're good to go! I am in the process myself of converting over 500 LPs so I feel your pain. I just wish this technology had been around when I was a teenager!

[overloaded_ide]

I connect a stereo to my line in jack.
Used Music Match to capture the sound. There is a setting to break tracks, when no sound is present for whatever time you set. It ends one track and starts a new one for the next song. Sort of a motion senser for sound.

This makes the files much smaller, one for each song, not one HUGE file for the whole LP or cassette!

Then you can edit each song if you want.

Been along time since I did any, but I got great results. I think I was capturing to wave files, but I forget what program I edited with now.

I prefer to make my own music from some of the stuff I like.
MEATLOAF, bat out of hell for instance. I like some of those songs, but then he trashes a good song with all the talk or nonsence in the middle!
Like paradise by the dashboard lights! I like the song itself, but not all the gunk in it. SO I cut that out and have a decent song, though not quite right.

[Dubber]

Another good proggie to try for capture - Goldwave (freeware).

I used it for that very thing and then removing noise/hum too. Thou, I split the songs manually first as some had longish silence withing a song, and then filtered the noise and chopped off the silent parts at the begining and the end of each song. Then I converted .wav files to .mp3 files as I wanted to keep the files after making a CD, that way you don't waste your harddrive space and if you go with 192kbps or higher bit rate, the quality is still very good. You may wanna burn the .wav files to the CD first thou. The final CD sounds 'even better' than original tape

[Sifaga]

No ones actually said how they connect the tape deck to the PC

what cable do i need

someone said the line in, i presume on the sound card

can i go from phone out of my tape deck to line in of the sound card?

any help would be appreciated

[BobK]

I use a Y-cable with 2 RCA plugs at one end (they go in the 'out' or 'play' sockets on the player) and a mini-plug on the other end that goes to the 'line-in' on the sound card. (Cost for a Y-cord is around $3-$6 at Best Buy, WalMart, Radio Shack, etc).

I'm not sure, but I think you might lose the stereo if you use a phone out socket.

[ONIX252]

i found a program called polderbitS demo avalable.easy to use set ur fillter first and thats it done!!!!!!

as for a lead i use double ended jack plug one in ear phone and other to mic in comp easy no probs

[MOVIEGEEK]

CD Wave Editor

[kisrum]

Make sure the "Y" cable goes to a stereo plug and put it in the line in on your sound card which hopefully supports stereo. I've seen some "Y's" that go to mono for some reason.

I think the "rec" is the line out on your cassette deck but might be wrong. You'll figure it out. Make sure the line-in is not muted on your volume control.

GoldWave is free for the first 3000 commands, then you have to pay $40.00 to keep using. I don't have any opinions on others, I just used the first one I found. It's "Autocue" function is supposed to find the silence between songs, but my lp's were so scratchy that the autocue couldn't "hear the silence", so I had to split songs manually which isn't that big a deal once you figure it out. LPRipper sounds kind of cool though. The possibilities are endless.