Analog audio cassette tape to MP3

[uno]

Hi,
I have some old sound tapes that I want to digitalize. Can I do this via firewire or USB or via a cable to the microphone in on the PC. When I digitalized my videos I did it via analogue in on the videocamera.
Do I have to have an analogue in on the PC to convert the sound tapes?
Do I have to have a program to make this?

[Tommyknocker]

There is a program called Sound Recorder installed as part of Windows. Look for it in the Entertainment portion of your applications:



My favorite is a program called Gold Wave.

[johns0]

Dont use microphone in,use line-in instead,also windows sound recorder will only record for 60 seconds at a time unless you press the record again to continue,i recommend goldwave or if you want freeware to record over a minute without interruptions try audacity.

[gitreel]

Musicmatch Jukebox will also record over a minute at a time.

[b_n83]

Hi Uno
Here's a step by step guide on how to do it:-

Requirements:
1)An audio cassette player or Walkman - A music system with a headphone or line out jack, even a Walkman would serve the purpose.
2)Cables - a shielded audio cable with stereo or mono connectors at both ends, which will easily be available in any electrical store.
3)Any sound card with line in jack. Your PC most certainly has one already.
4) MusicMatch Jukebox freeware/trialware. You can get it at http://www.musicmatch.com
5)Hard Disk space - about 1MB of disk space for every minute.

Step 1
Connect your cassette player’s or Walkman’s output i.e. from the line out jack or headphone point of the cassette player or Walkman to the line in jack of your sound card using the stereo cable. Now, put the audio cassette into the player and play it, you should be able to hear the music from the speakers of your PC. If you don’t hear the music, check the volume controls and see that the Line in mute is not checked. Now make sure that the bass, treble, and loudness levels are all set to zero.

Step 2
Before starting off with the actual process it’s better to perform some basic tests (we don’t want to realize at the end that there was some problem in transferring the music files). Set the player’s volume control at about 1/3 power. Then double click the speaker icon on your Taskbar and make sure your Line in slider is all the way up and that the Mute box is not checked.

Step 3
Go to the MusicMatch Jukebox -> Options -> Recorder -> Source then select Line in. Then go to Options -> Recorder -> Quality and select MP3 128kbps which is CD quality. Now play the cassette on the audio player and click the Record button in the Recorder pane of MusicMatch. Record only about 40 seconds of audio. This will be your test file. Now, to play the test file, go to the Windows Start menu -> Find and search for the file ‘line in track 01.mp3’. Now listen to this test file using MusicMatch Jukebox or with the MP3 player on your PC like Winamp, Sonique etc. If it’s too soft, turn up the cassette player’s volume knob. On the other hand, if it’s loud or distorted, turn the volume down.
Now create another test file using these options until the music sounds just right.

Step 4
Once you’ve got the settings right you can record the entire song but make sure you press Stop after recording each song and then Record before the beginning of the next song.

TA-da! You're done! All your favorite songs in MP3 format!

[VideoTechMan]

Very good information, but an audio mixer can also be an asset as well, you can plug in whatever source you have into it and connect the output from the mixer to your computer. Ive used Musicmatch Jukebox as well to record my music and its worked quite well for me.

VTM

[vitualis]

TotalRecorder is a pretty good program to use for recording directly into MP3 as well as any number of other audio codecs.

Regards.