Tapes to CD

[hazelnut]

Has anyone ever done this using XP with these instructions?

 

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...40EB031033.mspx

[Andavari]

I'd just use a wave recording/editing app like Audacity myself. Then if you want it to be an MP3 use LAME with a VBR setting such as -V2 --vbr-new and you most likely won't be able to tell a difference between the original audio cassettes versus the MP3's - at least I can't after I digitized all my audio cassettes back in December 2003 and it is one lengthy process.

 

However in all honesty if you have the money you're far better off buying used or new audio CD versions, even if you don't have the money right away you can slowly buy audio CD versions over several months/years then get rid of the old audio cassettes in your next yard sale or sell them to a record store that buys used music. Getting the CD versions as I'm sure you know will give you digital audio, versus the inferior cassette analog audio.

 

The thing that guide doesn't tell about is the type of tape deck that's needed for commercially bought audio cassettes. Commercial audio cassettes typically have DOLBY B Noise Reduction. Having a tape deck with DOLBY B NR built in will eliminate a ton of hiss, and you won't necessarily have to resort to removing hiss via software which could possibly worsen the audio quality.

 

There's at least one or two Hydrogenaudio.org threads I remember previously reading that discuss going from cassette tape to computer. You could also do a Google search for something like cassette tape to mp3 and cassette to CD because there's tons of discussion about it.

[DennisD]

Hi Hazel, I've transferred a lot of stuff from Mini Disk to hard drive using a Y adapter and AudioGrabber, which records from line in.

 

It's set at default to start a new track when it hears a defined length of silence, but if you're like me, and have music tracks with very quiet parts in them, you can switch this off and make the track cut manually.

 

You can save to .wave file or straight to MP3.

 

It's a pain in the arse to do things in real time, but it's worth the effort if the recordings are important.

 

AudioGrabber:

 

 

For some reason, the home page is red flagged by Site Advisor, although none of their downloads have been flagged red.

 

I'll pm you Hazel.

 

EDIT: Sorry, forgot the link to Site Advisor page.

Link:

[1984]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/02/rec...ter_is_illegal/

 

 

"Washington (DC) - The Recording Industry Association of America has filed a landmark federal lawsuit in Arizona, claiming that it is illegal for users to make copies of CD tracks to their computer for personal use."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7176538.stm

 

 

"Millions of people already "rip" discs to their computers and move the files to MP3 players, although the process is technically against copyright law."

[hazelnut]

Don't worry 1984 the tapes belong to the elderly couple next door who want to turn them into cd's as their son bought them a player for Xmas.

 

I can assure you having seen the names of the songs and the singers, copyright will no longer apply to most of them

[1984]

Greatest hits of the 80s? The 1880s...lol! I have hundreds of old cassettes from the 70s and 80s that pretty much gather dust these days. If only mp3 players had been around when i was a teenager, would have saved me lugging around a huge walkman and all those tapes! lol

[DennisD]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/02/rec...ter_is_illegal/

 

 

"Washington (DC) - The Recording Industry Association of America has filed a landmark federal lawsuit in Arizona, claiming that it is illegal for users to make copies of CD tracks to their computer for personal use."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7176538.stm

 

 

"Millions of people already "rip" discs to their computers and move the files to MP3 players, although the process is technically against copyright law."

 

You're absolutely right, and as per your second link, moves are afoot to change the law in the very near future in the UK, and then probably world wide.

 

How could any company complain about this ripping phenomena, when a music giant like Sony actually provides software to rip stuff to their portable players, along with lots of others who do the same.

 

They can't have their cake and eat it.

 

I sincerely hope this case goes where it belongs, down the can.

[Andavari]

How could any company complain about this ripping phenomena, when a music giant like Sony actually provides software to rip stuff to their portable players, along with lots of others who do the same.

Exactly. Which is what has always perplexed me why they go after the the consumer when the software/hardware publishers themselves make the tools available at the nearest electronics/software store shelf for this so-called illegal activity. Even some Bose DVD home entertainment systems will copy an audio CD to a lossy audio format and store it inside the unit. A particular DVD/HDD recorder that I returned because it was a piece of junk would even circumvent copy protection and remove the Macrovision from VHS and DVD and allow the content ("movie") to be stored on the HDD which shocked me.

 

From what I've always understood from my Hydrogenaudio.org days (perhaps that's changed) is that you can have an MP3 copy of an album so long as you still have the original audio CD in your possession. Whereas if you make an MP3 copy then sell the audio CD it's considered illegal. So it looks like no matter what we do we are always breaking some law.

[CeeCee]

http://plusdeck.co.kr/eng/2c_detail.html