Tape to MP3?

[sutherngent985]

I have some cassette tapes I want to load into my computer then change the format to MP3. Does anyone know how I might accomplish this? I have a little cassette player I was planning to use. Thanks in advance...

 

[SweetErika]

Did you google 'cassette to mp3' yet?

If not, I'd suggest reading some of the articles there, and then coming back to ask questions on anything you find confusing.

 

[Calvin]

I have some cassette tapes I want to load into my computer then change the format to MP3. Does anyone know how I might accomplish this? I have a little cassette player I was planning to use. Thanks in advance...

You can simply use the tape player to playback to an open mic and record it as a .wav file which then can easily be converted to an MP3 file.
However, this will give you background noise and will not be in stereo.
If you are planning on doing them in stereo, then you will need a playback device with stereo outputs and a sound card with stereo inputs. As before, you can then record it as a .wav and convert it. Just make sure you have enough hard drive space to record the wav's.

 

[kindashy]

Hardware.
Run a cable from the cassette player to Line In port of your computer. I am going to attach a photo of the cable you need, it is nothing fancy, just a male 3.5mm stereo connector on each end. Crank the volume on cassette player all the way up. Use Line In port on the computer because it is optimized for wide range of frequencies. Do not use Microphone port on the computer because it is optimized for a narrow range of frequencies, this range covers usual human speech, not much else.

Software.
You can use M$ Recorder (free), you can use M$ Media Encoder (free), if you have Xp, then you should also have Windows Movie Maker, you can use it too. The above programs are capturing material, adjust the volume in the program to the level you want. The M$ Recorder will record data uncompressed, make sure you have enough space for it. The other two will let you choose between uncompressed and various compressed M$ formats. If you still want your file in mp3 format, then record uncompressed, then use EAC (free) (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/) to change your uncompressed file to mp3 file.

Notes: I would start the recording on the computer first, then start the cassette player. The silent part in the beginning and in the end can be edited out in the very end using EAC's Sound Editor feature. There is also a program called MPtrim (free) also for this purpose.

 

[helix27]

yip kindashy said it well just want to add that you need to look carefully at the ends of the cable in the pic he attached. see how there are two black rings around the end. there are two of them because that cable is a stero cable. one rings is right audio the other is left. make sure the cable you are using has two. mic cable can look exactly like that but it will only have one rings around it becasue it is mono. also they make cable that has two rca style connections at one end and a 3.5mm connection at the other end if you need that.

rca to 3.5 cable