Mp3

I've got quite a collection of cassettes taking up too much space and was wondering if I could record them on to my computer straight from my midi-system cassette deck(running Windows XP with windows media player) and compress them into mp3 files to burn to CD-R discs. I see a lot of mp3 software programmes are available from Amazon but am confused about which one might suit my purposes. :confused: I'd be grateful for any (not too technical! ) advice.

 

I have done this with a lot of our tapes, but this is my method and it worked for me. I used Windows Movie Maker. Not sure now exact details, but I am sure that you Record the tape as a Sound track, then you can use any Sound editing program to work on it.
Just looked everywhere for the piece I wrote on how to do it for someone, not found it yet, will keep looking.

 

Here's another route to try. I'm a bit like Palustris in that I've not used it for a while, but I'm pretty sure I've got it right.

1 - To get music from tape onto your PC use Windows SOUND RECORDER which you'll find in ACCESSORIES - ENTERTAINMENT. This will produce an audio file in .WAV format.

2 - To copy onto CD use Windows MEDIA PLAYER. Choose the BURN option and select the files you want to burn onto CD.
This process will (I'm pretty sure) burn the files in MP3 format.

There are other bits of software about that will do the same job - I've used Nero in the past and am currently using software that came with an MP3 player. The tricky bit is getting taped files onto the PC without a lot of hiss and pops and mains hum.

 

Many thanks for these replies.
I've just found "Sound recorder" in the accessories and so will now spend a few hours trying to understand the Help topics on how to use it!

 

Certainly, you need to connect the tape player to the computer using the External speaker socket on the player and the microphone socket on the computer.
It is about 4 years since I did it and I am blowed if I can find the information which I wrote down at the time, sorry.
I do remember that I used Movie maker soundtrack rather than Sound Recorder for some reason I 'think' it was becasue the Sound Recorder would only record a few seconds of noise. It is, if my memory serves me right, used mainly to create noise for key presses.
You can use Nero (or some such program) to remove any extraneous noises from your recording before you burn it to CD. I had a very poor recording of a now long defunct Folk group which I managed to bring up to a decent quality. And believe me I ain't no expert!
Trouble now is, we have no tape deck to try out what I remember of what I did.
Have fun, hope you manage it!

 

Thank you Palustris for this extra information.
I have a friend who has managed to make some very acceptable transfers of 78s on to normal length cds. I shall have to go and look at his set-up. I want to use mp3 format in order to conserve space. I bought a number of MP3 discs from ebay of oldtime radio shows, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Bing Crosby etc. and was astounded at the amount of recorded time that could be squashed on to them.But perhaps I shall try it with normal length recordings before I try to get too clever!
I have heard of "Nero" being recommended before so I will investigate this software.

 

Still not found the piece I wrote, it must have gone 'into the ether' somewhere, sorry.
We did a lot of our 'records' before the record player disintegrated. The method was the same as from tape,whatever it was!
There was a Freeware programme which converted .wav files into MP3 files. Again lost it ages ago. Sad ain't I?

 

This is quite a useful site to do cassettes to CDs etc. Free 30 days trial - you can then get another
2 weeks extended trial - time to do quite a lot of tapes! I found it quite good to use as the instructions
are nice and clear and illustrated.


http://www.polderbits.com/HowToConnect.htm

 

When connecting a tape deck to a PC it is probably better to use 'line out' and 'line in' sockets if you have them. Speaker and headphone output levels from a tape deck if set too high can damage a PC. The line out (or aux) voltages are much lower and safer.


(edit)-
Just had a look at the link posted by jjordie - Brilliant! It explains things very clearly.

 

Thank you Dave - that is a compliment from somebody
who has achieved 107 years plus! (REALLY? )




:D :D :D

[ 05. September 2007, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: jjordie ]

 

And I've still got all me marbles, give or take a few dozen. :D

 

Us silver surfers are not all duffers then!. Thanks Dave for puting me right. Looking at the only bits of info I can find from when I did it, I used Line out and Line in rather than the extra speaker socket. I remember having to go and buy the correct cable etc. from Maplins to do it.
We also did some records, but rather than try anything fancy with pre-amps etc. I merely taped them first and then transferred the tape to the PC.

 

I like the polderbits site jjordie, step-by-step instructions helpful to idiots like myself.
I'm planning to visit the friend I mentioned who has transferred his 78s over to cd so that will give me a chance to look at how he does it before I have a go myself.

 

One other tip for when recording from tape onto a PC is to use battery power rather rather than mains for the tape recorder. This should cut out the possibilty of any 50 cycle hum which can sometimes be apparent on recordings.