[Nita Nupress]

I've pinged everyone who originally responded to this thread for any input & advice you may have. If you don't mind, would you scroll down & read your original reply to see if there have been any changes in your advice or something you would like to add? After all, it's been 2 years.

I'm about to have a little time on my hands and this is on my list of things-to-do. FINALLY. Here are my specific questions:

1. Do you know if there have been any particular technological advancements since this was posted?

2. What's the cheapest way to do this? I have NO music equipment & will have to purchase any necessary equipment to complete the task (stereo amp, audio portable cassette recorder, software, etc.). I DO have a sound card on my computer, but I don't know what kind. (I looked under Control Panel, Systems Information, but don't see it.)

3. Finally, I'll be ordering a new desktop computer as soon as I can figure out the feature$ I need, (leaning towards the Dell Dimension 3000). Maybe I should wait until I get the new computer. Is there anything regarding software/sound cards/hard drive space I need to know before purchasing?

4. Finally, if you're just passing through, please ping any FR music or computer gurus you know.

Thanks! I can't come back until tonight, but any help would be appreciated.

[Nita Nupress]

One more thing: I have a free trial copy of Cool Edit 2000 that I ordered and never used. They've probably come out with something better by now!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Hi Nita. I have an easy, quick and elegant solution to your questions. I just don't have time to go into it now. I'm late for work. When I get there and itf it's not too busy for me, I will elucidate and give you step by steps to get your audi cassettes to CD.

I'll check in with you in a while.

PS...there has been a technological improvement to my logo. Arrrh!

[Theo]

My advice (as someone who spends hours and hours -- last night till 4:30 a.m. -- working on audio recording/production/restoration): consider just digitizing certain tapes/records, and leaving the rest to enjoy in tape format. You'll spend time digitizing them and editing them, when you could just listen to them someday instead.

If it's a really significant project (from a historical perspective, for example), perhaps apply for a grant and have someone else do the digitizing.

It's cool to move audio from tape/records to CD (or to share on the internet with friends), but in most cases it's not worth the time and effort it requires. We've been allotted a certain number of days here, and your time may be better spent doing something else....

Memento mori.

[SamAdams76]

The cheapest way to do it is to hook a pair of RCA cables between your tape deck and your computer sound card. Then use any type of jukebox program to do the job. I prefer Roxio Easy-CD Creator. It's fairly straightforward. You play your tapes and record them as .WAV files. Then you compress them in the MP3 format you desire. I prefer 160bps MP3s but I'm picky about my audio. 128bps should be fine for most.

I just got done converting a bunch of my Christmas tapes to MP3 and then I loaded them in my iPod. They sound great!

[Grig]

1. Software gets updated to new versions, but I don't know of any significant advancements.

2. It doesn't take a lot of money to do this. You already have a sterio and PC with a decent sound card and CD burner I assume, so you just need the cable to connect them and the software to record it to your hard drive or CD-R.

3.
Software: I use Nero Burning Rom myself, but for tape->CD other programs (like Roxio's) may be better.

Sound Card: Needs a sterio line in jack and good sound quality. I'de say go with a well known, well reviewd card.

Hard Drive: The bigger the better no matter what you are using it for.

For doing a lot of tapes, I would say just get them onto CD-R now and worry about editing them later on.

[js1138]

I buy all my audio equipment at garage sales. Good cassette players are being given away.

[Senator Pardek]

The DD 3000 has its audio built into the MB (almost ordered one the other night - but broke down and shelled out for a laptop - ugh).

2 years later, the tech has gone crazy - even without a non-pro soundard, if you have the right software, you can improve on the original tapes (on my home page, there's an excerpt to a piece I wrote on a drum machine when I was a kid - dig!)

[JoJo Gunn]

I'm no audio pro, but will say this - since you're archiving don't even think of MP3's. They're the .jpg's of the audio world, and they throw information away in order to reduce file size, information you'll never recover, and already you're going to be dealing with hiss and possible azimuth problems (head and tape alignment) from old stretched tapes, etc.

Go with .wav files all the way, 44,100 khz at 16 bits, which is the CD standard. MP3's will be converted to that anyway when burning your CD(s).

[aruanan]

Hi, I'm still using SparkME to record and edit my cassettes. I'm using the Emagic 6/2m to input from the cassette deck. Although I have LogicPro, I haven't had enough time yet to use it.