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.
Thanks. Normally I would agree, but I didn't give all the facts. I have about a dozen cassettes tapes (both music and talking) that are of historical significance regarding genealogy matters that I want to preserve to pass on to my kids. Their deceased grandfather was an amateur musician and one day they will probably want to hear his work. So yes, this is important enough to spend the required time doing.
Another thing I didn't mention: I also have a dozen old reel-to-reel tapes of music (his & mine) that I'd like to transfer to digital format. Some of them were created on a early '80s-era Teac 4-channel recorder with mixer, and some on a Foster 8-channel recorder with mixer. Is there any way to preserve those without going out and buying the equipment? Everything is probably digital now, anyway. I have the old Teac reel-to-reel in the attic, but it's broken, plus I no longer have a mixer. Any help would be appreciated. I'll come back tonight. Thanks!