Friday, April 16, 2010

Converting Cassette Tapes to CD

Many of my clients have expressed a desire to convert their old cassette tapes into CD so they could listen to them in their cars and home.  Sounds simple enough, but the tricky part has been finding a tape recorder that you can easily connect to the computer.

If you already have a cassette recorder that will plug into a computer, then all you need is software to do the conversion for you.  Audacity is a program you can download for free from the internet.  Once downloaded and installed on your computer, you have to configure it to work with your tape recorder.

Another option is to buy a special converter box with a cassette tape and CD deck built in.  These boxes do it all for you. Just put the tape in and a blank CD and push the Play buttons and wait.  No software is needed and the box doesn't have to be connected to your computer. However, the downside is that these boxes can be expensive.

There is another option, which is much cheaper.  Four Corners Direct sells a "Tape to MP3" converter
for about $30.  This converter plugs into your computer via a USB cable and comes with its own software (Cassette Mate).  It's simple to use and works.  However, there's a small catch.  This device is converting your cassette tapes to MP3 format. This means that you'll have you'll be somewhat limited in listening to the contents of that tape.

You can listen to MP3 files on your computer without any problems.  You can also listen to them on your MP3 players.  And some CD-players (including those in cars) have the ability to play MP3 files.

Roxio Easy Media Creator 10- Buy Now!But for those of us who don't have MP3 players, once our cassette tapes are converted to MP3 files, we'll need to do another conversion in order to hear the MP3 files in an ordinary CD player. Luckily this is really easy to do.  Windows Media Player and Roxio Software are two software programs that can get the job done.



So the good news is that you CAN convert your old cassette tapes to CD.  It's juts a matter of finding the right solution for you.

6 comments:

  1. According to the http://www.t2mp3.com, Audacity should work with the Tape to MP3 converter.

    Using Audacity, you should be able to save directly to .wav files, so that you can burn audio CDs directly.

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  2. i bought the tape to mp3 converter with cassette mate but my cd drive is playing up and will only play dvds at the moment is there any sites that i can get cassette mate 1050 off?

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  3. Does what it is supposed to do. Easy to use. Good value for the $$$.

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  4. I bought the Cassette Mate..., and after 10 tries, it will NOT recognize the icon in right lower corner? It always shows with an X, an asks for me to connect a USB Cassette...., which I have, and have tried, plug/unplug, uninstall/reinstall many times, with same results! Probably going to return it tomorrow! Their IDIOT help page SUCKS, as the instruction booklet. It says " if your icon does not show clear, and have the two green bars..., go to the faq section for more help." There is NO HELP at all there, nor on their IDIOT help page. It comes back saying "site/page is unsecure...., do not use...," if you continue, there is STILL absolutely NO info or help!!! Doctor Dave.

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  5. did you resolve your problem drdv29??

    cos i have got the same thing!!! an X on the icon in the lower corner.....the help guide says its not connected properly...well that aint hard to do is it? connect one wire to 2 points

    very frustrated!!

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  6. I got the Tape-to-MP3 Converter from Four Corners. The first one did not work (faulty USB cable maybe) so I called the company and they mailed me a new one. The new one does work, however, when I play back the recorded mp3 version of the tape on my PC, it sounds really distorted! During recording, I listen w/headphones and it sounds fine. But playback sounds like crap. I have tried adjusting all the sound settings and nothing makes a difference. Any suggestions?

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