Cassette Tapes, Record albums, Transferring to USB & CD for modern Auto Audio systems
I have a lot of music and backing tracks on cassette tapes and albums collected over the years that I've wanted for some time to backup on my PC and transfer to CD and USB. Since the music predates CD, nearly all of it was not reissued on CD. While looking at conversion equipment, I stumbled across the youtube video below that shows how to do this on my existing computer.
The video states to use Win7, but that's probably because of the time it was posted, right around the Win8 appearance. I tried it with a Win7 PC that was upgraded to Win10 and it worked exceptionally well in my opinion. I also used an old 64 MB flash drive to test a transferred song in the car.
Not only did it work perfectly, the use of a small volume flash drive resulted in a quicker start to play.
Another benefit from this process is that the voice recorder application saves the song in M4A format, which is better than MP3, but still compressed. There is essential editing capability in the program also.
The appropriate connectors are readily available to accomplish this, in my case an RCA to 3.5 mm stereo cable, for a direct link between the components and the PC. For a more customized sound, it is best to run the components through a receiver, otherwise a direct link will maintain the original sound characteristics of the album being recorded.
It takes a little more time than the length of the album to complete in one sitting, but you get to enjoy some really good music that you may not have heard in years, to decades along the way and you can take as much time as you want to complete the task.
My initial attempts before seeing this video failed because of the same mistake the author of the video is making. He is using the microphone jack, that may work in Win7 (would not work on my Win8 system to 10 laptop), but it is incorrect. The microphone is apparently mono and the process needs stereo, which is the BLUE access point for "Line in".
So use the 3.5 mm input identified by the Blue square. You will then need to go into audio settings and select line in as the primary input source and deselect microphone. So far I have completed one cassette album and just need to plug it in the car and play it through. Cassette tapes deteriorate over time and I caught this one early in the process.
I hope this helps someone. I caught a great sale on some backing tracks/play along music over the Christmas Holidays for my horn, the catch was that it was all on cassette tapes, which is no fun having to rewind in order to start from the beginning, so this discovery is a real treat for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfupyQRN5Zk
I have a lot of music and backing tracks on cassette tapes and albums collected over the years that I've wanted for some time to backup on my PC and transfer to CD and USB. Since the music predates CD, nearly all of it was not reissued on CD. While looking at conversion equipment, I stumbled across the youtube video below that shows how to do this on my existing computer.
The video states to use Win7, but that's probably because of the time it was posted, right around the Win8 appearance. I tried it with a Win7 PC that was upgraded to Win10 and it worked exceptionally well in my opinion. I also used an old 64 MB flash drive to test a transferred song in the car.
Not only did it work perfectly, the use of a small volume flash drive resulted in a quicker start to play.
Another benefit from this process is that the voice recorder application saves the song in M4A format, which is better than MP3, but still compressed. There is essential editing capability in the program also.
The appropriate connectors are readily available to accomplish this, in my case an RCA to 3.5 mm stereo cable, for a direct link between the components and the PC. For a more customized sound, it is best to run the components through a receiver, otherwise a direct link will maintain the original sound characteristics of the album being recorded.
It takes a little more time than the length of the album to complete in one sitting, but you get to enjoy some really good music that you may not have heard in years, to decades along the way and you can take as much time as you want to complete the task.
My initial attempts before seeing this video failed because of the same mistake the author of the video is making. He is using the microphone jack, that may work in Win7 (would not work on my Win8 system to 10 laptop), but it is incorrect. The microphone is apparently mono and the process needs stereo, which is the BLUE access point for "Line in".
So use the 3.5 mm input identified by the Blue square. You will then need to go into audio settings and select line in as the primary input source and deselect microphone. So far I have completed one cassette album and just need to plug it in the car and play it through. Cassette tapes deteriorate over time and I caught this one early in the process.
I hope this helps someone. I caught a great sale on some backing tracks/play along music over the Christmas Holidays for my horn, the catch was that it was all on cassette tapes, which is no fun having to rewind in order to start from the beginning, so this discovery is a real treat for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfupyQRN5Zk
