Anybody know how to record cd from tape on computer?

[Kali]

I should say a relatively fast and easy way. Want to make a CD copy of a regular casette tape. Have a portable tape player and one that goes with an old fashioned stereo (now called entertainment system) reciever. Also have a variety of plugs and adapters. AND I just bought a cheap digital voice recorder that has a receptical for a mic. Kind of want to avoid recording with that placed in front of the speakers.

Can I rig somehting from tape output to mic? Even a tape copy of tape would be ok but don't have a double tape deck.

Cross posted in lounge.

[garybeck]

1. yes

your sound card should have a "line in" jack. that's where you will plug in the cassette player. you might need an adapter to change the connectors from the cassette player to the type of input jack on the computer. Radio shack or Best Buy has them.

then you need to find the software to do the recording. Windows has a very limited recorder built in, but the maximum recording is something like 1 minute. so you'll need a better program.

depending on your computer and what kind of sound card you have, there may be a program on there already that is made for recording and editing sound files. If you have a soundblaster card, there is a program already on your computer.

but if your sound card is "on board" meaning it's part of the mother board, you might not have any additional sound recording software. in that case head over to download.com and you should be able to find something cheap or free to suit your needs. once you have the application, you're set. It should be pretty obvious how to do it, or check the help files.

you will have to make sure you have "line in" selected as the input for the recording. you will start the computer in record mode, and then start the cassette playing. When the tape is over, you will stop the recording and the computer will save it as a WAV file.

[Kali]

2. Thanks SO much - and for anybody interested, I have been experimenting

I tried putting the two "line out" lines from tape deck to a set of adapters that went to a single male jack that fit in the mic receptacle of the little digital voice recorder and while the quality is just awful (tape deck must be close to 30 years old) it did work! So theoretically I should also be able to load that file into the computer too right?

[RC]

3. Try this.

It works quite well.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[Kali]

4. I did!

It was fun and pretty easy too. Amazing stuff these machines!