From Cassettes to MP3

[nightflier]

Cyberguys and other online retailers are selling a cassette to MP3 encoder called the Plusdeck2c Pc Cassette Deck:

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?T1=204+0696&dept=&search=&child=

I know sound quality will be passable at best, but I have a whole collection of recorded cassette tapes, many of out-of-print albums, that I was thinking of converting to MP3's, which is also a lower-quality format anyhow. I could go through the trouble of buying a used cassette player on eBay, hoping the heads are in decent condition, connecting it to my computer and recording to my CD writer, but I think this would be easier.

So barring the quality concerns, has anyone used this contraption? How does the software compare in features & usability? How well does it split tracks into individual files?

[ericl]

That's pretty cool! You should give it a try and report back to us!

Obviously, cassette(in many cases, old and worn casettes) to mp3 is not going to yield audiophile sonics, but given that, i imagine this thing is an ideal solution. The alternative is plugging your tape deck into your soundcard, and hoping that your soundcard's ADCs are good.

Now if only it could handle records..

[ericl]

also, I wonder what options it gives you in terms of encoding. if you are stuck with fixed rate MP3 encoding, that sucks. if you can encode to wav or variable bit rate AAC, that would be cool. Even still, that's a software issue, and the company can potentially add those features later.

[N. Abstentia]

That's pretty cool! You should give it a try and report back to us!

Obviously, cassette(in many cases, old and worn casettes) to mp3 is not going to yield audiophile sonics, but given that, i imagine this thing is an ideal solution. The alternative is plugging your tape deck into your soundcard, and hoping that your soundcard's ADCs are good.

Now if only it could handle records..

Actually, that unit works the same way. It plugs into the line input of your sound card. Not sure I see any advantage to using a quality tape deck into your sound card, capturing with Audacity (free), then converting to MP3 with Media Player (comes with Windows).

In fact, if you have a high quality tape deck I would think this would be the better method. You can clean it up a lot with Audacity.

As was mentioned, you need a good sound card for best results. I use Turtle Beach and M-Audio cards...you can get a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz for like $30 and it sounds phenomenal.

[nightflier]

N.Abs,

The problem with a tape deck is that a used one will almost always require service and a new one is expensive. This unit is small (mounts right into my computer), comes with software, and sells for around $80.

Bah. I already have my Tascam CD recorder & NAD BCCee sitting there, so I suppose I could tollerate it, but what it really comes down to is the software. I guess what I really need to know is how decent the software is.

[nightflier]

...capturing with Audacity (free), then converting to MP3 with Media Player (comes with Windows).

Can this software automatically start recording at the start of a file and stop recording at the end? This would help split the continuous playing cassette into the respective tracks.

Also, does anyone know of an inexpensive new cassette deck that is available? I've got over 300 tapes, so I need a unit that's going to last at least that long. I don't mind buying used, but then I have to be sure that the heads will last that long (maybe a newly repaired unit?). It does not need to be a recorder or dual-deck. Any brands/makes/models I should focus on?

(I never considered cassettes to be hi-fi, so I never owned a good deck.)

[N. Abstentia]

I don't think it would automatically stop, but it would be simple to find the song breaks. Just look for the silence in the graph. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

[noddin0ff]

I own this model. Mine sits in my closet, unused, quietly guarding several boxes of cassette tapes. Very solid and built like a tank. I know I paid over $300 for it back in the 80s. It has played and recorded 100's of tapes and is in solid condition. This one looks similar. The tapes I recorded from CD were better than any I bought commercially. It doesn't have many bells an whistles, just solid, solid, solid.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NAKAMICHI-CR-1A-CASSETTE-DECK-RECORDER-A-1-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ280000017873QQcategoryZ64598QQr dZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

I'd think anything under $75 would be totally worth it. I see it at about $10 now on ebay.

[daviethek]

The best set up IMO is to get a cassette deck. ( I just got a decent Yamaha for 50.00 on E Bay) , get some basic software like Acoustica for maybe 30.00 and A to D your own WAV and MP3 files using your PC. I got good quality doing this using a cheap 6 year old sound blaster sound card that came with my Gateway.I burn CD's from cassettes but you can generate any file format. I think the software is probably free or next to nothing as shareware if you look hard enough.