Cassettes to MP3 or CDs

[Seahawk]

After spending almost six months downsizing my wife's mother's house and making sure we did it right, we decided to get started on our own "purge process"...we are both well and happy but want to get better organized. The work on her mother's house was an eye opener.

So, I found all my old cassettes from the 70's and 80's and want to convert them to MP3/CD. Hundreds of them.

I have done a bit of homework but want to see if anyone here has done it and recommendations, if any.

Here is the website I think makes sense:

https://www.toptenreviews.com/computers/peripherals/best-cassette-to-mp3-converters/

Thanks in advance!

[astrochex]

I have not done this, but have you looked searched at audio centric forums, like avsforum.com, https://www.avsforum.com/forum/gtsearch.php?q=cassette ?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by astrochex

I have not done this, but have you looked searched at audio centric forums, like avsforum.com, https://www.avsforum.com/forum/gtsearch.php?q=cassette ?

I will check the link out.

I had meetings in the morning and it is cold and rainy here so I turned to the task of processing and going through years and years of personal detritus we stored rather than deal with..."oh look, cassettes"!

I'll spent the $100 on the top rated machine and then offer it up for a steep discount

[VincentVega]

I helped with a similar project recently, but home movies instead. The software and adaptor was simple enough to use. what I found was the tape quality had degraded pretty severely in several cases. Another obvious but maybe forgotten is the time suck. You cant just drag/drop or cp -p a tape. Takes a long time to play each, flip.... we ended up with a lot of static and video's that were forgotten for a reason.

I could see doing a few that had value but for the most part you can get songs for cheap if you only want the hits or specific tracks. Brings up naming, that took a ton of time. Track 2 is pretty meaningless when you have 30 other with the same name. Not much meta data on a Molly Hatchet tape.

Could be a fun project if you want to listen to the old tunes while you copy.

[flipper35]

Just did some for mom and dad. Just dropped the out form the tape deck they own into the line in on the computer and used Audacity (free) to record and export as wave/CD for her and MP3 for dad.

[BK911]

Three of my cars still have cassette players.
Let me know when you want to down size!

[GH85Carrera]

You will find it way simpler to just pay a few bucks for the songs or albums you like. Listen to an old tape and if it is worn and degraded you will hate the noise.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by VincentVega

I helped with a similar project recently, but home movies instead. The software and adaptor was simple enough to use. what I found was the tape quality had degraded pretty severely in several cases. Another obvious but maybe forgotten is the time suck. You cant just drag/drop or cp -p a tape. Takes a long time to play each, flip.... we ended up with a lot of static and video's that were forgotten for a reason.

I could see doing a few that had value but for the most part you can get songs for cheap if you only want the hits or specific tracks. Brings up naming, that took a ton of time. Track 2 is pretty meaningless when you have 30 other with the same name. Not much meta data on a Molly Hatchet tape.

Could be a fun project if you want to listen to the old tunes while you copy.

Interesting and appreciated.

The time suck isn't an issue...I work from home 50% of the time and can pull this off easy. I listen to classical music when I work so dialing up the old cassettes should work.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

You will find it way simpler to just pay a few bucks for the songs or albums you like. Listen to an old tape and if it is worn and degraded you will hate the noise.

But its analog man!

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by BK911

Three of my cars still have cassette players.
Let me know when you want to down size!

I will. The last car we had with a cassette went to VV's Dad!

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

You will find it way simpler to just pay a few bucks for the songs or albums you like. Listen to an old tape and if it is worn and degraded you will hate the noise.

Most of the cassettes are jazz and other interesting recordings I taped myself...few commercial tapes in the stack.

Lot's to think about.

Anyone have a converter they are willing to loan me?

[flipper35]

Get an inexpensive tape player and connect to your PC. I used to have a cassette radio for the 911 somewhere that you could have if i knew where it was. Even a Walkman or something would work for what you need.

[cairns]

Don't throw 'em away- they're making a comeback. Vinyl is big again too.

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/03/02/cassette-sales-2017/

I think I still have an old Nakamichi in the basement- maybe I should dig it out....

[2jmotorsports]

Originally Posted by flipper35

Get an inexpensive tape player and connect to your PC. I used to have a cassette radio for the 911 somewhere that you could have if i knew where it was. Even a Walkman or something would work for what you need.

This definitely works. I have an old DJ mixtape from about 1992 that was extremely influential for me but I was afraid of destroying it, so I made a couple of back up tape copies and an MP3 copy using an AIWA walkman connected to a computer mic input.
I only wish I knew of some kind of software that could be used to filter out as much of the tape hiss as possible.

[flipper35]

Audacity has a high and low pass filter you can use to get rid of a lot of hiss.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by BK911

Three of my cars still have cassette players.
Let me know when you want to down size!

You pay shipping and they are yours!

[stomachmonkey]

99% of people that attempt this with a fair sized collection get tired of it and quit before getting 1/2 way through.

Find a service and pay to have it done.

They'll generally also offer some "clean up" t the final product.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by BK911

Three of my cars still have cassette players.
Let me know when you want to down size!

Anyone who wants my college daze Maxell collection is welcome to them....and then some live shows, etc.

...probably a box full....yours for the shipping.

Like Paul....'19....year of the purge ....

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flipper35

Get an inexpensive tape player and connect to your PC. I used to have a cassette radio for the 911 somewhere that you could have if i knew where it was. Even a Walkman or something would work for what you need.

Found a JEC stack in the basement (I rarely go down there) that will work.

I'll start there. Like I mentioned earlier, I am in no hurry

[id10t]

With a decent sound card and proper software it is easy - but time consuming.

I'd try to find the same songs on youtube, etc. and use one of the online converter services or a browser extension to grab the mp3 data (or mp4 and rip out the audio to mp3). For the true tape collectors of Dead shows, just head over to archive.org

[2jmotorsports]

If anyone is tossing out their collection shoot me a PM with a list of artists. Ill take some and pay for shipping!