Saving My Father's Songs

June 28, 2010 8:10 AM

What is the best way to go about converting a few select songs from old cassettes to CDs/mp3s? [Hardware, software, retail options, etc.]

I am trying to help my dad out -- he's got a lot of old Persian music scattered among cassette tapes. He doesn't necessarily have track names, or transliterated artist names, so tracking down CDs or finding an iTunes download isn't really an option here.

Is there any particular software/hardware you recommend? To give you an idea of how clueless I am right now, my first instinct was to grab a Sony Walkman and a male-male cable and just connect it to the microphone jack of my laptop. From there, I guess I'd have to find something to record it. Dreadful idea?

Any wisdom offered is appreciated.

[P.S. I know there is a similar question from 2005 -- but that question specifically concerns the use of MusicReplay software. I thought this question was original enough to warrant post]

posted by Franklin76 to Technology (4 answers total)

I did this a few years ago. The hardware was in fact just an output to input jack. The software was some freeware. F-I-L did this too, recently. I think he used Sound Forge (?). Results were good. The magic google words are something like "tape to mp3."
posted by coffeefilter at 8:32 AM on June 28, 2010

Best answer: your first instinct is right. Tape player + male to male cable + computer is the best and easiest way to transfer tapes to mp3s. Audacity is probably your best bet for (free) recording software. One important caveat is, although it seems like it would be a good idea, don't turn the volume on the walkman all the way up, because that will make the sound all static-y. Turn it about halfway up. Better yet, just watch the microphone meter in Audacity and set the volume on the walkman to a point just below where the sound jumps into the red part of the meter.
posted by luvcraft at 8:34 AM on June 28, 2010

Best answer: I do this all the time with:

a) an old cassette deck with line-level RCA outputs.
b) a two RCA-> one headphone-type jack adapter cable like this one
c) a copy of Audacity (linked to by luvcraft above)

Using a source with line-level outputs makes controlling the volume less of an issue than if you take the sound from the headphone jack of an old Walkman -- but you can get good results that way too, you just have to be careful. If you live in a major metropolitan area, you can probably get the cassette deck for free -- people give these things away all the time (I gave one away last year!) The cable will cost you about $20 if you buy it in the store, $6 if you buy it online. Audacity is free.
posted by harkin banks at 8:52 AM on June 28, 2010

Thirding the cassette player and male to male cable + Audacity. I have done this successfully with lots of old tapes that just aren't' available online anywhere.
posted by gemmy at 9:53 AM on June 28, 2010