I assume I can put the line out of my cassette player into my line in on my computer. After that, I’m a bit lost.
Any suggestions on how to capture the signal coming in? I assume that there’s freeware or shareware out there that would save this as mp3s, etc.
You can connect your tape deck to the sound card with a six-foot cable with two RCA (phono) plugs on one end and an 1/8" stereo miniplug on the other, which goes into the line (not mic) input.
I’ll have to assume you are using Windows here, OK?
To record the incoming sound, there is Windows Recorder already on your system. It’s under Program Files/Accessories/Entertainment. If you can’t find it, go to Start and Run, and type in sndrec32.exe and enter. It’ll pop up. Next, you need to select the Line input on your sound card, if it isn’t already selected. That’s also in the same folder with Windows Recorder, or type in sndvol32.exe. On the mixer, select Options/Properties and click the box for Adjust Volume for Recording. There is a window listing the choices of which faders to show on the mixer. Make sure Line In is checked. Hit OK. Check the box under Line, and adjust the volume slider to about 7 out of 10.
From there you can start recording on the Windows Recorder. It will record a .wav file at 44.1 KHz, 16-bit - save this in a folder where you won’t lose track of it.
A popular and very easy-to-use mp3 converter is dbPowerAmp. Free, very good. Install this, and you will get an option in the right-click menu to convert from one kind of sound file to another. Go to the folder with the .wav file, right click on it, select “Convert to mp3.” A decent bitrate to select is 192 kbps Stereo, 44100 Hz. Hit Convert. Now you have an mp3.
If you have any questions or are unclear on anything, please feel free to ask. Good luck, it’s not hard to accomplish. You’ll get the hang of it fairly quickly.
I haven’t gone cassette trapping in years. Last time I went I captured 3 and had a couple near misses. They don’t get too big around here but they are fast. I was shown how to capture cassettes by a high school friend named Rich. I first met him when I overheard he was an avid hunter. He was suprised when I told him I was an avid hunter too and that we should go out that weekend and hunt for some avids.
A buddy, Steve, thought we were crazy, he said he had never heard of avids. I told him that there were avid hunters everywhere, in fact to prove it, I asked everyone in our class if any of them were any avid hunters. At least a dozen classmates raised their hands. I told him you go out in the woods at night with a gunny sack and some Oreos for bait. Put the cookies in the sack and hold the sack open over an avid path. He told me that sound like snipe hunting and by God, he was right. Except you use popcorn to catch snipes, they don’t like Oreos.
The wife and I gave each other some new camping gear for Christmas and we hope to spend some time camping this summer with our grandkids. I don’t think they are ready for capturing cassettes yet and avid hunting at such a young age is not recommended. Guess we will go snipe hunting instead.
OK, I found that Windows sound recording program. It stopped recording after 60 seconds. I just opened the program on this computer, and this one wants to stop after 47.55 seconds for some reason.
What the heck is up with that? That’s not useful for much at all.
Hmmm. That’s odd that they should give you a recording program that works in 60-second intervals. Mine does, too. I’m sorry I recommended it to you. I’d never used it, but I had no reason to think that it wasn’t fully functional.
Now, I guess you need to find some freeware recording software. There might even be some that came as part of your sound card. Otherwise, maybe go to cnet.com and look for freeware downloads, audio programs, sound recorders. Any one will do the trick.
(I use Cool Edit 2000, a $69 program (more with plugins) which is not made anymore. I recommend that program wholeheartedly if you can find it, but the company was sold to Adobe last summer and they discontinued it.)
After you get some recording software, keep me posted how it goes for you. I’ll try to help you with anything you need, if I can.
[is this a hijack?]
I’ve been wanting to do the same thing. I’ve got the capability to record on the computer, but I’m having trouble finding an inexpensive, portable tape player that’s got RCA outputs. Any suggestions?
Try looking in your local pawn shop, or anywhere that sells used audio equipment. You are likely to find a suitable machine for cheap.
Yeah, I used to have Cool Edit 2000, purchased legitimately and everything. I tried to get my code again to install it, but found that it had been sold to Adobe, and they wouldn’t give me a code again.
If someone were to email me a code, I might be able to use it again.
If somone were that nice.
Email.
Code.
When I last used Windows to record sound from the line in jack, the freeware program Messer provided all the functionality I needed. The file length of the recorded stream has no pre-set limitations other than the size of the available hard disk space, and Messer offers the option of encoding the stream in real-time, if your CPU is fast enough.
Under GNU/Linux and similar operating systems, the sox suite contains a variety of sound manipulation utilities, including, of course, a recording app. I successfully used the recording app to convert some old Capitol Steps songs (which were only released on cassette) to ogg vorbis files.
Thanks so much for that suggestion. I’ll see if that program works for me. I also see that site had a demo version of Cool Edit, but if I remember right, the demo version limits the kinds of saving that’s available.
Is there something that will let you chop off the silences at the beginning and endings of your recordings?
I’ve tried Messer a bit, but I apparently was recording nothing. I’ll have to make a more thorough attempt later.
sox will do that, but it requires a bit of wizardry at the command line. On the other hand, you could try Audacity, which features most of the functionality of sox in a nice GUI package, including the ability to record from line-in or mic.
Great suggestion from Fishbicycle but if you want something new, try your Radio Shack. I purchased an RCA model SCT-510 tape player for about $60, because it was time to start converting my tapes — about 150 of them. It’s about the size of three thick paperbacks, with proper outputs and has performed flawlessly. I’m using an eMac with CD Spin doctor, and importing into iTunes, where I convert the AIFF file to MP3. Works like a champ.