Recording Audio Cassette to PC

[Goldenballs]

Hi guys,

My dad wants to record all his old tapes and vinyl's onto the PC, to back them up and possibly be able to burn to CD.

He's got a record deck and cassette player running through an amp. I've found something that looks like it'll do the trick for about ?15

http://www.vinyl-2-pc.co.uk/

Is that just just a cheap adapter, with some free downloadable software put onto a CD though? ?15 isn't very much, but I don't want to buy it from that site if I could pick up the cable for a couple of quid, and then download the free software.

[Wil]

I'd quite like to know what sort of results this method gives you. I tried a Griffin iMic a year or two back but the sound was terrible and tinny despite mucking about with the settings for ages. I keep thinking about going for this - http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/artic...AN/902/v/1/sp/ but never really thought about just taking the sound directly from the headphone socket and feeding it into the computer. Basically it just looks like he's selling you a bog-standard audio lead with some (free) software. Trouble is my old Mission Cyrus 1 is on the way out anyway so unless I either get that fixed or replaced I'm better off being able to link the turntable directly into the computer. Do you get a better sound going through a widget into a USB or just directly into the mic socket?

[Oldgamingfart]

Is that just just a cheap adapter, with some free downloadable software put onto a CD though?

Yup it's just like Wil said, the software is called Audacity, and is freeware. The female phono to 3.5mm adapter probably costs around £3 on eBay.

Do you get a better sound going through a widget into a USB or just directly into the mic socket?

These boxes are pre-amps and they'll give the signal a boost so that it's at line level (the same as a standard phono input). If you have a turntable and amp, the amp does the pre-amplification anyway, so it's just a case of linking the 'Tape Out' direct to the sound card.

[Goldenballs]

Would this do the trick then? Connect to the headphone socket on the amp, and then to Mic in on the laptop?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-5mm-Male-Stereo-JACK-to-JACK-Audio-Cable-Gold-3m-Lead_W0QQitemZ350109193388QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item 350109193388&_trkparms=72%3A1301|39%3A1|66%3A2|65% 3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-5mm-Male-Ste...d=p3911.c0.m14

[Goldenballs]

I've had a 'mare trying to do that link!

[Oldgamingfart]

You can do it that way, but it's best to use the 'Tape Output' on the back of the amp (phono to 3.5mm jack) as you won't have to keep playing with the volume to get the best sound.

[Wil]

Just thought I'd add to this that I picked up the Terratec iVinyl ( http://www.terratec.net/en/products/...inyl_2064.html ) pre-amp on t'bay for £20 the other day and the results are excellent. Turntable into the box, then into the Powerbook USB, set Roxio CD Spin Doctor (comes with it) going and record. About 10 mins to get the hang of splitting up the tracks and then it'll dump it all straight to iTunes in whatever format you want. The sound quality is excellent, far better than I thought it would be, (you can muck about with filters to 'enhance' the sound and de-hiss/click etc.) so I'm chuffed.

It's gonna take me an age to digitise every LP though