Time to get with the now. Tape to mpeg

bushmins · 2 Jan 2012 at 14:37

Ive decided to bring my music collection into the current centry. I want to convert all my music tapes into files i can put onto a CD and/or mp3 player. Is there any free software out there that will do that for me.

I have a tape deck that i can plug into and input plug on my PC sound card, so that bit is sorted, i just need some simple to use software that i can create tracks from.

I realise it will take ages because i will have to start and stop every single song, but i feel this will likely be a small price to pay.

Jay794 · 2 Jan 2012 at 14:39

The sound quality from tape to mp3 will be terrible, I know it might be expensive but you'd be better re-downloading or buying the CD versions

lurkio · 2 Jan 2012 at 14:52

Jay794 said:
The sound quality from tape to mp3 will be terrible, I know it might be expensive but you'd be better re-downloading or buying the CD versions

+1

WIll sound like poop , even if you do some filtering

bushmins · 2 Jan 2012 at 14:54

Sounds like poop anyway, im not that bothered unless it will sound worse than it does on tape? It will cost me hundreds of pounds to recreate it by buying.

twist3d0n3 · 2 Jan 2012 at 15:02

bushmins said:
Sounds like poop anyway, im not that bothered unless it will sound worse than it does on tape? It will cost me hundreds of pounds to recreate it by buying.

don't rip them to 56k mp3's then

asim18 · 2 Jan 2012 at 15:54

Audacity.

bushmins · 2 Jan 2012 at 17:05

Thanks. Ill give it a go.

SourChipmunk · 2 Jan 2012 at 20:53

I use Audacity, as mentioned. I find it easiest to record the entire side of the cassette (or full thing if you have auto-reverse) (not just one track at a time), run the Audacity noise filter on it, then clip the tracks apart.

You might need to get LAME (http://lame.sourceforge.net/) as well to convert to MP3.

Very time consuming, and very addicting.