[terraGirl]

I need to convert an old cassette tape that means a lot to me for listening via CD / PC.

I'm looking for something very safe, reliable and easy to use. My budget is up to £300 but I could go higher.

The tape itself is quite old and probably low quality. It's a demo tape done as home recording.

I found the "Ion Tape 2 PC" system online, which seems reasonably priced but I noticed that it gets low marks on quality (http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/hi-fi-and-audio/audio-systems/ion-tape2pc-usb-cassette-deck-455009/review )

I don't really know how much this matters given that the whole tape is very likely to be quite ramshackle.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I don't really want to set up any complex systems myself. I also don't have a tape player or any other sound system, so I will need to buy hardware anyway and an "all-in-one" system does appeal due to its simplicity. I'm also terrified of the tape being eaten up or damaged in any way, as it's an only copy.

I will want to listen to the tape on CD (played via DVD/blue ray player); and then also converted to iTunes format (iPod).

Hope this all makes sense, help would be really appreciated.

Edith

[KJ Palmer]

How about the Ion Tape express: ION iTR03 Tape Express Tape to MP3 Converter: Amazon.co.uk: Musical Instruments

Seems to get good reviews, easy to set up, is cheaper and far less less bulky than the Ion Tape to PC. Just remember to remove any slack from your tape before copying, and it should do a reasonable job.

It doesn't look like you need to worry about ultimate quality, otherwise you might want to look for a higher quality player attached via line in (or with a USB converter) to your computer, and use something like the free Audacity program to record in wave format.

[terraGirl]

Thank you! The reviews seem very mixed, especially the problems with buttons not staying depressed seems like cheap design. The software issues seem doable, one guy posted full instructions for audacity.

Even though I have iTunes, I'd like wav first so I don't run into any restrictions with copying. The copyright is owned by myself for the music so don't see why apple should have the right to interfer.

Given the low price might just be worth a try unless anyone else has any other recommendation?

[unique]

the "pro's" connect a standard tape deck to the soundcard of a pc, play the tape and use software to record the stream, then other software to edit/encode/cleanup etc

some soundcards have phono sockets on them, or you can buy soundcards cheaply that have them, these should be a bit better quality than using the 3.5mm mic socket, but for tape unless it's something special it shouldn't make much difference

in saying that, i have a pile of tapes and minidiscs that i can't can't be bothered converting in that way, too much time and hassle. i'd rather have a usb type thing, but looking at the cheap walkman type things they mostly seem to be rubbish (you get what you pay for)

i remember seeing a tape deck a few years ago that was a bit like a car stereo but you fitted into your pc like a dvd drive. it still just recorded in real time, but was pretty cool if you had the space to do it. the only thing was it was about £80 or more and the price put me off, i thought i would have eventually got one at a reduced price, but no. same with minidiscs, the japanese had pc minidisc drives that fitted your 5.25" optical bay. again i think they recorded in real time though

[terraGirl]

I've now gone ahead and bought http://www.amazon.co.uk/ION-iTR03-Ta...6198468&sr=8-1 as I wanted to listen to the tape and had no tape player at home. I gave the software that came with it a try, and it did a decent job.

I will see if I can use audacity so I'm not tied to iTunes but for now, I'm happy that I'm able to listen to the tape, it safely recorded and the quality is decent. Buttons are flimsy on the tape player; and the sound volume feels very low when played on iTunes but it's a quick and easy.

Many thanks!

[KJ Palmer]

Great, glad it worked. It was never going to be a hi-fi solution, but as long as it does what it says, at that price I guess it's ok!

I'd recommend getting to know Audacity, you can further 'clean' up the sound (remove hiss, edit out unwanted bits etc), and normalise the volume to a decent level. Not sure if you can do that with Itunes.

[terraGirl]

Originally Posted by KJ Palmer

I'd recommend getting to know Audacity, you can further 'clean' up the sound (remove hiss, edit out unwanted bits etc), and normalise the volume to a decent level. Not sure if you can do that with Itunes.

iTunes as simply the default program which came with the player. Audacity is downloaded but I haven't tried it yet. I also want to have the music outside of iTunes as I don't want any complications regarding copying. The music is both written & recorded by my late spouse, so I don't need Apple to complicate matters when I want to send tapes to friends.

But must admit that the software that comes with the player is decent - very easy. Certainly for a first attempt, not bad.

[terraGirl]

Just spent the evening playing around with Audacity. Tricky with an old demo tape to remove background noise and keep the music intact, but it's a decent result.

I realise it's not a professional job, but for a home recorded 17 year old cassette demo tape, it's very decent quality.

[KJ Palmer]

Yes, getting the parameters right can be a bit hit and miss. I always leave (much) more hiss than I'd like but better that than degrading the actual audio too much! If you're using wave (.wav) format you'll avoid running into any copyright issues, and keep the original quality, as long as you don't overdo it in the cleaning up operation.