Conversion of audio cassettes to mp3 format

kamalamba · Post by **kamalamba** » 22 Feb 2009, 11:52

What is the easiest way to convert audio cassettes to MP3s?
Kamalamba

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 22 Feb 2009, 13:44

this has had a litany of discussion . Ok let me brief here.

quickly

buy a 2way pin . connect it to your walk man or stereo player and the other end to computer sound input. use softwares like supermp3 recorder. you may find plenty of free ones if you google search. or google your search phrase in google itself you would find help from many sources. all the best.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 22 Feb 2009, 19:18

In one of the earlier threads there was a mention about a product from PHILIPS that would just do the job; I am not able to locate the thread. I also have many audio cassettes and I would like to convert them.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 22 Feb 2009, 20:21

Punarvasu!
Don't waste your money on any such thing!!
It is best to do it like Ganesh Moorthy said.
Buy the cord. It will definitely be available in Mercy Electronics, Adyar( if you live in Chennai).
Connect the ends to your tape player or walkman's headphone point to your computer's sound input.
Press the play button on your tape player and start recording in your computer with a software.
Use this software: This is the best with extremely good quality. You can actually improve the cassette quality by increasing the recording volume in this software:
Audio Recorder for Free.
I found it in softpedia.com
Type in "Audio Recorder for Free" in the search box in softpedia and you will find it. It is a freeware and is one of the best recording software I know.
Don't waste your money even by going to shops to convert cassettes. Do it at home costless and effortless. It is the best way!!
Contact me for more help if you want.

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 22 Feb 2009, 20:23

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... llips.html

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 22 Feb 2009, 22:05

Thnaks srinivasrgvn; will try it and let you know.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 23 Feb 2009, 06:53

Audacity is also a decent free software which will record on a PC. It has a convenient facility where it can break up a single recorded file into multiple files after you insert labels. This is very useful when you have recorded a concert as a single file and want to split it up into songs.

It is free and available at http://audacity.sourceforge.net

TJ14 · Post by **TJ14** » 23 Feb 2009, 14:55

I don't know why many of you are willing to put to use outdated and expensive methods for converting cassettes to MP3's. I'll come up with a manual regarding this process. Its very simple. All you need is a line-in cable. I'd reply again in a a few days, along with the link to a manual. I have my exams coming up, so I need time.

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 23 Feb 2009, 19:59

I use audacity to convert tapes into mp3s and it has worked out fine for me. However, I notice that old (as in "listened to many times" ) tapes that have inconsistent pitch and speed get converted as they are played. Is there any effect or edit in Audacity that lets you stabilize the pitch and/or speed within a file? You can change the pitch and speed with the standard effects but cannot control for varying pitch and speed within a file (assuming a file is one redition of a composition)

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 24 Feb 2009, 08:56

once the software has recorded sound . then you can use

mp3directcut( it is a freeware). this is the best one for cutting the mp3 wherever you want to cut. since it shows in graphics you can mince it like meat wherever you want and all that in a jiffy.

carnaticdasan · Post by **carnaticdasan** » 24 Feb 2009, 11:24

There is a good soft ware " GOLDWAVE" which can used to convert recordings in ipod mp3 versions to the computer and then burn to CD using Nero.These days musicians have the recordings done in the ipod.The conversion is time consuming but frequent use of the same will make it fast and interesting.This is helpfull in converting say a 90 min kutchery into a CD of 80 min by cutting down time in between songs.The recordings are good too.This eliminates the use of audio cassettes.

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 26 Feb 2009, 11:32

A few words of caution.

Eventhough quite a few freewares are available, their capability is limited to just recording the available input. Converting old tapes requires lot of patience and skill. You need software to eliminate tape hiss, background crackles and disturbances and also enhancing volume without distorting the tonal quality.

You have to experiment with various settings to achieve as close a reprouction as possible with the original. You also need to decide on the trade off between file size and quality.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 26 Feb 2009, 23:14

I'd say that the most important thing is to keep the quality as high as possible, and the cost of that is disk space --- which has become amazingly cheap these days! You can always reduce the quality, and size, for carrying on your MP3 player, but the archive copy should be kept high. You can never increase the quality again!

Thing is though, although what rajumds says is true, one can always digitise, then return later, as time permits, to things such as volume enhancement and hiss reduction. It is, for anyone with more than the minimum music, probably a never-ending task --- so I guess one should just begin.

This is what I am telling myself about my collection of rock music LPs, that, if Chennai's climate has not already ruined them --- I should just begin!

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 27 Feb 2009, 09:45

arvindv13 · Post by **arvindv13** » 27 Feb 2009, 11:12

Please visit http://www.livemint.com/homestereos.htm. This site contains some useful information about conversion of tapes to MP3 without the need of a computer for the conversion.

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 27 Feb 2009, 22:43

Thanks all for your input. Coolji, did you encounter the problem that I have with overworked tapes where the pitch and speed distortions along the way of a rendition? If yes, what did you do to stabilize the pitch and speed?

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 27 Feb 2009, 23:36

Wave Pad sound editor, available free from the net, lets you split files, join them, change the pitch, change the speed etc.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Feb 2009, 02:14

If yes, what did you do to stabilize the pitch and speed?

That would be very demanding. It is certainly possible --- just as it is possible to produce art in a Paint package --- but one must be an artist to do it!

Correcting irregular tape stretch is certainly way beyond me. Not that I'd have the sense of pitch to do it anyway

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 28 Feb 2009, 07:32

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Feb 2009, 11:00

I am sure that the decline in cassette popularity must have reduced the sale of BIC pens: they were the perfect size for winding!

Hats off to your patience and skill, Coolji. I like to dabble occasionally; I know you have spent hours, days, weeks, months and years at this game!

CoolEdit and TotalRecorder are among my favourite softwares.

Hard Limiter is great in CoolEdit, as one can bring up the general volume whilst preventing the peaks overloading.

I think mics must be a little like my ears --- as I find the worst thing is talam claps; they go off the scale even when the rest of the music is actually too low in level. The Cooledit tools can really help with this, and other speaker-bashing phenomena like the artist knocking or tapping the mic.

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 02 Mar 2009, 19:38

Coolji,

Thanks for your guidance. I will try your suggestions. My dad's used to do the "sudarshana chakra with a cassette and ball point pen" routine too:)

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 02 Mar 2009, 21:17

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 25 Jun 2009, 18:28

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 25 Jun 2009, 19:44

About $1700!!! Are they serious? Somebody there is dreaming ...

Arun

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 25 Jun 2009, 20:27

Arun,

They seem to indicate that it is for institutions! I agree that even for that, it is rather expensive.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 25 Jun 2009, 20:37

Svaapana · Post by **Svaapana** » 25 Jun 2009, 20:44

Too much to pay for too small a gain! Anyway, you need to split the files, put it in a data base and they take time. I still feel the philips recorder is the best bet at this time

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 25 Jun 2009, 20:59

isai_rasigan · Post by **isai_rasigan** » 25 Jun 2009, 21:02

I use a small device called INport from Xitel. I am quite happy with the results and it is reasonably priced also.

http://www.xitel.com/USA/prod_inportdl.htm

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 26 Jun 2009, 17:25

It looks like a neat toy, for those who are willing to pawn their silver spoon!

Apart from doing both sides at once (clever trick) though, I find it hard to believe that it can play at 4* or 8* without loosing quality. Using an ordinary 2-deck tape player in duplication mode produces a marked degredation.

Frankly, if I had any silver spoons left, and I also needed to convert tapes, I'd spend that $1700 on a high-quality Analogue-to-digital converter, either as an independent unit, or on a superior OC sound card, and use it with a hi-fi tape deck.

I wonder how many people are buying special devices to input sound from their hifi, etc, to their PCs, not realising that their PC sound card is already equipped to do this?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 27 Jun 2009, 04:15

It is built on top of high speed cassette duplicator technology which are very expensive. Look at the prices for the general duplicators: http://www.kingsaudio.co.uk/category/ca ... -0-0-0-0/1

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 27 Jun 2009, 06:36

unfortunately, the quoted price of the duplicator will feed a family of five for five years in our country. gobilalitha

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 27 Jun 2009, 07:08

The capitalistic response would be: Let him start a business with that equipment, go around and convert other people's thousands of cassettes to mp3 for a nomimal sum and pretty soon that family of five can live quite nicely off of that income.

Here is how someone industrious can turn this into a Rs 20000 a month business.

You can buy that thing at Rs. 800 to Rs 1000 a month ( 10% of 80000 rupees micro-capital interest + some principal payment ). One can do 8 an hour, times Rs. 12.50 a cassette = Rs. 100/hour. Out of the family of 5, let two do the sales and marketing ( walk around the street and sell the idea ) and the other two operate the thing for 10-12 hours a day. Let us round that to Rs. 1000 a day. 21 days a month = Rs 21000. Net is Rs. 20000 a month. If that looks ambitious, even 50% of that is not bad.

( That is the business plan, rest are details

).

Would you give this business to a couple of kids who knock on your door and wanting to do this? They will use your computer and electric power!!

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 27 Jun 2009, 07:57

THanks. Vk, If two ambitious youths would like to take up this venture,I will surely help them. I remember one of the biggest textile shop owners in south usman road .T nagar, Chennai selling sarees and other clothing materials on monthly instalment basis to customers carrying his goods in a cycle50 years back . THIS MAY HAPPEN TO THE 2 AMBITIOUS YOUTHS. Incidentally, the business mind of mine would ask them to set right certain defects in my pc. Two birds in astroke ..gobilalitha

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 27 Jun 2009, 18:14

VK reminds us that to give a family a cassette is to entertain them for 90 minutes; to give them a cassette duplication system is to feed them for life!

NarendraJaiswal · Post by **NarendraJaiswal** » 08 Sep 2009, 15:28

Can anybody tell me the best software to convert audio cassette to .mp3.
I have a large colllection of audio cassette and need to convert into .mp3.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 08 Sep 2009, 16:24

Narendra - Audacity is free software that does the job. You can stream the audio and the edit it on the computer to add tracks for each song.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 08 Sep 2009, 16:37

I've been doing this of late, since I lost my mp3 player (cum recorder). I'm using my tape recorder and transferring it on to my computer with this 2-pin cable.

I'm storing in OGG format ... Audacity needs a DLL file I'm unable to find for mp3.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 08 Sep 2009, 16:39

Srikant - can you please look at

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/fa ... i=lame-mp3

-hari

jeyaar · Post by **jeyaar** » 08 Sep 2009, 17:54

My experience is Phillips is very good-

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 08 Sep 2009, 21:06

s_hari,

Thanks, I'd like mp3s because they're so universally playable these days!

For my personal use, though, I tend to like obscure software and obscure formats.

I use IBM's office, 7-zip for compression and Quintessential player for playing obscure media such as OGG files.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 09 Sep 2009, 00:00

OGG is not so obscure! FLACC, anybody?

And for playing stuff on the PC... VLC Player copes with just about anything and everything, both audio and video.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 09 Sep 2009, 00:04

Yup, VLCplayer for playing and Audacity for recording and manipulating recordings. My favorite couple of tools.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 09 Sep 2009, 02:32

nick H wrote:FLACC, anybody?

Deutsche Grammophon has begun selling music in FLAC format (only some titles are offered) as well as 320K mp3 and a 1-week streaming option (at different price points). I can only hope that some CM labels will do likewise.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 09 Sep 2009, 03:07

Can someone hear the diference between FLAC ( or 320K mp3 ) and 128K mp3, especially for the range of music that CM employs? I have heard audiophiles claim they can on certain types of music. I am curious if it will make a difference for CM.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 09 Sep 2009, 04:30

I'd say that there's a definite difference between a 256K mp3 and anything less. Above that, I cannot make out any difference between a 320K mp3 file and a 256K file; nor frankly can I distinguish between a WAV file and a 256K file.

However, that may be because I have poor audio equipment in addition to a poor ear. Your experience may be different. Try it - take a high quality recording, and digitize it in different ways; see what you think.

When it comes to CM records, there are some complications. Many source recordings are very poor to begin with. If we have a 64K mp3 file (yes, I've seen these

) that has been burnt to a CD, and then we redo this at 320K, it's not going to be useful. But there are some good recordings out there. I remember the TN Krishnan foundation released a couple of simply beautifully recorded CDs (and the music was good too

) and that's the kind of thing where I'd want a high bit rate, but FLAC may be a really good alternative as the file size is comparable.

Other things being equal, though, I like the idea of lossless audio (or a very high bit rate) as I'm always hoping that in the future we'll be able to analyze the audio using various tools, and high quality source files should help there.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 09 Sep 2009, 04:35

Here's a relevant Gizmodo post.

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 09 Sep 2009, 05:17

I have found the easy and the best method is to buy the Philips 1486 model ( see post 14 of Coolji's) and convert the old tapes. This is easy, simple and time efficient. Once converted, you can play it thru any of the softwares and edit them to suit your requirement.

Enna_Solven · Post by **Enna_Solven** » 09 Sep 2009, 06:53

gn.sn42 wrote: When it comes to CM records, there are some complications. Many source recordings are very poor to begin with. If we have a 64K mp3 file (yes, I've seen these ) that has been burnt to a CD, and then we redo this at 320K, it's not going to be useful.

What you say is true. Flac is able to compress some of the older recordings heavily without loss of data, resulting i bit rates as low as 180 kbps. Some of the newer one get as high as 980 kbps.

During my recent Chennai trip, I bought quite a few CD's. I ripped/cataloged all into flac files on my computer; and I listen through my reasonable setup (digital o/p, amplifier, good speakers.) The old ones' recording quality shows through

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 09 Sep 2009, 11:45

I understood that flacc is actually lossless, ie, although it is compressed for storage, what you get out is the same as what went in.