Where to find old CDs/Transferring a cassette tape to MP3 files

[Ponyfan]

Hi,

I recently went to an outdoor play for the first time in a long time. A long time ago they had the soundtrack for the play on CDs and cassette tape. When I went to the play this time though they no longer have the soundtrack for sale at all. I have a cassette tape of the soundtrack but I'd like to be able to have the music on my computer. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've tried Amazon, Ebay and Half.com for the CD and haven't had any luck. Amazon has a listing for it but no copies.


Ponyfan

[Skeen]

You can do it yourself with your computer and your tape player.    You'll need a male-to-male audio cable and some sort of audio recording software.  Just put the tape in the deck, insert one end of the cable into the headphone/audio-out jack and the other end into the audio-in port on your computer's soundcard and hit record on your software.  Then just play the tape.  The software records what's coming in through the jack only.

I don't know what kind of audio software though, sorry.  Mr. Skeen does this stuff for me. 

[Ponyfan]

Thanks Skeen. I'm kind of afraid to try that method since I haven't done it before and it seems pretty complicated to get just right. I read something that said you have to make sure the sound from the tape is equalized or something like that when it's recording to your computer so you don't ruin your sound card.

Ponyfan

[Kiwi]

You can get stereo devices specifically for that - they have a record player, CD tray, and cassette player, and it all goes to a MP3 format on a USB stick.

[kaoskat]

Looks like you've gotten some good advice so far. I have nothing more useful to add. I hope it works.

[Skeen]

You can get stereo devices specifically for that - they have a record player, CD tray, and cassette player, and it all goes to a MP3 format on a USB stick.

Oh I didn't know that!    That would make it even easier!

Ponyfan - I don't know about equalization.    Mr. Skeen makes sure it works for me, I just know the basics.  He's the audio tech in the Skeen house!

[Khema]

What is the name of the play?

[melodys_angel]

Sounds like you have a few ideas


Goodluck!

[Ponyfan]

Thanks everyone.   I did look at converters on Amazon but it was hard just looking at the reviews to find out which one is a good one. I'm  hoping eventually get a converter to transfer the tape to MP3 files.  :0

The play is called Texas a musical drama and is staged in an outdoor amphitheater in a canyon.  People have come from all over the world to see the play. They give away a souvenir each night to the person that traveled the farthest to see the show that night. On the night I went the person that won the souvenir was from India.


Ponyfan

[pallas]

I used Toast and spin doctor for taking music and converting it to MP3.  Sadly I upgraded my OS and it didn't support my version of Toast so I haven't done it in a while.  But I would take old cassette tapes and a lot of concert DVD's and now have them on my iPod/iphone.  There was even a program to help transfer albums, but I still have turntable hooked up so I never bothered doing that.

I use a MacBook Pro and found the process pretty simple and intuitive, just have to have some time and patience.     

Basically I would play in real time the thing I wanted to convert and use my input jack on computer (just a basic headphone input), didn't even need to use my USB input and then do a little editing if necessary then have it sent to iTunes.