Thread: Classics revisited

once upon a time I used to have a superb collection of music cassettes (about 3000), which I had to leave back in Kolkata while settling in Mumbai IS years ago. Recently I have got them back and surprisingly, barring a few, they are all intact and functional. Now in the era of CD/DVD/MP3 etc, etc, can I convert them into digital format i.e. make into CD/DVD at my home? Otherwise they are all going to be wasted.

There is good news for you that your Cassettes are not going to be wasted and you can cherish those old classics for many years to come. Audio cassette conversion to digital format is very easy and doesn't even require you much technical expertise or software and equipments.

You'll need a cassette tape player with a headphone jack, a computer with a soundcard, the free Audacity software and a 3.5mm (liS-inch) male-male stereo audio cable. (Though 3.5mm is a standard size, your own hardware may be different.)

Plug one end of the audio cable into your cassette player's headphone or "Line out" jack, and the other end into your computer soundcard's "Microphone" or "Line in" jack. To prevent possible soundcard damage, use the "Line in" jack if possible, and not the "Microphone" .

Start Audacity, and change the centre dropdown box to "Line in" or "Microphone", depending on what soundcard jack you're using.

This tells Audacity to record whatever it "hears" on the soundcard input.

Press the record button (red circle) on Audacity, and then press play on your cassette tape.

Press the stop button (Yellow Square) on Audacity when the tape is finished playing

Use the "File -> Export as WAV" menu item to save your recording. The resulting WA V file can be saved on your computer, converted to MP3, or burned to a CD. Get fancy with Audacity's audio editor features: You can cut, paste and add effects easily.

You should record a ten-second clip at first, so you can play it back immediately in Audacity (green triangle button) and make sure your volume levels are right. If the recorded audio is too loud or has too much static, decrease the volume on your cassette player.

Don't stop with cassette tapes. The same technique can import, record and convert records I LPs I vinyl, 8-tracks, and other older audio formats. You may need a different cable to match your playback device, but the actual dubbing process is the same.