Ask A Geek

Q: What is the cheapest, easiest way to import cassette music into my computer?

A: The only real solution to converting your cassette music (analog) to digital is to use your output from your cassette player. Your output might be your headphone jacks (probably the easiest) or another output depending on y our player. You would then connect that to your line in on your computer’s sound card or possibly microphone jack if you don’t have a line in.

The connector should not cost more than a few dollars and is the simplest way to make the connection between your player and your computer. Your next step is to record the music coming from the line in. You can use the built in sound recorder on windows by going to Start -> Programs -> Entertainment -> Sound Recorder (you will need to be connected to the microphone in for this piece of software). Then it is as simple as saving the music to a wave file and then converting it to an MP3 or just burning it as is to a CD.

You can find other free or shareware software at tucows.com that will allow you to record the music via line in or the microphone jack and some that will even let you edit the music to remove some of the silence before or after you have started to record.

Best of luck with your project!

UPDATE: 06/03/2006

While being our normal geeky selves we were browsing around ThinkGeek.com where we found the “PlusDeck 2c”. This is a cassette player for your computer. You will be able to actually convert your cassettes to digital music in no time at all! Just search for “PlusDeck 2c” on the ThinkGeek.com website.

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