tape to CDs?

[stevengould46]

I want to burn CDs from cassette tapes. Can I buy a cable that has RCA plugs on one end and a ubs connection on the other or is there another way to do this?

StevenGould

[HayZee518]

Have you tried "F" connector to "F" connector? Using RCA type plugs requires one for the video and another pair for the audio. There's a type "S" connector which most units come with. A USB connector uses only four wires.

[Troy]

steven,

There are devices that will accept an audio input, convert it and then transfer it to your computer via usb. Usually these are pretty expensive, and as far as I know, always more than just a cable.

What you are really wanting to do is capture the audio output from the tape with your computer. To do so you can convert your RCA (red /white) to a mini (1/8") that your sound card will accept as a mic input. Then you play your cassette while recording the audio stream on your computer as a wav file.

This isn't the best way though. There are audio capture cards that do this well. I have an old zefiro ZA2 card that I have used for years. It is out of production, but it keeps the audio rates and quality very high. It is harder than it sounds, because you are depending on the quality of the tape output, the cables connecting them, the quality of your mic or audio input, etc.

The quality isn't as important in your case, however, because the cassette quality isn't going to be that great to begin with, compared to the clarity of the output (CD). You should at least try the RCA -> mini -> mic input on your sound card and see how it sounds.

Questions?


Try

[HayZee518]

Stephen - I get a monthly catalog from www.allelectronics.com. This is an electronics surplus warehouse. They have an online catalog and while browsing through their hard copy found several cables that may suit your application.

[leone184]

I'm about to do the same thing with some old cassette tapes. My computer actually has a microphone input right on the front of the cpu. It looks like the headphone jack (and takes exactly the same kind of plug) but it has a pink circle around it. If you also have this, you will need a program that will let you "capture" the music, and save it as a file. Then it can be converted to the mp3 or RAW format and burned to a disc. As far as a patch cord, you probably want a headphone jack that terminates into 2 RCA type plugs. Any Radio shack store should carry them, they are made so a walkman type portable can be played thru a home stereo system.

leone184

[HayZee518]

I have a cd+g karaoke machine that has two audio outputs (rca type jacks) I plugged in a patch cord with two rca plugs into this - the other end with a mini plug goes into my mike input on my computer audio card.
I open up my cd burner program and can select the audio from the cd+g deck into the "add file" of the burner program. It lists the audio as a .cda file track 1 or two or three etc.
Once you've d/l the audio into a directory you select what you want and burn a cd.