Table of Contents
Transfer Cassette Tape to Computer wear out over time, just like all other analog formats. In fact, it’s likely that some of yours have already stopped being true. You should digitize those old mixtapes and home recordings right away if you want to keep them.
There are two ways to turn cassette tapes into digital files. The first option is to buy a cassette player, a multi-media player with a CD burner or USB sound card and software for recording to a computer, or a combination of these.
The second way is to use an existing cassette player with a USB, Thunderbolt, or Firewire (depending on your computer’s I/O) audio interface or a digital field recorder that accepts the analog line level output of your cassette player.
How to Transfer Cassette Tape to Computer
Preparing to Record
- Understand how cassette recording works. To record your cassette audio on your computer, you will need to connect your cassette player to your computer’s microphone (or “line-in”) port and then set your computer to record only the line-in audio.
- Gather your materials. In addition to a cassette deck and a computer, you will also need a cable that connects your cassette deck to the line input on your computer.
- Find your computer’s “line-in” jack. On computers that have separate headphone and microphone ports, this jack will usually be pink. If your computer only has one 3.5mm headphone jack, it supports both line-in and line-out audio
- Connect an adapter to your computer if necessary. If you’re connecting a balanced line output from your cassette deck to your computer, you’ll need to plug the 3.5mm end of the adapter into your computer’s line-in jack
- Connect one end of your cable to your cassette deck. Depending on the cassette deck type, this process will vary
- Connect the other end of your cable to your computer. Plug the other end of your cable into the 3.5mm line-in port on your computer.
- Make sure all of your cables are snug. Loose cables can lead to reduced quality during the recording process
Recording on Windows
- Download and install Audacity. Audacity is a free program that, with a few tweaks, will allow you to record line-in audio. To install it, do the following:
- Go to https://www.audacityteam.org/download/ in your web browser.
- Click Audacity for Windows.
- Click the Audacity 2.2.2 installer link.
- Double-click the installer file once it finishes downloading.
- Follow the setup prompts.
- Open Audacity. If Audacity doesn’t open automatically, open Start Windows Start, type in audacity, and click Audacity at the top of the Start menu.
- Make sure that the sound recording option is MME. In the upper-left side of the Audacity window, you should see “MME” in a drop-down box. If not, click the drop-down box, then click MME.
- Click the Audio Input drop-down box. It’s a box to the right of the microphone icon near the top of the Audacity window. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu.
- Click the “Record” button. It’s the red circle at the top of the Audacity window. Audacity will begin recording
- Stop the recording when you’re done. Press your cassette player’s “Stop” button, then click the black “Stop”
button at the top of the Audacity window. - Save your recording. You can create an MP3 audio file
FAQ
How do I transfer music from a cassette tape to a CD?
To transfer cassette to CD, all you need is to connect your cassette player to your computer’s sound card and then record the audio on the PC in WAV or MP3 format. After that you can transfer these audio files to a CD.
Is there a service to convert cassette tapes to digital?
If you want a service to convert audio cassettes, you’ve come to the right place. ScanCafe offers services that have won awards, are highly rated, and can be trusted. We love putting old, fragile music into digital formats that you can listen to without having to fast forward or rewind.