Help w/ conversion of Cassette Music to MP3 !!

[bjassin]

Ok..I know the topic of this forum is Video, but I couldn't find any other forum to post this question. I would be really grateful if someone could recommend a program that would allow me to digitize into MP3 format the many old songs I have on Cassette. I already tried Spin Doctor (which comes with Easy CD Creator Deluxe) and it SUCKS BIG TIME.

It constantly crashes and when it doesn't, it only encodes in 56kbs. So, I am looking for an easy way to encode my Cassette music collection into 128 kbs or 160 kbs MP3 format...any help would be appreciated....


Thanks,

BJ

 

[SkyDiver]

I haven't tried to record with it yet, but I saw in the documentation that MusicMatch (free from musicmatch.com) will do this from the Line-In on your sound card.

"You can record from any device connected to your line-in or mic-in inputs on your sound card (this includes record players, cassette players, etc.) You must first ensure the device is connected to your sound card properly and specify the recording source before you start recording."

I've only had the program for 3 days or so, but it seems to be top notch. Of course, I'm not an audiophile.

Good luck,
SkyDiver

 

[PliotronX]

I'm actually learning C++ to create a program to digitize cassettes and either encode or burn them to CDs after cleaning them up so it sounds better than the tape I got the idea after digitizing an entire 90 minute tape, making flags to split the files into tracks, and burned them with Easy CD Creator using DAO so that it could play the entire CD through just like the tape without the 2 second gaps between tracks, and it could skip to the track I wanted without waiting forever for a tape to rewind (but there is the problem of 74mins for CDs, however double CD cases are sold everywhere). The entire process took about 4 hours. Pretty sad, but the work paid off because it sounds tight and the media won't degrade like tape does Of course it'll only take you a couple minutes to digitize one song/mix from a tape into an MP3. The tools I use are Goldwave and Audiocatalyst. Also I got a nice shielded analog stereo male/male cable from Radioshack, and I use a tight little Sony Walkman that has Dolby B noise reduction, Dolby NR helps to make the digitization sound better. Simply open up Goldwave, create a new WAV file using the Stereo/44Khz/16bit preset under the CD quality box, set it to 5 minutes, or if you know the track time, enter that, but add 5 seconds just in case. Then make sure the Line-in properties are unmuted, and fast forward/rewind to the beginning of the song/mix. Then hit record and immediately press play on your tape player/deck. And when the song finishes, first stop the computer from recording, then stop the tape. Now you can take out the blanks/etc.. don't forget to save Next, open up Audiocatalyst and click on the button that says "Norm". Then check the box for "use normalizing", and check the box to the right and leave the values at default. Now click on "Browse..." and open your newly digitized WAV, and it'll search for the peak volume, and if it's above 99% (which could cause distortion) or below 91%, it'll change it to a nice safe comfy 98%. Now comes the encoding, simply close the Normalizing box and click on the MP3 button. It's pretty self-explanatory in this box, but go to "Advanced" and make sure that High Frequency Mode is checked. And select a bitrate at least 128Kbit. The HF mode will make the MP3 so that it sounds exactly like the original WAV (in most cases ). This is why I immediately got interested in C++, because I want to make the procedure of digitizing cassettes as easy and quick as possible. My prog is going to make SpinDoctor look like a useless piece o' crapo (moreso).

Cheers

 

[kwarnock]

I've used MusicMatch Jukebox to make MP3s from both vinyl records and cassette tapes as well as directly from CD. Program works as advertised and the most recent version also will burn CDs as well.

Ken