How is it that the recorder shows a 90 minute cassette as being 1 hr 45 min long?
I think we need a few more words … 
Ok. I recorded a 90 minute audio cassette into Audacity. I am being told by Audacity that the recording is 1 hour & 45 minutes long. How can this be? The cassette is 90 minutes. 1 hour & 45 minutes equals 105 minutes. How can this be? 
What happens when you play the track in Audacity?
Haven’t tried to play it back to time it with a clock. Would you like a copy of it? I can only listen to the same thing so many times, especially when its at least 90 minutes long.
Not really 
Well just listen to the start and the end.
Is there silence at either end?
Does it sound like the correct speed?
Does it sound like the correct pitch?
Are you sure that the cassette actually is 90 minutes? Perhaps your cassette player plays it a bit slow, or the tape is longer than it says?
It’s a MAXELL XLII 90. A high quality & perfect tape. The entire recording plays fine from beginning to end. Ya know, I’ve about had it with Audacity. I appreciate all of the help I’ve received from all of you, but why do I have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to edit? NCH sound editor is so much better. Click, click, & I’m done. I could also use movie maker from windows to edit audio. But Audacity? NOOO. I tried the hand thing to drag the unwanted portion. Did not work. Tried using the timers at the bottom. Nope. Read the help section also. TY all again.
So it’s aright then?
Of course if you prefer to use other software then that is entirely your choice, but after 7 posts in this topic I’m still not clear what the actual problem was. If Audacity says that the recording is 1 hour 45 minutes, then that’s because the recording is 1 hour 45 minutes (no rocket science involved). Perhaps you forgot to pause the recording while you turned the tape over ? We only know what you tell us.
If I had forgotten to stop recording I would have a long period of flat line. Nothing recorded. As I stated previously, the entire recording is there with no gaps.
It’s a 90 minute tape. For some reason Audacity made it 15 minutes longer.
OK, try this as an experiment:
Record something (anything recognisable - it could be you counting seconds) for exactly 1 minute, then press the spacebar to stop the recording.
How long is the recording in Audacity?
Play the recording back and time it.
How long does the playback last?
Does it sound normal speed, normal pitch and reasonable sound quality? If you are unsure, please export it as a WAV file (default settings) and post it somewhere on the Internet and post a download link for it.
There are tape formats labelled “90+” or “UL” that can last 10 % longer than written on them.
However, there’s no warranty for it.
I assume that the tape is somewhat sensitive to humidity and warmth and overlength is needed to ensure the minimum recording time.
Wow and flutter are audible consequences of this stretching and shrinking and it does of course sum up over the whole duration.
Put the tape in the fridge for a while and record it again… 
If the tape sounds a bit slow, open Effect > Change Speed, enter “16.66666” (without quotes) in the “Percent Change” box and click OK. This will make the audio 90 minutes long if it was exactly 105 minutes long before.
Gale
Are you saying you used Transport > Timer Record… to make this recording, if so what duration did you choose there?
Gale
Hi Gale! You are the best. I have not tried your suggestion yet but now I know how to navigate. No, I did not use the transport timer function. I simply turned on the cassette player then hit the record button on Audacity. Can you help me with editing? I read all the documentation, put the cursor where it turns into a hand then dragged the portion I wanted to delete. I tried cut & I also tried delete. I saw movement in the audio bars but there was no change sound wise. Is it possible to use the selection start & end timers at the bottom? For example, if I set the start timer at 52:19:761 then set the end timer at 52:22:761 I have just selected 3 seconds of the recording. Is it possible to click on something that will delete those 3 seconds of recording?
Is this the first time it recorded too slow? Do you have a strobe edge or strobe mat on the turntable platter to judge the speed?
What happened with Cut and Delete? Were they greyed out? If you want to edit, you have to press the yellow Stop button first.
Yes you can use the boxes at the bottom to make very accurate time selections without having to zoom in to see what you are doing. You can also use the [ then the ] keys on your keyboard to set the left and right edges of the selection.
Gale
Hi Gale. I have come to the conclusion that Audacity is capable of providing a million different functions. I only want to use 10 of those. Hopefully, after my next 2 questions are answered I can stop bugging all of you.
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Is there any place where Audacity shows the length timewise of an audio file without having to save it first? For example, I deleted a 5 minute segment using the start & stop set points at the bottom of the screen, but I can’t find any way to determine what the former & new lengths are.
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Can I join 2 different imported files at one time? I want to import an audio file then place a 2nd audio file after it then make 1 file out of the 2. TY again.
When there is a selection present, Selection Toolbar always shows the length of that selection if the “Length” radio button is selected.
If there is no selection, Selection Toolbar cannot show the length of the track. To show the length of the current track, you have at least two methods. You can select all the track by clicking above the Mute / Solo buttons to left of the blue waves, then either the “End” or “Length” button will display the track length.
Or click in the track (removing the selection) then press K to move the cursor to the end of the track. The “End” button will then display the length of the track.
Audacity does not show all file statistics for an imported file so it can’t show you the file’s original length. You can Edit > Undo selection length changes to see the previous length of the selection.
Yes, see Audacity Manual.
Gale