Audio not being recognized using Super USB Cassette Tape converter

I recently gathered some old tapes from my mother’s apartment after she just passed away, and bought a tape converter to digitize them.

I’m using Mac Mojave with Audacity 2.4.2. The audio on the tape itself is working, as I can hear it through the headphones that plug into the converter. The input in Audacity is set to the USB device, the input volume is turned all the way up, and I’ve toggled on Software Playthrough in the Transport Options menu.

When I press play on the cassette converter and then record on Audacity, no wavy lines appear. I’m stumped at this point.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Does the input say “PnP USB Audio Device” or similar? If so, that cassette deck is one of many brands (that all appear to be exactly the same) that give problems when connecting to Mac. They’ll work for a few seconds then disconnect. We have not been able to find a solution.
– Bill

Hi, yes, it says "“PnP USB Audio Device”. That is so disappointing! Is there a brand that we know does work with Mac?

No. We used to recommend using a stand-alone cassette deck along with an inexpensive Behringer USB audio adapter, but those adapters are in short supply in North America and as such prices are either stupid expensive, or “require extra delivery time”.
– Bill