Hi all,
Can anyone help me please? I’ve plugged a Plug N Play device into my Windows 11 laptop (it’s a USB cassette to mp3 converter), and my laptop has found the device. But Audacity can’t! I’ve followed the steps in this article: Audacity is not detecting the audio device I just connected | Audacity Support
I’m not sure what else to try; any ideas very welcome!
Thank you
Melanie
Could you tell us the make and model of the device? Has it ever worked?
Check your Windows Permissions/Privacy Settings for the device to make sure Audacity is allowed to use it.
…If that doesn’t work I’m out of ideas.
But while your in the Windows settings make sure Windows “enhancements” are turned OFF. The often foul-up the sound in all kinds of ways.
Hi, it’s a ezcap218 USB cassette player. It’s brand new and has never worked before. I’ve got the full user manual that says it should work with Windows 11, and followed the instructions. Thank you!
Fair enough and we know Windows 11 ‘sees’ it, right? Try installing another free program called Ocenaudio just to see if that works. If not, it’s something other than Audacity, maybe. There is a short YouTube video from EZCap but it is rubbish.
If you plugged it in after starting Audacity, try to issue the “rescan audio devices” command. Or plug it in before starting Audacity.
Thanks everyone, I’ve tried all of that; Windows is definitely finding the device but Audacity can’t see it. So I thought I would try another app to record the cassette to - I’ve tried Ocenaudio, and that isn’t picking up the device either! 
Are you sure the USB connector on the device is a sound-output? Or is it possibly only there for charging its batteries?
If your device has a connector for earphones, you could try to record using them instead.
Find a cable (stereo!) and an “external sound card” (for example, Behringer UCA-202) and use that sound card’s USB connection.
A lot of people have trouble with those “cheap little” USB cassette players. There’s a chance that it’s defective.
Two more things to try -
Try Listen To This Device to make sure Windows is getting a signal. (Of course for the USB device, not the microphone.)
You can also try forcing a driver re-install. (These things are plug-and-play with the Microsoft-supplied drivers so usually nothing bad happens).
With the USB cassette player unplugged from the computer,
P.S.
Windows has a built-in automatic Audio Troubleshooter. (It fixed a microphone problem for me recently.)
That same link also has a list of other things you can check (although they don’t all apply).
…I’m pretty sure it’s a Windows problem since it’s not even showing-up in Audacity and it didn’t work in ocenaudio.
I think you might be right, as it doesn’t show up when I search for it under USB, it comes up under ‘Sound, video and game controllers’ instead (it’s the last USB Plug & Play device on the list):
So I wonder if it’s how I’m connecting it that’s the problem?
Ah - when I tried the ‘Listen to this device’ I encountered a problem - it’s not showing! I clicked the Playback tab and the device wasn’t listed.
Did you try a different USB cable?
Or, do you have a desktop/tower computer with a regular soundcard and line in (usually color coded blue)?
The headphone output will work with line-in, but check the headphone output from the cassette player with headphones first.
Or maybe you have another cassette deck with line-outputs or a headphone output.
(The microphone input on a laptop is “wrong” for a couple of reasons.)
Or, romontschun suggested the Behringer UCA202 which is a popular, relatively inexpensive, USB audio interface with line inputs.
…It seems out-of-stock “everywhere”. The UCA222 and UFO222 will also work, or Behringer makes lots of higher-end audio interfaces and other manufacturer also make audio interfaces. Make sure to get the correct adapter cables. Usually they don’t have 3.5mm connections.
DON’T buy a regular little “USB soundcard”. They are like laptops with only mic-in and headphone-out.
Just to be clear, don’t buy any of the suggested sound cards if you don’t have a cassette deck too. I assumed you got the EZCap device to have two devices in one. When I digitise tapes I use the cassette deck on my hi-fi connected to a Behringer 302USB mixer which connects to my antique laptop via a USB cable.
I don’t have a different USB cable, just the one that comes with the cassette player. It is a USB one end and a smaller USB the other end (perhaps USB-C or similar?). I’m not sure what a line in is unfortunately! I have a laptop, it’s a Lenovo ThinkPad.
I have a headphone port on my laptop (apologies if that’s the wrong term, I don’t know the proper name for it), so I can plug headphones in there. I also have the same on the cassette player and that works with headphones so I know the port is working. Do you mean I should connect the cassette player to my laptop via the headphone sockets on both ends? Rather than using the USB cable?
Thank you!
Typically, a desktop PC (rather than a laptop) would have 3 x 3.5mm jack sockets coloured pink, green and blue. The green is a headphone output, the pink one is input for a microphone and the blue one is input at ‘line-level’ aka line in. Many laptops don’t have the line in which means having to get the signal into the computer some other way eg USB audio device.
No, that could never work. The output from the tape player needs to go to an input on the laptop not an output. Essentially, you are trying to convert an analogue audio signal from the tape to a digital signal that the laptop can ‘understand’. I am assuming that the EZCAP device is both a player and audio interface to your computer so you need the USB connector to connect to the laptop because it has no line in. I hope that makes sense. I’m struggling to express it more elegantly.
That makes sense, thank you! Yes so the cassette player is both a player and a recorder. What’s really odd is that my Windows laptop is recognising the device, but Audacity isn’t; I would have thought neither would pick it up. I will try a different USB cable to see if that works, thanks so much for all your help with this! Much appreciated:)
I agree.
You’re welcome. Also, here is a link to a response from ChatGPT when I asked for ideas on this issue: ChatGPT suggestions.
Is Windows recognizing it as an audio input/recording device?
Since Listen To This Device didn’t work, something’s wrong and the cassette player itself probably isn’t working, if it’s not the cable.
“You never know for-sure what the problem is until it’s fixed”. 
You probably need to try a different computer or a different USB audio-input device. Whatever you can get your hands on more easily.
…I have a cheap little USB soundcard that I bought just for testing-troubleshooting but I don’t have an analog “compute microphone” for it so I’ve only tested it with headphones as an output/playback device.
Thank you, I have a different USB cable that I will try and if that doesn’t work then I know it’s the cassette player. At least I’ll know then! Thank you so much for your help:)
