I have been trying to record my 7" reel to reel tapes to a computer for 15 years and then I found Audacity. It worked for a while, then it started flat lining. I went through the forum looking for answers and I tried most of the suggested fixes but the flat lining persisted. In desperation I looked on the forum for “what sound card is the best to use”? After this I realised I had a Creative brand sound card in an old computer. When I opened the back of my newer computer I found it did not even have a sound card, so I fitted the “Creative” one and since then I have recorded over 30 tapes which has filled a 64 GB USB… Excellent. 
The step where you connect your Music Spritzer sound device to the computer is responsible for the majority of the error posts on the forum. Even Macs, the stereo connection holdouts finally gave up and you need to add hardware if you want to record stereo on most of them.
Koz
While I respect your knowledge of Audacity, I do not know what you mean by “Connecting Music Spritzer”. How do I know I have this device? I just ran a lead from my 2 RCA line outs to the sound card input on the computer and it has worked perfectly ever since. I was just writing to help other people who may have the same problem.
If your computer is a branded model, it has a built-in sound card on the motherboard.
What Koz is saying is that lots of users connect line-level (strong signal) outputs to microphone ports on computers or sound cards because that is the only input, but it’s often the wrong input.
Mic inputs are wrong because they are for weak signals and apply unwanted amplification to already strong signals, leading to distortion. Mic inputs are also usually mono.
Some mic inputs on computers are “compatible” and can detect a line-level connection, but a single input on a standalone sound card would almost certainly be a mono mic input. Some Creative cards have separate line-in and mic-in but I gather some don’t.
Gale