Newly purchased. Installed hardware on computer (Win. 8.1). Downloaded latest software version ( 2.06) from Audacity site. Inserted cassette tape (has 6-8 songs on a side) into hardware. I want to copy the cassette tape and put it either on a CD or directly onto my computer. Opened up the help manual and can not make head or tail out of it. Is someone available to take me by the hand and lead me step by step (tiny baby steps!) from start to finish of this project.
Carol
First step might be the version. We don’t make a 2.06. Might you have 2.0.6?
Koz
If Help > About Audacity… says 2.0.6 with two dots in the version number, you’re fine. If it says 2.06 (one dot) you will need to uninstall that and get 2.0.6 from us at http://audacityteam.org/download/windows.
What is the make and model number of the cassette player? If you connect the player to the computer with a USB cable, this Tutorial should help: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/recording_with_usb_turntables.html (it applies to USB cassette decks too).
For a real standalone tape player, start from Tutorial - Copying tapes, LPs or MiniDiscs to CD.
Gale
Thanks for responding. I’m sorry, I dropped one of the periods in the version #. It is 2.0.6. As far as make and model #'s, couldn’t find any on the unit or on the box. (made in China!!) The unit is called “cassette to digital converter - USB to PC”. On the box is a scanner bar with this code underneath it - #E2EDED5EF2DL. This may not be relevant. However, the features: upload cassette directly to PC via USB cable, plug and play USB device, converts music to MP3 format. I clicked on the site address you gave me, and the instructions were fine. Thank you. After I got the program all set up and plugged in the cassette converted, my computer couldn’t find the converter. We tried it on my husband’s computer (his is also very new), and again, the converter wasn’t recognized. We came to the conclusion that the converted electronics were too old and not compatible with the new computers to plug and play. I returned the converter to shop where purchased and got a refund. So I didn’t lose a whole lot. Local businesses that convert, charge way too much for what the tapes are worth. Thank you again for all your time and help. Carol
In many cases the USB cables that come with these generic converters are defective.
If you go with a reputable brand like Ion you should be OK: http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/tape-express-with-headphones .
Gale
Tried two other USB cables that I use for other units (external hard drive, computerized embroidery machine, etc.) and they made no difference. Thanks for the suggestion anyway. Carol
Audacity looks for audio devices when you start the program. It does not look again unless you specifically tell it to.
That means that if you launch Audacity first and then connect the cassette player, Audacity will not know that it is there, so you will not be able to select it.
Normally what you would do is to connect the cassette player first, then wait a few moments for Windows to find the device, and then launch Audacity.
You can check if Windows has “found” the device by looking in the Windows Sound Control Panel. It may be listed as a USB microphone or some other sort of USB device. Audacity can only see devices that Windows can see, so if Windows cannot see the device, then Audacity will not be able to see it either.
I mentioned that Audacity “does not look again unless you specifically tell it to”: To tell Audacity to “look again”, open the “Transport” menu and click on “Rescan Audio Devices”.
I’ve been in the computer field over 50 years, main frames, pc’s, programming, so I pretty much know how to work my way around computers. And I followed all the instructions from the manual.audacity team that was sent to me by someone on this forum. My husband who’s been in the computer field even longer than I have tried all his tricks. Nothing worked, so returned the unit and will continue to look for another solution. Thanks to everyone who tried to help. Carol
Carol, have you still got a decent cassette deck hanging around? If so then you can either connect that directly to a Line-in (not mic-in on your PC - most modern laptops only have a mic input which is not suitable for line level signals). If you have no line-in you can buy one of the many USB soundcards that are available on the market which will digitize the signal and deliver it to the PC via USB - se this sticky thread: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-card-reviews/8375/1
It would probably be worth giving the cassette deck a decent home service, cleaning the heads and transport mechanism (I had my Nakamichi professionally serviced before I converted my tapes - but I had a lot of irreplaceable tapes so that was worthwhile expenditure-wise). This article from the Audacity Wiki gives good guidelines: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recording_from_Cassette
WC