I just bought a cassette player hoping to put my old tapes into my computer on windows 8.1. I installed audacity 2.x but cannot get the tape to play . It appears to me that the hardware is not recognised and does not show in the list of devices. I need help .
Do you mean that the tape transport mechanism doesn’t move the tape (which is what you said) - or do you mean it’s not sending a signal to Audacity 
Audacity 2.x is a bit unspecific - which Audacity version. 
Oh, and try telling us the make and model number of the tape gadget …
sorry I didn’t give enough det ails. The Audacity is 2.0.5.0 exe and the tape player is Digitech GE4071. It was supplied with the Audacity disc. The tape moves in the player. The instructions say to connect the player to the usb input and follow the on screen directions, however these do not appear so I suspect the player is not connected to the computer or at least not recognised. The manual gives directions which do not agree with this version of Windows about setting the Input audio device. I’ve only had Windows8 for a few months and I have not grown to get on with it
A lot of manufacturers’ manuals have misleading or incorrect instructions for Audacity.
Try instead this set of tutorials from the Manual: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_copying_tapes_lps_or_minidiscs_to_cd.html
Especially this one on USB devices: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/recording_with_usb_turntables.html
Post back if you’re still stuck after that.
WC
Thankyou for the help. I seem to be getting somewhere at last. I can hear my tape over the computer speakers now. Net step is to get it onto a CD, your instructions will no doubt make that a piece of cake. Once again thanks. Brian 88