I cannot record from a USB tape deck into Audacity.
Thank You,
Gary
Why not? What’s the problem?
You may find this post helpful: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-post-a-question-on-the-forum/23175/1
Connected tape deck to usb
Transport rescan
I get nothing but Mic usb
Sound mapper
stereo mix
What sort of tape deck is it?
If it’s one of these cheap Chinese USB cassette decks (pictured below), then the device may be faulty (we have heard many reports of these devices failing) and you may need to contact the retailer to ask for a refund.
I get nothing but Mic usb
Did you try the “USB mic”? Do you actually have a USB microphone and a USB tape deck plugged-in?
Sometimes Windows doesn’t know exactly what you’ve plugged-in…
If USB mic works you might have to go-through the Windows control panel to configure the USB device for stereo.
…And those “cheap” USB cassette players have a reputation for being unreliable. 
Otherwise they are almost always plug-and-play with the Microsoft-supplied drivers and it should work.
Marantz PMD 300CP
Not a mic
usb port back of deck to usb port pc.
Tried again, and it is now recording after using the Transport rescan
usb mic.
But it will not record in Stereo.
Gary
Audacity and Windows both have to be configured for stereo. [u]FAQ - How Can I Record In Stereo?[/u]
It is.
I just downloaded Ashampoo Recorder Free, and it does what I want.
You can still edit with Audacity if you want. But in that case you’ll want to start with a lossless format (WAV or FLAC) and if you want a lossy format (like MP3) compress once as the last step.
As long as nothing “goes wrong” your choice of recording software doesn’t affect sound quality. The recording software simply captures the audio data and sends it to your hard drive. “Simple editing” doesn’t affect quality either but effects will sound different with different software.