Audacity Forum

I am trying to copy my tapes into my PC using a Clarity cassette to USB recorder.
I am still getting problems with no sound playback. I hope that the following can help in getting me going.
I have followed the previous advce from Waxcylinder but am still struggling.
I am using windows XP and have removed all versions and reloaded the latest version of audacity 1.3.12 to my PC.
I get 3 options for recording and playback in the preferences which are -Primary sound driver, USB PnP Audio Device and Realtek AC97 Audio
In the drop down menu on the main screen I am only getting microphone array
I have set the recording section in preferences to USB PnP audio device. I have tried all combinations of the others and still no joy.
I connect my tape deck to my usb port on my PC then open up Audacity. then then when I press record I get the wavelengths which I assume confirms that it is recording from the tape deck. I get sound out of the earphone socket.
I then press stop and return to start then press play but no sound comes out.
I have then exported it to my PC in wav or MP3 format and when I try to play it back in windows media player I get no sound.
I hope that the above is helpful in getting me an answer, is there any other information anyone requires to get me an answer?

When you plug in a USB device like this your computer hands over control of all sound services to the USB device - both input and output. Since you USB deck doesn't have a set of speakers, you then don't get any sound from the computer (not even the normal Windows sounds).

All you need to do is to get Windows and Audacity to retarget the sound output onto your PC's on-board soundcard. In Windows use Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Audio > Sound Playback - in Audacity use Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O > Playback Device - you may need to close and restart Audacity for the change to take effect.

Many folks fall into this bear-trap when they start out with USB/Audacity - I certainly did !

WC

Many thanks waxcylinder, I now have sound when I playback.