Audacity Forum

Hi. I have Windows 7 and Audacity 2-1-2 obtained via installer.
Having most of my audio on minidiscs, and because minidiscs are now defunct, I want to get all the audio re-recorded in MP3 format. However, I can`t seem to get Audacity to respond. It will respond to any audio already on the PC, but not to my minidisc player. I`ve tried connecting via a USB 7.1 channel sound device which has always worked in the past, but not with my player. The other basic connection that I tried is a 3.5 stereo jack from the disc player`s headphone socket to the mic in socket on my PC (Packard Bell Easynote TS), but with no response whatever. I`ve checked the leads I`m using and they`re all OK, The out socket on the disc player is also working fine. There seems to be something preventing the sound getting through to Audacity.
Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.

I`ve tried connecting via a USB 7.1 channel sound device which has always worked in the past, but not with my player.

It worked in the past for what?

What's happening? Does Audacity see it as a recording device? Are you recording silence?

Of course you need a recording device, not a playback device.... If Windows sees it as a recording device, Audacity should see it too. (Right click on the Windows speaker/volume icon and select Recording Devices. Make sure it shows-up and is enabled.)

Does it have line-level inputs? If it's got 8 channels, I assume it has four 3.5mm jacks, so make sure you're using the right one for 2-channel stereo recording.

The other basic connection that I tried is a 3.5 stereo jack from the disc player`s headphone socket to the mic in socket on my PC (Packard Bell Easynote TS),

Although a microphone input should "work", it's too sensitive for a line level (or headphone level) signal so you might get distortion and low quality, and it's probably mono. And, if your laptop has a combination mic/headphone jack you need a special 4-conductor TRRS connector to make the microphone connection.

I want to get all the audio re-recorded in MP3 format.

As you may know, MP3 is lossy compression (although a good-quality MP3 can often sound identical to the original). So, you might want to make a WAV or FLAC archive. FLAC is lossless compression, so the files will be almost half the size of WAVs and tagging (artist/title/album/etc.) is more-standardized for FLAC than for WAV.