How to Copy a Cassette Tape to MP3 or a CD

Before converting your first cassette to MP3 tunes and, optionally, importing them into iTunes, you need to assemble what will be needed. For software on the PC, we'll use the freeware program Audacity, which is a fine and versatile recording program.

Selecting the Correct Cables

Then you will need the cables to connect the sound source to the PC. The PC may have a front-mounted line-in port or, if a multimedia PC, RCA-style jacks for left and right. If the PC has a TV tuner card, there may be additional ports, but we'll be interested in the red and yellow ports. For a PC with no front panel inputs or outputs, the line-in port on the rear panel, which is usually blue, can be used. Please note that a front port marked with a microphone symbol is usually monaural, so if you see that, use the rear-panel line-in port instead.

The connectors on the audio source may be either a 1/8" stereo mini plug or RCA jacks. In the image below, a miniplug is at the top and RCA plugs are at the bottom.

Image: Radio Shack

If both the PC and the audio source (cassette player or "boom box") have the 1/8" miniplug jacks, a double-ended miniplug cable should be used. Note that this is actually the same type of cable that normally connects sound-out with powered speakers. In the case of a cassette deck (that time forgot), we'll want either RCA to RCA or RCA to 1/8" miniplug. If you need to purchase a cable, Radio Shack is a good source, but please note that in most cases, the line-in jack on the PC is preferred.

Doing a Sound Check

Once you have the cable to go from your audio source to the PC, you should turn up the sound and play a cassette to ensure that you hear the sound from the stereo speakers. If no audio is getting through, there are a couple of things to try. If your PC has specialized audio such as SoundMax or Realtek AD, the controls can found easily enough in the application’s settings panel. This can usually be started from Control Panel or from an icon in the notification area (system tray) of the PC. Look for a "Line-in" setting and adjust the level under "Recording level" or similar. I recommend no more than 75% of maximum, although the input may sound better at a lower volume setting.

Standard audio, or an alternate source for the settings, can be found by right-clicking the normal speaker icon in the system tray and selecting "Recording Devices." Double-click "Line-in" and then select the "Levels" tab.

Again, listen to the cassette playing while you adjust the line-in level. Both the output volume on the audio device and the input volume can be tweaked for the best sound. Start with, and try to keep, a minimal volume on the cassette player if you're using the headphone output. This will avoid some distortion in the recording.

A cassette deck will have low-level outputs, so the only adjustment will be the line-in on the PC.

For recording software, we'll need Audacity, and, to export the tracks as MP3 songs for an MP3 player or to import into iTunes, the Lame MP3 encoder binary.

Audacity is available as both a stable and a beta version. For most of the steps in this article, I used the 1.39 beta version without any complications and recommend it.

Audacity is about a 5 MB download. And here's what it looks like in recording mode.

You'll need to also download and install the Lame encoder. This is used when Audacity is asked to "Export Selected" to MP3.

I'll bypass the steps involved in downloading and installing Audacity and Lame, but if you need a walk-through on that, please see the article "Create Ringtones from Music You Already Own" here on Bright Hub and then come back to this article.

Once you have Lame and Audacity installed, it's time to take care of one setting. By default, Audacity listens to (and thus records) from the output of the Microsoft sound mapper. Depending on what you have running on your PC, this can include all sorts of interruptions like Windows sounds, Skype calls, and various pings and bongs. Since we don't want all that ruining our recording, there are a couple of proactive steps we can make.

First, start Audacity and select Edit → Preferences. On the right side, click "Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input" and change that to "Line In." (On my PC, it's labeled "MME: Line In (Realtek High Definition).") It's fine to leave the Playback device set to the sound mapper - that lets you hear the output while it's being recorded.

To make sure that Windows sounds don't intrude, we can address that, too. Right-click the speaker icon in the notification area and select "Mixer." Then yank the "Windows Sounds" slider all the way to the bottom. If there's a slider at the bottom of the dialog, slide it to the right and hush any other applications that you don't want to hear from.

Congratulations. You're now ready to try a trial recording.

Next: Making a Test Run