Old Cassette Tapes

[old medic]

Anyone have any experience with digital converting to MP3 files?
I have around 100 from festivals and jams I hate to lose.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I’ll ask DH. He’s been doing this for awhile.

 

[easysurfer]

Funny that you mentioned this as I just happened to digitize some cassettes about 2 months ago. Now in the process of digitizing some VHS tapes so I can finally say that I'm retired from analog and gone digital.

Better late than never .

As for the cassettes, I don't recommend the digitizers that look like a small Walkman as I tried one and the quality came out quite garbled. Instead one like the one attached (I got this at Amazon to do my converting) worked much better.

 

[Sojourner]

You can send these in to a media conversion company, like LegacyBox, to have them transferred to MP3. They use professional, high-quality equipment to do the transfers, so the results should be good. This would be especially important with old cassette tapes, as it's likely the thin magnetic tapes (along with all the plastic components) are no longer in good shape.

Groupon and LivingSocial usually have coupons and discounts for various media conversion companies. LegacyBox does good work, but it's fairly expensive. I imagine you'll end up paying around $10/cassette, or slightly less, depending on how many you send in at once.

 

[old medic]

As for the cassettes, I don't recommend the digitizers that look like a small Walkman as I tried one and the quality came out quite garbled. Instead one like the one attached.

Thanks... I got a turn table several years back that worked out good converting some albums.


Sojourner, We had some old family 8MM movies done, But this is a mess of a collection of stuff, mostly Old Tyme fiddle music ... a recorder gets turned on and record straight for 45 minutes.. there's music, lessons, just talking... and some of these folks are no longer with us...

 

[easysurfer]

for the cassettes, I don't recommend the digitizers that look like a small Walkman as I tried one and the quality came out quite garbled. Instead one like the one attached.

Thanks... I got a turn table several years back that worked out good converting some albums.


Sojourner, We had some old family 8MM movies done, But this is a mess of a collection of stuff, mostly Old Tyme fiddle music ... a recorder gets turned on and record straight for 45 minutes.. there's music, lessons, just talking... and some of these folks are no longer with us...

You're welcome. I had one of those old stereos that played cassettes and had the jacks for the audio capture device. One side of the device plugged into the USB port on my computer.

On my computer, I used a free program (cross platform) called Audacity. The program captured the converted audio just fine. I used Audacity to save (I think, exported) the converted cassettes to mp3 format.

You can even get carried away with the program to filter noises out. Like if you hear hiss, you can sample the hiss noise, then filter that out. You may not be that much of a perfectionist, but the capability is there.

 

[Sojourner]

Sojourner, We had some old family 8MM movies done, But this is a mess of a collection of stuff, mostly Old Tyme fiddle music ... a recorder gets turned on and record straight for 45 minutes.. there's music, lessons, just talking... and some of these folks are no longer with us...

So, are you saying that you really want to preserve all that in the highest quality possible (via something like LegacyBox) or that it's not really that important and you want to go the cheaper, lower-quality route? If the latter, just make sure you have a good, functional cassette player and then simply play the cassettes on your player—connected to a speaker system or stereo—while recording the audio "over the air" with a phone using its voice memo/recording app. I did this with some old cassette recordings of mine, and the results were quite good.

However, be aware that old cassette tape can easily get jammed and twisted up inside even a very good cassette player. Once that happens, your audio is permanently damaged. If the content on your cassette is important enough to you, then it's far better to send it into a media conversion/transfer company to ensure that the audio is preserved in the best quality that can be extracted.

 

[CRLLS]

I did some album conversions some years back. They turned out OK. I liked the nostalgic clicks from the scratches that were captured. Beyond when I made those recordings I haven't listened to them at all. I don't even listen to our CD's anymore. I'm not a music person I guess.

On a different note, what do you do with those tapes (cassette and VHS) once you're done converting? I've was so bombarded with cautions about throwing them in the trash. Most are purchased tapes, some are my own recordings or copies, maybe copies of copies. (Oh, the horror!)

 

[jollystomper]

Do you want to invest in the equipment to convert them?

I have a mixer that I use to convert both tapes and vinyl records to mp3s. Record player and cassette deck are connected to mixer. Output from the mixer is input into the PC (aux in), and I use software (Audacity) to record the aux in to a mp3 file.

You may also be able to connect cassette deck directly to PC, as this article describes: https://www.wikihow.com/Transfer-Cassette-Tape-to-Computer

There are also cassette to mp3 converters, such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/DIGITNOW-Cassette-Player-Cassette-Converter-Compatible/dp/B01GI9791O

 

[old medic]

At one time I decided to UPGRADE my recording abilities... Spent a a chunk of change on a Mini-Disc recorder, Nice Omni directional Mic. Even took 2 dry cell lantern batteries wired in a series for an external battery pack. PHENOMINAL RECORDINGS....
100s of hours worth.... I even used this set up to record some of these same tapes....
LMAO.... who still has a mini disc player??
I'm thinking of hunting thrift and pawn stores for a decent component system.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I did about 100 13 years or so ago. I used free/shareware and hooked up a cheap cassette player with audio out to my PC. It is tedious breaking up and naming tracks but not difficult. It was sort of fun to be forced to listen to all in their entirety too -unlike ripping CDs. Some had aged enough that they were slightly distorted. I rarely listen now as I stream most things. I do hate paying for copyright I own already though!

 

[old medic]

Do you want to invest in the equipment to convert them?
I dont mind spending a few $$$... There are hundreds of hours of stuff. and enjoying listening to it again... One tape is about 2 in the morning, with a dear friend who has since past away.... trying to teach me a banjo tune... both of us to drunk to play...... a few other egging us on to keep going while hysterically laughing at us...

FLSUnFIRE... I have done a few dozen albums years ago, and got a stack of them yet too.. I wanted to keep going, but life got in the way.. Finding this box of tapes has reignited the quest.... Retirement challenge ... one tape/album a day....

 

[ERD50]

At one time I decided to UPGRADE my recording abilities... Spent a a chunk of change on a Mini-Disc recorder, Nice Omni directional Mic. Even took 2 dry cell lantern batteries wired in a series for an external battery pack. PHENOMINAL RECORDINGS....
100s of hours worth.... I even used this set up to record some of these same tapes....
LMAO.... who still has a mini disc player??
I'm thinking of hunting thrift and pawn stores for a decent component system.

I have not watched these segments, but this guy "techmoan" does a lot of good segments on older tech:

Do you want to invest in the equipment to convert them?
I dont mind spending a few $$$... There are hundreds of hours of stuff. and enjoying listening to it again... One tape is about 2 in the morning, with a dear friend who has since past away.... trying to teach me a banjo tune... both of us to drunk to play...... a few other egging us on to keep going while hysterically laughing at us...

FLSUnFIRE... I have done a few dozen albums years ago, and got a stack of them yet too.. I wanted to keep going, but life got in the way.. Finding this box of tapes has reignited the quest.... Retirement challenge ... one tape/album a day....

As others have mentioned, you probably don't need any extra equipment at all to digitize the cassettes (maybe a cheap cable if you don't already have it). As that earlier linked article describes, just use the freeware Audacity program and a cable from cassette audio out to computer audio in.

https://www.wikihow.com/Transfer-Cassette-Tape-to-Computer

The cassette player itself and the condition of the tapes may be the biggest issue. You can read up on this, you want a good quality player/deck, clean the heads, and read up on the tapes. Some may need a careful baking/humidifying to make them playable.

The sooner the better, just like us, those tapes aren't getting any younger!

The places that do the conversion look like ~ $15~$20 per tape - that's pretty steep!

-ERD50

 

[jim584672]

I had some cassettes. Played them into my computer into a wav file. Converted the wav to flac to save space. Threw out the tapes and the player.

 

[old medic]

One of the found tapes... hidden in a case... HOLY S#!T.....
90 minutes of our garage band in high school... 78-79

 

[easysurfer]

My additional suggestion is if doing the converting yourself is to find a good spot to set up and leave up for the entire process. Otherwise, the chore of setting up, going through some tapes, then putting away for another day can get cumbersome.

As for my recent VHS to MP4 conversion, I have about 14 hrs of footage to convert. Hopefully, will be done by end of weekend then call that a done deal.

 

[Sojourner]

The cassette player itself and the condition of the tapes may be the biggest issue. You can read up on this, you want a good quality player/deck, clean the heads, and read up on the tapes. Some may need a careful baking/humidifying to make them playable.

The sooner the better, just like us, those tapes aren't getting any younger!

+1

Trying to play cassette tapes recorded 30+ years ago with an old cassette player is asking for trouble, usually. If the content on the tapes is of marginal importance, then it may be worth a try to play them on decades-old, consumer-grade equipment. But unless you're very lucky, those tapes are probably going to play back very unevenly, sound distorted, and get jammed/stretched/tangled inside the player. Before that happens, ask yourself how important the content is to you, and whether you want to preserve it in the best, most pristine way possible.

 

[easysurfer]

+1

Trying to play cassette tapes recorded 30+ years ago with an old cassette player is asking for trouble, usually. If the content on the tapes is of marginal importance, then it may be worth a try to play them on decades-old, consumer-grade equipment. But unless you're very lucky, those tapes are probably going to play back very unevenly, sound distorted, and get jammed/stretched/tangled inside the player. Before that happens, ask yourself how important the content is to you, and whether you want to preserve it in the best, most pristine way possible.

Have to factor in how well the cassette was stored and away from the open air.

Not cassettes, but I've been playing about 30 year old VHS tapes over the past couple of days. I'm surprise at how well they kept and didn't degrade. I did have them in their cardboard boxes and then in a plastic create away from the elements.

 

[ERD50]

One of the found tapes... hidden in a case... HOLY S#!T.....
90 minutes of our garage band in high school... 78-79

Wow! I recall now, we had some reel-to-reel tapes of my HS garage band. Don't know where those went. Would be fun to hear those again - our guitar player was really very good, drummer was good and was from Liverpool (pretty unique for a Midwest band!), bass player was good and went pro, and I hopefully had a few moments of keyboard playing that weren't too bad. That's probably optimistic.

Get them digitized and share them with us!

-ERD50

 

[old medic]

Ultimately when the house gets done, the spare bedroom will be set up as a hobby room... Wifes arts and crafts, my fly tying and music, both listening and playing.
Tapes had been in a plastic tote buried in a closet till about 4 years ago... then they got stuck out in a shed... we have been reorganizing the shed, finding all sorts of treasures from years ago. Many of these have no labeling or dates, so its a pleasant chore to try and place the when and where....But I do fear the possible catastrophic failure awaiting.

Our VHS tape story.... We bought some big named program and gear.. like $200 and had converted everything VHS to digital... Then was working on converting our smaller handy cam tapes... Then one afternoon... BOOM....
Lightning struck a tree behind the shop and run the powerline back into the house.
It fried every piece of electronics it the house, refrigerators TVs, video players, including, the handy cam, the computer and all the files we had already converted....
After that.. we back up everything on a SS hard drive that stays in the safe unless in use.

 

[ERD50]

...Then one afternoon... BOOM....
Lightning struck a tree behind the shop and run the powerline back into the house.
It fried every piece of electronics it the house, refrigerators TVs, video players, including, the handy cam, the computer and all the files we had already converted....
After that.. we back up everything on a SS hard drive that stays in the safe unless in use.

Sorry to hear that. That's why it's important to digitize anything you really want to save. Once digitized, it's easy/cheap to distribute copies to protect against anything short of an asteroid strike.

-ERD50

 

[old medic]

Sorry to hear that.
-ERD50

Thanks... thats been nearly 15 years ago... and lesson learned.