subject: Converting To Mp3: How To Turn Your Old Audiocassettes Into Portable Digital Music [print this page] I've loved music since audiocassette tapes were considered technological miracles, and I have a a hefty supply of them to show for it. With audio cassette machines swiftly becoming relics and the audio cassettes themselves expiring of old age, I desired a way to transform them into files I could utilize either as MP3s or on CDs (perfectly lawful if you don't sell them).
My research brought me to complicated pieces of equipment, and studios that asked for at least as much money as it would take to buy a new audiocassette with a CD (if the album was still in print). Then I came upon the ClearClick Cassette2USB audio cartridge converter, and quite honestly, it sounded too good to be true.
No larger or weightier than the first portable cassette players (at the risk of dating myself), the Cassette2USB converter claims to digitize audiocassette recordings by linking it to your computer with a USB cord and copying them with Audacity audio software. It is compatible with the PC, Linux and Mac operating systems. And if you can make do without pause button, you can even use it as an audio cassette player: the Cassette2USB can accept headphones, batteries and can be plugged in.
Setup is brief and uncomplicated, particularly if you download the latest edition of Audacity - it's free, and has versions that can accommodate the older Mac and PC platforms. Place your cartridge in the Cassette2USB converter, push its "Play" button, then click the Audacity screen's "Record" button. You can listen privately through earphones, and the "Loop" feasture will will play both sides of the cassette automatically. Just be there to stop the Cassette2USB and Audacity when they're done.
The Cassette2USB converter does turn out be just as painless to install and use as promised -- so if you've got a heap of audiocassettes whose youth is long gone, converting to MP3 can breathe new life into them! Here's how:
