Cassette to usb players with half decent transport mechanisms?

[markwoll]

In the latest round of cleanup/household reorgs I 'found' some boxes of cassette tapes.
Some were self recorded back in the 80's ( TDK SA C90 ) some store bought.
I would love to be able to rip some of them to a pc for further enjoyment, just not worth buying them all over again.
I have been looking at Cassette to usb adapters and the pricing and descriptions are all over the place.
No cassette players in the house other than a sad boombox, so I need more than just the analog to usb part.
Audacity should work fine to clean up and save in other than MP3 format ( the source will be an old tape, but I must have some standards ).

Any recommendations for one with a half decent mechanism, Dolby NR a bonus?

[MudShark22]

Great thread, I would be interested in one of these too.

[3LockBox]

In the latest round of cleanup/household reorgs I 'found' some boxes of cassette tapes.
Some were self recorded back in the 80's ( TDK SA C90 ) some store bought.
I would love to be able to rip some of them to a pc for further enjoyment, just not worth buying them all over again.
I have been looking at Cassette to usb adapters and the pricing and descriptions are all over the place.
No cassette players in the house other than a sad boombox, so I need more than just the analog to usb part.
Audacity should work fine to clean up and save in other than MP3 format ( the source will be an old tape, but I must have some standards ).

Any recommendations for one with a half decent mechanism, Dolby NR a bonus?

check Amazon. I know that there's a few units on sale there that aren't too expensive but I haven't seen any of them with Dolby noise-reduction. You can work around this if you have a halfway decent WAV file manipulation program, most of which have a noise reduction function. Most of the units I see for sale are glorified personal players and the tape head in these things are going to be bare minimum quality at best.

[Zeuhlmate]

I theink you can use audicity (free) for noise reduction: https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/

[JKL2000]

I'd love to know what the single quotes around 'found' in the OP mean. Did you actually steal them?

LOL - just kidding, but I am wondering.

[rcarlberg]

I would think a dedicated cassette-to-USB device -- like the dedicated turntables-to-USB -- would be horribly overpriced for what you get because it's such a niche market, populated by price-no-object trendies.

You might be better off getting a good quality used cassette deck (local audio store or eBay), getting one of these for $30, and doing it the old fashioned way.

[Dave (in MA)]

I don't know the first thing about this gadget,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075WSFNJY...&pd_rd_w=S4k0b

But I do like the disclaimer at the end: Attention: It records only when the tape be playing.

[JKL2000]

I don't know the first thing about this gadget,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075WSFNJY...&pd_rd_w=S4k0b

But I do like the disclaimer at the end: Attention: It records only when the tape be playing.

They used the Jive Speak translator.

I like that you can walk around listening to your cassette like back in the day, AS it's being converted!

[Zeuhlmate]

I use a cheap device on my job for video/VHS -> PC -> DVD. Should do the trick with sound too.

This type:
https://www.av-cables.dk/composite-c...SABEgJ9ovD_BwE

And a free version of this software: http://www.honestech.com/main/SoftwareUpdates.asp

[markwoll]

I'd love to know what the single quotes around 'found' in the OP mean. Did you actually steal them?

LOL - just kidding, but I am wondering.

I knew they were around, but their presence and future disposition were brought to my attention.

[adap2it]

I use my Tascam digital audio recorder to my Yamaha cassette deck to transfer to SD card. Works great! You would still have to use something like Audacity to split the tracks.

[Plasmatopia]

I would love a 4-track cassette player to USB...for transferring all my old crappy experiments to digital.

Actually, I really just need a working 4-track with individual track outputs and I'd be all set. I just can't bring myself to buy some ancient 4-track cassette recorder from Ebay or whatever.

[battema]

None of the reviews on the tape-to-USB devices filled me with great confidence. I ended up purchasing a decent Sony tape deck instead and just doing it the old-fashioned "analog" way, recording the WAV into my computer and then cleaning up, etc..

[progmatist]

Your best bet would be to go to your local Goodwill Store and pick up a used cassette deck, which was high-end back in the day, then go directly into your computer. I'd recommend taking a tape you don't really care about to test play before making the purchase. Electronics from Goodwill don't always work

[Progbear]

Your best bet would be to go to your local Goodwill Store and pick up a used cassette deck, which was high-end back in the day, then go directly into your computer. I'd recommend taking a tape you don't really care about to test play before making the purchase. Electronics from Goodwill don't always work

Most thrift stores have a test plug. They’re also lousy with used cassettes, so at least testing if it runs properly shouldn’t be a problem. Unless it has a headphone port, there’s not really any way to test if it has more subtle issues (i.e.: a wobbly motor). I lucked out with my (FREE!) Tascam 302.

The first thing you ought to do when you get it home, before sticking any of your own media into it, is clean the heads. Cotton swabs and some 91% isopropyl alcohol should do you.

[progmatist]

^^ And also, immediately after testing the deck in the store, remove the cassette and examine the actual tape to make sure the deck didn't chew the tape.

[Jubal]

Best bet is to get a used cassette deck at GoodWill I've found several good ones over the years for less than 20.00. Most recent purchase was a JVC 3 head unit that sounds just fine. I have a FocusRite Scarlet i2 for interfacing. Audacity works very well for recording and converting to MP3.
The cassette to mp3 standalone units are generally all crap.

[3LockBox]

I would think a dedicated cassette-to-USB device -- like the dedicated turntables-to-USB -- would be horribly overpriced for what you get because it's such a niche market, populated by price-no-object trendies.

nah, many cheap options

You might be better off getting a good quality used cassette deck (local audio store or eBay), getting one of these for $30, and doing it the old fashioned way.

Definitely. A decent home tape deck will have a better motor, mechanics as well as a better tape head, one that can be adjusted. But like I said before, If what you have on tape was also released on CD, you'll be better off finding a cheap used copy. Used CDs are as cheap lately as I've ever seen them. If we're talking about something never released on CD and you have plenty of time and you know your way around an audio file manipulation program, then sure, go for it.

[3LockBox]

BTW, RC I still listen to that Steven Miller CD you burned me from a vinyl rip years back. Wasn't that a stand alone CD burner? I had that album on tape decades ago and can't imagine a rip from the cassette could sound as good as that vinyl rip