Digital media is a reliable and efficient way to store audio, so transferring old audio tapes to MP3 format is a great solution to keeping your audio without the worry and hassle of storing and keeping up with audio tapes. You can transfer cassette tapes, answering machine tapes and other kinds of tapes as long as you have a tape player for that format with a headphone jack or other audio output. It can seem like a daunting task, but with a little time and practice, you will be able to efficiently transfer audio from tapes to your computer and save them as MP3 files.
Instructions
1. Download audio recording software if you do not have any. Audacity is a free audio recording program, and it allows you to export audio in MP3 format with another free download.
2. Connect your tape player to your computer. Plug the stereo audio cable into the headphone jack on the tape player and the other end into the microphone input on the computer. The microphone input may be on the front of your computer, or more likely on the back.
3. Insert the tape you want to transfer into the tape player and hit "Play." Check to see if you are getting a signal to the computer. If not, open the audio settings for your computer (found in the Control Panel on Windows or System Preferences on Macs) and make sure that the microphone line is activated and turned up.
4. Open the audio recording software on your computer and check the level of your tape playing. In Audacity, this can be done by clicking the input level meter in the upper-right corner. Be sure that the signal is not too soft because your recording will be very quiet, and you will have to turn your speakers up a lot for it to be audible. Also make sure it is not too loud, or it will distort.
5. Record your audio. Stop the tape if it is playing, press "Record" on the audio recording software and then start playing the tape. You will have to do this in real time, but most audio recording will let you edit unused parts of a file, so you do not necessarily have to stop it exactly on time.
Tags: audio recording, your computer, tape player, audio recording software, recording software, audio tapes, format with
