audio tape to CD

[bazookaman]

whats the best way to get audio off an audio tape into the computer. We no longer have a tape deck in the house.

[chas_m]

Rub a magnet on it.

Just kiddin'. Well it goes without saying you're going to need a tape deck of some kind, so let's make that Step 1.

Some people plug said tape deck directly into the mic jack of the computer using cords most likely obtained from Radio Shack. This can, in some instances, cause damage to the unit so I always use the iMic from Griffin Technology for this.

Griffin's iMic includes software for recording audio, but there's also WireTap, Audio Hijack, Audacity and at least a half-dozen other low-cost or free alternatives.

Once the audio has been "captured," import the file into iTunes.

That's more or less it.

[RevKev]

Records tapes and does other neat things, as well.

http://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/features.php

[Spock]

If you have Toast then you should have CD Spin Doctor. Easy to use and works well.

[bazookaman]

Does it matter what type of tape deck I use? I don't want another "home stereo" tape deck. Could i just pick up any type of deck? As long as it has sound out?

I was thinking Audio Hijack also. I figured I could figure out the software part of it. Its the hardware part I was mostly wondering about. Stupid analog.

[bazookaman]

ok...so I JUST noticed...across the room, sitting on top of my bookshelf is an old boombox...with a tape deck! i forgot I even had it. It has a headphone out jack. Can i plug this directly into my G5? What kind of cable would I need? Or should I get the imic?

[Racer X]

my gut tells me that headphone out of the boom box to the mic in of the mac should work. I would try it with the volume REALLY REALLY low first, and then slowly raise the volume out of the boombox. The signal of a headphone out isn't the same as a microphone in, but it should work if you don't overdrive the Mac's mic port.

I do it sometimes with a walkman.

AUX out in the form of 2 RCA jacks is best, but many boomboxes don't have these.

[michaelb]

The headphone jack on a boombox should work fine (at least for me and my imac), and you can get a miniplug to miniplug straight cable to hook it up. Obviously not the greatest audio quality. You need spin doctor or something else to break the file into tracks. My memory is that spin doctor has meters that let you set the gain on the input, so you need to fiddle with that and the volume out to get a decent sound.