Transferring old cassette tapes to computer-need a tape deck

[Winston]

I've got a number of old cassettes that have music I can't find anywhere else. I'd like to transfer them to my Mac. Problem is that we no longer have a decent cassette player/deck at home.

I'm not wild about spending a lot of money on a cassette deck as this likely be a relatively short-term use. I also don't really want a full-sized deck because they take up so much space. (Minor rant: why do hifi components have to come in such large boxes when they are mostly empty space inside? Especially since most people don't need them to stack with a record player any more.)

One idea is to get a used Sony professional Walkman. Apparently the recording quality on some of these was pretty good. But they seem to be expensive on eBay ($200 range). I'm leery of spending that much on an old machine full of rubber belts, gears and motors. Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-WM-D6C-Walk...te_Players&hash=item3f0db11e01#ht_500wt_914

I'm also not impressed by the USB cassette players on the market. There is a TEAC deck at Amazon that looks OK (also plays CDs), but again it's $200.
http://www.amazon.com/AD-800-Player-Cass...B0037VZUPO

I found some interesting info on high end tape decks here:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/gdead/tapi...part1.html
but it doesn't look terribly current.

Has anyone looked into tape decks recently?


- Winston

[pinkoos]

Costco B&M currently has one of the USB transfer devices. I forget the brand but I remember it being relatively cheap ($40?).

EDIT: I think it's the same as this one over at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Digital-GDI-...lectronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315838626&sr=1-1

But, I don't remember it being that expensive at Costco, but don't hold me to the price!

[mrthuse]

I borrowed an older Tascam from a friend some months ago to do the same thing. He let me borrow the deck for a few weeks. Bought him a bottle of decent bourbon and everybody was happy.

[freeradical]

I would consider going to one of the many vintage audio sites or even eBay and getting a high quality used deck.

[Winston]

mrthuse wrote:
I borrowed an older Tascam from a friend some months ago to do the same thing. He let me borrow the deck for a few weeks. Bought him a bottle of decent bourbon and everybody was happy.

That would be an almost ideal situation.

freeradical wrote:
I would consider going to one of the many vintage audio sites or even eBay and getting a high quality used deck.

I started to do that, but got overwhelmed quickly. Hence my retreat to the relative safety of the MacResource Forum!


- W

[DavidS]

Craigslist?

[h linamen]

I recently digitized some LP's and cassette tapes using an older turntable for the LPs and an older sony "boombox" in conjunction with the Griffin USB iMic that sells for about $25. Worked great.
http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Technology..._1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315841906&sr=8-1

[Winston]

I've got an iMic, but not the player for cassettes.

The turntable's another story. I got a Denon "USB" turntable (it records to a USB thumb drive, not to a computer connection) last year which I'm not very happy with. Should have researched it more.


- W

[lost in space]

Thrift stores around here have decent cassette decks sometimes, good prices too. Might try that.

[August West]

Pawn shop