How to Convert your Old Cassette Tapes To MP3

If you have old Records or audio cassette tapes that you've recorded in the past and wanted to capture that old audio and put it in an MP3 format for your IPOD or MP3 player, this article was written for you.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. The first thing you need to do is to dig up your old records and tapes. Then you need to have a device such as a walkman or record player that has a standard line level output. You will need this line level output to connect to the receiver on the sound card of your pc or laptop.

2. Next you will need software to rip the audio from the cassette or record. I use Audacity as it is the most intuitive for me. Look around and see what works for you. In this article I will give you the method I've used with Audacity. Make sure you download the version 1.2.3 with the LAME encoder plug in.

3. Open the Audacity application and type CTRL+P to open up the preferences window. Look for the Recording section and select the input device that matches your connection.

4. Click audio files on the left menu and then Click find library. Then navigate to the directory or place where you extracted the Lame plug in. Once you've found the plug in Click the file and then Click ok.
   
   From there you start recording by Clicking the record button and then starting your tape or record. When the audio is done there should be an option to export the captured audio as an MP3 that you can add to your music library.

[Arathi]

on 12/30/2008 Useful information. I have tons of audio tapes lying around. Thanks!

[Desula]

on 12/24/2008 Thank you for this information on updating your music collection to MP3 format.