(About 680 words)

How To Record Your Cassette Music to a CD!
By Bob Elgines, CRCC Editor, elginesz@rraz.net

Most of the equipment you already have includes the Soundboard and a Cassette player. Next of course things needed are a recording program, such as Musicmatch Jukebox and a cable to connect your cassette player with your computer. This basic Jukebox software is available free at: www.musicmatch.com  (go to JUKEBOX tab and click on “Free Jukebox download”, it is over 24 MB in size) The cable is made up of 1/8” Phone Plugs (RS 274-284c) and a three wire shielded cable. This cable can be purchased or made on your own. (Some of the older cassette players will use a larger ¼” Phone plug.)

Now we are ready to setup your computer and programs. Connect your cable between the “Output” (might be labeled Headset) of your Cassette Player and the “Line in” of your computer Sound board. 

Do a right click on your Speaker icon located on the right hand side of the task bar. Select (or left click) “Adjust Audio Properties”, click on “Audio”. Under “Sound Recording” click on “Volume”. Select “Line in” and set the input level at approximately 20%, this may have to be changed later, so you can leave this on the screen if you wish.

Next activate Musicmatch Jukebox, then go to “Options”/ “Recorder” / “Settings”. Set “Recording Format” to WAV, “Recording Source” to LINE IN. Now click on “Advance”, set “Fadeout” to 1, and under “End of Record Notifications” uncheck “Play sound” & “Eject CD”. Click OK

On the bottom left click the red “Record” button. Another window appears with a number “one” on the right. You can click on here and change the name now or do it later. If you are going to record the complete side of the cassette under one file then name it now, otherwise if you are going to record one track (or song) at a time then you can change the name later.

Now play your cassette to check out the input level for no distortion listening to it on your computer speakers. If it is to loud and there is distortion then reduce the input level or the volume out of the player. Rewind the cassette.

We are ready to roll, start your player and press the “Record” button on the lower left window. When the song is over press the “Stop” button, then press “Record” again because the next song will start within a second or two. The press “Stop”, continue this until each song is recorded from the cassette.

Now we have them in the computer, let’s name each one, but keep the names short. Use “Windows Explorer” and go to “My Documents” / “My Music”/ “Artist” / “Album”. Here you will find your recordings and you can rename them by doing a right click on each one. After you are finished, exit, go to your CD recording program such as “EZ CD Creator” or “Nero”. Now you can grab all of the recordings you made and make an AUDIO CD. (Do not record any faster then 8X, because most players will not accepted anything faster)

Another method can be used and that is by using MP3 sound files. If you covert from WAV to MP3 files, you can put up to 150 (or more) songs on a CD instead of just 15.
To covert the WAV files bring up your “Jukebox” program. Go to “File” / “Convert”, then select your Source folder that contains your music files. Select “Source Data Type” and set to WAV, then click on “Select all”. Next select your Destination folder and select your “Destination Data Type” setting it to MP3. Click on the start button and it will now make MP3 files out of your selected WAV files. 

After you are finished, Exit, go to your CD recording program and record your MP3 files on a CD as data files (do not make an audio CD), this MP3-Data CD will now play in a DVD Player or computer capable of having  over 150 songs.

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author.  The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.