Cassette to MP3 Conversion

axis.meister

axis.meister

Disciple
Hi Guys,

I am looking for a Cassette player + Cassette to mp3 conversion solution for my Dad who wants to listen to+convert his old cassette collection. I have an old Cassette/Radio/Turntable Deck which is almost dead and unusable.

I came across a few solutions on Ebay and wanted to know If anyone here has used them or has some different suggestions.

Cassette to mp3 converter

No Brand Name - Cost : Rs. 1800-4000 Various Listings all look similar.
The main issue here is reliability, I have read comments on Ebay and Amazon saying these things work but only for so long. Not usable for a long duration.
Advantage is of course the price, portability and simple conversion procedure (as per the internet). There were some similar smaller brand products by DBtech, Ion Audio and Tsirtech but I cant find them on GEB anymore. Has anyone used any of these brands?


Philips DVD USB Mp3 Player Portable Tape Cassette Deck FM Radio AZ5740 + Bill Wt

Phillips - Cost approx 6K online and 5.2-5.5K in stores.

This is a more all-round solution, you spend 4K more but you get a functioning CD/DVD/AM/FM + Cassette player + Phillips warranty.
Disadvantage: In spite of the pick-up handle on the photo, this thing is not portable(Only 220V supply). mp3 conversion using the 3.5" analog out.

SONY CD RADIO CASSETTE PLAYER CFD-S35CP/S

This one is from Sony, price is about the same as the Philips one.

Has anyone used any of these products? comments/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

aX
 
Mostly you would get the analog out from the player & hook it to a "converter". This converter can be a mp3 player, DVD player or a PC.

The link you have shown is basically a cassette player powered by USB (instead of commonly used 2x1.5V cells) and having a analog out from the headphone jack. Very few cassette players have a separate line-out.

As the cost is nominal give the eBay player a shot. If you get lucky these can a last a very long time! if not, even a Sony can trouble you to hell!!
 
Jambumali said:
Mostly you would get the analog out from the player & hook it to a "converter". This converter can be a mp3 player, DVD player or a PC.

The link you have shown is basically a cassette player powered by USB (instead of commonly used 2x1.5V cells) and having a analog out from the headphone jack. Very few cassette players have a separate line-out.

As the cost is nominal give the eBay player a shot. If you get lucky these can a last a very long time! if not, even a Sony can trouble you to hell!!
Click to expand...

It does have 2xAA battery power too, and the conversion output is not analog via the headphone jack, it is via the USB cable.

Check this video out (I cant find my headphone right now so have not heard it myself)
ION Tape Express Portable Tape to MP3 Converter/Player USB This is an ION Audio player which I cannot find currently on ebay.in and is generally costlier than the non-branded ones.

If it were analog why would one bother with this device at all, it would be simpler to pick up any cassette player/walkman and hook it up to your PC's Line IN via an EP-EP cable and record via sound recorder.
But I am looking for a better method, so would like to know if anyone has tried this?
 
I went through this route once, but the truth is that almost anything and everything you want is available online at far better quality - unless you are looking at some exotic desi stuff.
alternately, pick up a second hand tape deck and use the line out from that.
But honestly, its not worth it. I'd spent almost an eternity converting my and my dad's cassette collection painstakingly - recording at 192Khz, applying a load of DSP to supress all the noise, ripping it to MP3, filling in the tags, only to find out a few years laters that it was all available online.
 
I would recommend downloading them from a 'ahem' site that has much of the old songs. Since you have the original cassettes, that, in my opinion is enough to assuage any legal issues you may have.

And for those which there are no digital/MP3 versions (I had a devotional cassette, could not find any CD with same singer), I used a cassette player in my house audio out to line in (50% volume), recorded in WAV, made a copy of the file, removed all the noise and hysteresis etc., split into correct MP3 files with tagging and a pic of the cassette cover.

- - - Updated - - -

greenhorn said:
I went through this route once, but the truth is that almost anything and everything you want is available online at far better quality - unless you are looking at some exotic desi stuff.
alternately, pick up a second hand tape deck and use the line out from that.
But honestly, its not worth it. I'd spent almost an eternity converting my and my dad's cassette collection painstakingly - recording at 192Khz, applying a load of DSP to supress all the noise, ripping it to MP3, filling in the tags, only to find out a few years laters that it was all available online.
Click to expand...

Ditto.
 
greenhorn said:
I went through this route once, but the truth is that almost anything and everything you want is available online at far better quality - unless you are looking at some exotic desi stuff.
alternately, pick up a second hand tape deck and use the line out from that.
But honestly, its not worth it. I'd spent almost an eternity converting my and my dad's cassette collection painstakingly - recording at 192Khz, applying a load of DSP to supress all the noise, ripping it to MP3, filling in the tags, only to find out a few years laters that it was all available online.
Click to expand...

Did the same thing. I converted about 50 tapes tapes to mp3's, spent days doing noise suppression, and still the results sucked. This was about 10-12 years back, so I'm sure the noise suppression algorithms have improved. I've still got a few dozen converted rare mp3s on my comp. But it's the last route to go. Unless your tapes are in pristine condition, and all the equipment and cables you have are of semi-professional quality, most of your conversions are going to be jarring.
 
greenhorn said:
I went through this route once, but the truth is that almost anything and everything you want is available online at far better quality - unless you are looking at some exotic desi stuff.
alternately, pick up a second hand tape deck and use the line out from that.
But honestly, its not worth it. I'd spent almost an eternity converting my and my dad's cassette collection painstakingly - recording at 192Khz, applying a load of DSP to supress all the noise, ripping it to MP3, filling in the tags, only to find out a few years laters that it was all available online.
Click to expand...

My Dad has retired and time is really not an issue here, since Music is one of the things he is really passionate about. But still, knowing him, I know soon enough he will get bored of this conversion business, therefore I am more interested in the Philips All in one player. Because even if he stops doing the conversions, the Player will still be useful in itself.

That being said, there are some tapes in his collection that have to be converted+corrected+archived, I guess I will have to handle the noice correction part.
 
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