Audio cassette tapes revolutionized music listening when they came onto the market in the late '70s. The introduction of the CD in the '80s soon rendered the format obsolete, however, as the slim disc allowed better sound quality and more user control than a flimsy tape. Converting old cassettes to compact discs is easily done with the right adapter cable and free audio-editing software.
Instructions
1. Find a pair of red and white jacks on your cassette player or stereo receiver that say "Line Out," "Play Out" or "Audio Out." Connect the two red and white plugs on your Dual Audio Cable to these jacks, matching color to color. If your player does not have "Line Out" support (some handheld audio recorders lack this feature), purchase a double-ended 3.5mm stereo cable instead. Both ends will look like a computer or iPod headphone plug. Connect one end to the player's headphone jack.
2. Connect the other end of the cable, regardless of which cable you used in Step 1, to your computer's "Line In" jack. Either cable will have the same single-line end that will connect into the computer jack, which looks similar to the headphone jack and is usually located next to it.
3. Download and install the free Audacity audio editor (see Resources). In the main window select "Line In" as your input from the drop-down box on the right-hand side. Ensure that the microphone control slider to the left is all the way up.
4. Press the circular red "Record" button in Audacity. Begin playing your cassette tape immediately.
5. When the audio you wish to convert has finished, stop the tape in your player and press the square "Stop" button in Audacity. You should now see the blue image of a sound wave on your computer screen.
6. Press the triangular "Play" button in Audacity to ensure your audio has recorded successfully. If you wish to burn it to a CD as is, choose "Save As WAV..." or "Save As MP3..." from the "File" menu and save the audio to your PC.
7. Open your CD-burning software and burn the WAV or MP3 file(s) to a CD the same way you would any other audio.
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