Ion has a few different equipments for digitizing old sound medias.
Personally, I grabbed a Walkman-sized Cassette player, that has a USB
connection. You simply just insert your old cassette tape into the unit,
and connect it to the computer. It is recognized as an external sound card,
and you can go on recording directly from it, using any recording software
- like Audacity. Ion also has Turn-Table units, but I have never worked
with them. From what I was told, Ion has discontinued the tape recorder
models, but you should still be able to pick them up from places like EBay
or Amazon. Try searching for a term like:
USB Cassette Recorder
or,
USB Turn Table
or,
Digitizing Cassette Tapes.
Likely you will get a load of hits, and can pick from what you want. My Ion
unit came with a CD, holding the Audacity software, so did not even have to
download it. Yet, I find that Audacity did not meet my requirements, so am
using other software for recording.
What kind of software do you need? Well, that depend on what you want to
do. If you just want to convert your old stuff into raw MP3 files - that
is, without any further sound enhancement, you can use a number of
software. On the other hand, should you want to modify the sound quality,
Goldwave, or sound forge may be your choices. I don't use Audacity, but
thought they may have some kind of sound enhancement feature - yet everyone
please arrest me on that one. If you happen to own an version of Nero, you
can use that software as well, and they used to have a pretty good enhancer
for removing click and pops. Personally, I use MaPlEr, which is designed
for the blind, hence has no accessibility issues. And, finally, you also
can use a freeware called MP3DirectCut, which has very nice features for
splitting and merging individual MP3 tracks. It has a built-in recording
feature, and you can cut and paste to your heart's desire on any MP3 files.
If you want to record into a Wav file, and later on convert the final
result into MP3, there is even a couple more alternatives. The benefit of
recording in Wav format is, that you will have virtually no degradation of
the sound quality. Yet, modifying the file may be a bit harder, since some
of the software doing Wav recording is a bit harder to use with the screen
reader. MaPlEr, GoldWave, Nero, SoundBlaster WaveStudio, Audacity and even
the built-in recording feature of Windows itself, they all can do Wav
recording. For easy convertion into MP3, Goldwave could be one alternative,
or even MaPlEr. Or, you could download the Lame Encoder, and play around
with the ton of settings provided to you. Several of the mentioned
software, further features a handful of other file formats.
OK, you ask something for free. Audacity is one freeware. MP3DirectCut is
another. MaPlEr is something like ten dollars, so even if it is not all for
free, it is low-priced, and all accessible. Goldwave is the more expensive
one, but if you really want to play around with something, it could be
worth the money. Nero, you may be able to pick up for a few dollars on
places like EBay. And SoundBlaster WaveStudio, is a piece of software that
used to come with the SoundBlaster sound cards.
Oh, and let me mention one last piece of software, that I picked up a few
years ago. It is called AAAWave - that is Tripple A Wave. It has some
simple noise reduction capabilities, which may not be the best, but
actually gave some nice results on certain files. It was not free, but
rather low-priced, and I found it worth the money at the time. Haven't
tried it lately, so cannot speak for up-to-date workability.
The static humming sound that you mention, when hooking a tape deck or the
like directly up to your computer, is a well-known issue. The best way to
eliminate it, is to get hold of any USB sound card, and hook up through it.
A USB sound card, can be had for anything from a couple of dollars and up.
If you are going to just hook up an old sound source, like a Cassette
recorder, even the cheap models that you can have for almost nothing at
EBay, will do a pretty good job for you. If you want to use the sound card
for listening to music and perform high-quality recordings, you may want to
spend something like 20-50 dollars, and get a SoundBlaster USB sound card,
or similar. The cheap cards, will have a 3.5mm jack, like the one you have
on your computer. The more expensive models, will likely have a few
connectors, including the RCA found on many home stereo systems.
----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 7:00 PM
Subject: RE: Digitizing Audiocassettes Using Window-Eyes-Compatible
Software
What I am using is an Ion Mix Meister USB recorder.
It is discontinued as noted on this site: You will have to see what they
are using as the replacement for this specific device.
http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/u-record
Vic
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Zielinski [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: February-25-14 11:50 AM
To: Pereira, Vic: SSC-SPC; [email protected]
Subject: Re: Digitizing Audiocassettes Using Window-Eyes-Compatible
Software
Vic,
Can you take a gander at the device, or have someone else do so, and
let us know the brand, model number? When did you purchase it? Thanks.
BBasically, I'd like to try and locate the sucker on amazon or some
other source.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 10:11 AM
Subject: RE: Digitizing Audiocassettes Using Window-Eyes-Compatible
Software
The unit is not a sound card. It is a small box with a USB cable that
connects it to any available USB port.
Audacity is free and does a nice job.
-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Ferguson [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: February-25-14 10:06 AM
To: Pereira, Vic: SSC-SPC
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Digitizing Audiocassettes Using Window-Eyes-Compatible
Software
Hi Everyone,
Okay, this sounds great, and I would love to get one of these devices.
I do need to get a good recording software that works with Window-Eyes.
I hope Audacity is free!
I have had trouble recording from my computer to a digital recorder.
It isn't working for me, and I get a humb noise with a little static.
I guess I need this device which I'm guessing must be a USB sound card.
Here is what I do to convert cassettes to mp3.
I have a small stereo cassette recorder. I put the cassette in there,
and use a patch cord to hook up the cassette recorder from the ear phone
jack on the cassette recorder to an Olympus DM-620 recorder, or the
LS-14 recorder. to the microphone jack or the line-in jack I record each
track as an mp3 file.
Of course I do adjust my recording settings on the Olympus recorder
before I begin recording.
Oh, and this is a stereo recorder.
But, I would love to be able to record from my computer using a good
recording software and Window-Eyes from web sites.
I don't want it to pick up my keystrokes, either. I assume I would need
an external USB sound card.
Any assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated, please.
Thanks much.
Many Blessings,
Pat Ferguson
"I can Do all Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me." Phillippians
4:13.
At 08:27 AM 2/25/2014, you wrote:
> Greetings
>
> I purchased a USB device that has RCA left right audio inputs. There is
> also a nob to vary the signal strength. And that's not all; yes this
> sounds like a cheesy infomercial. It has a ground connection for turn
> tables too.
>
> This device, whose name I can't remember, came with Audacity software.
> It works very nicely with Window-Eyes; especially if one doesn't mind
> using the mouse pointer. Not necessary, much can be done with menus and
> keyboard commands, but the mouse pointer adds to the overall
experience.
>
> The beauty of this USB device is you can use any audio device with an
> output jack. I have a Y cable that splits the standard headphone jack
> found on most MP3 players, cassette recorders, iOS device etc.
>
> Vic
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Craig Werner [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: February-23-14 5:38 PM
> To: GW Micro (List)
> Subject: Digitizing Audiocassettes Using Window-Eyes-Compatible
> Software
>
> Hello, everyone.
>
> I am looking into ways of getting material on audiocassettes converted
> to MP3 or another suitable format. Has anyone purchased special
> cassette decks that will do so? Am I tied into using a particular
> program to do the digitizing with such a deck? Alternatively, I
> realize I could use a conventional tape player to send the output of
> the audio to my computer. I am not familiar with using audio software,
> so the simpler the recording package, the better. I don't think I'll
> be doing a lot of editing; I will just convert the tracks as they are.
>
> Thank you for all help.
>
> Craig
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