Hi David, And you're so right. With all the heavy traffic on this particular list, I'm really sorry to have diverted its attention. It certainly won't happen again.
With regrets, Rod -----Original Message----- From: Talk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David via Talk Sent: February 5, 2016 1:15 PM To: Butch Bussen <[email protected]>; Window-Eyes Discussion List <[email protected]>; Van Lant, Robin <[email protected]> Subject: Re: converting audio cassettes to mp3 I have used the MP3DirectCut for editing audio files in the past. It is a quite easy piece of software, and does a fantastic job on the areas it covers, such as cutting, pasting and splitting or joining MP3 files. It does not, though, have any noise reduction features, or any other sound fixing capabilities. Would you want to do some enhancing on the recordings you make, or should you want to work with other formats than MP3 files, I have two other software in mind. Have used both in the past, and they are good, each for their particular usage. The first one, which is a quite cheap product of an affordable amount of dollars, is called AAAWave. I could try to find the homepage for you, or you can try to search for it. It is about 12 years since I bought it, so hope it still is around out there. It does have a dedicated Tape mode, attempting to reduce the hyssing noise from old tape recorders. And it used to be speech friendly enough for doing the job. Have to admit, I have not had the need for it all the time I have been using Window-Eyes, only used it with another screen reader. It did have a demo version, so it should be possible to test it out before buying. the transferring, and if you desire, the editting needed. They usually are not exactly free, but you need have no extra job but bringing your old tapes to the mail office. Just make sure you use reputable companies for the job, and that your parcels will be trackable in the mail. If possible, only send them copies of the material, in case something should go wrong. There might even be a company near you. Hope this all helped you see the possibilities, and that I did not increase your confusion. The other alternative that comes to mind when comes to editing sound files, is the swiss-knife named GoldWave. Again, it is not free, think it is about 50 dollars or so. But if you really have the interest and time to play around with it, it could be worth the price. It offers you that many capabilities, I don't know if it is worth to dig into them all here. You can record, speed up or slow-down, noise reduce, cut, paste, split, join, swap panes, and convert your sound files; plus much more. It is - as you may imagine - a rather techie product, so takes a bit of playing and testing to become familiar with it. Finally, I know some blind people have used SoundForge, but I have heard mixed feedback when comes to accessibility of that product. And the pricing is - from what I have heard - not for the hobbiest. Yet, you may have more complete info on that piece of software, from other users on the list. As for what hardware you will need, here is a couple of suggestions. The easiest way is to simply get an audio cable, and connect it between the headphone jack on your tape recorder, and the Mic jack on your computer. In most cases it is sufficient, should you only want to transfer simple audio from your tape into the computer. Alternatively, if your tape recorder has a Line-Out jack, I would prefer this one for the connection, as it has a stabil output level, independent on the volume knob of the tape recorder. Next, if you want a more stabil quality on your transmission, you may want to spend anything between 5 and 100 dollars, on getting a USB Sound Card. The benefits are a few. First, you will wliminate most of the static noises that often are experienced on the built-in sound card and jack on your computer. Running the recording via a separate sound card will also give you the highest flexibility, and lowest conflicts, with things like your screen reader and other activities on your computer, while the transmission is ongoing. The USB cards from about 20 dollars and up, will have a dedicated Line-In jack, and connecting it with the Line-Out jack on your tape recorder, will ensure a steady, balanced transfer level. this could save you a good deal of volume adjustment. And in case you have a digital output jack on your tapedeck, there would be USB sound cards with a dedicated jack for that too - ensuring a totally non-static transmission. Finally, here is a suggestion for a piece of hardware. It is unfortunately rare these days, but you may have luck in finding it on places like Amazon or EBay. The manufacturer is named ION, and they made a USB Tape player. It came in several versions, some was big and fully equipped Tape Decks for your stereo system, others were like a pocket sized walkman. It hooks up via the USB of your computer, draws its power from there, and shows up as a USB Sound Card on your system. It even came with a disk, holding the Audacity software. All you needed to do, is to insert the cassette tape, press the record control on the computer software, and press the play-button on the tape unit. Then, just lean back and enjoy the easiness of life. :) Do you have a desktop computer, with an empty slot for a floppy disk drive, you even could get a model of the ION for insersion directly in your computer; although I would have stuck with the USB version. ION also makes units for transmitting Vinyl Records, and if memory serves me right, I seem to remember they had a unit for VHS videos as well. Do a search on one of the market places, for things like: ION Tape USB and see what you could get. Might still be possible to get new overstock products, or at least, some gently used second-handers. Going to your local radio shop, you may even have some luck. Locally over here, I know at least one store carried a model of astereo system, that has a tape deck, a Vinyl player, and a USB slot. The advertisement says that you should be able to plug in a USB Pen Drive, and have sound transfered from the tape deck or the Vinyl Record, and directly into MP3 files on your pen drive. Then, plug the pen drive into the computer, and copy your newly made MP3's. Have never tried the product, so cannot speak for its accessibility, but if they carry it in your local radio store, you might be given the chance of testing it, or having the right to return if it does not behave your way. The ION products described above, used to range between 100 and 200 dollars. The stereo system with the tape and Vinyl capabilities - I have seen for something between 150 and a good 200 dollars. May be out of your wantings for a budget, and depends on how easy you want the job, besides how many tapes you want transmitted. Do you have a hundred tapes to transmit, even 200 dollars investment will only give you 2 dollars a tape, and may save you several hours of hazzle. OK, I will end my lesson here, only letting you know that there are numerous companies offering to tranmit your old medias into modern electronic versions. You will need to send them your old stuff, and they will do all thDavid On 2/3/2016 12:35 AM, Butch Bussen via Talk wrote: > Speaking of mp3direct cut, it is here if you want, and I think I put > some tutorials (not done by me) in the zip file. Go here and look for > mp3216 > To get the file you want, go to the link below > and hit enter on that file. > > http://www.shellworld.net/~butchb > > Butch Bussen > > _______________________________________________ > Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the > author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. > > For membership options, visit > http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/trailerdavid%4 0hotmail.com. > For subscription options, visit > http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com > List archives can be found at > http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com > > _______________________________________________ Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/rod_hutton%40h otmail.com. For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com _______________________________________________ Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/archive%40mail-archive.com. For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
