- USB tape player turns music on cassette tapes into MP3s
- Portable design fits in virtually any bag and enables you to play and transfer anywhere
- Comes with Tape Converter software to guide you through transfer
- Plays Chrome or Normal cassette tapes - Features Auto Reverse
- WE GUARANTEE THAT THIS CONVERTER WILL WORK WITH MAC - Step By Step Installation Guide Is Available Upon Request.
The manual shows screenshots of Audacity and lame.dll, which suggests that this is what's going to be installed with the CD. I already have Audacity so I didn't even have to use the CD, but I must say Audacity is an open source tool for audio recording and editing. It's quite a geeky tool, which is the reason of my big LOL re product :) and also a reason for -1 star. Go Chinese manufacturers! Yes to teaching general public users geeky tools! :) Of course the very use case of "just recording and saving as mp3" is straightforward enough and is documented in the manual, but if you want anything special, like cutting your tape into individual songs or normalizing the volume, expect some patient time to learn Audacity. Yes, it's relatively easy to do in the tool if you know it, and it's a great tool, but it's aimed for advanced users, it's not "push a button get result thing".
RE quality: I am using it for converting tape-based audiobooks, and I am generally happy with the quality. It adds a tiny level of background noise, but you couldn't expect more of a cheap tape player.
Caveats which may be not obvious to people with "it should just work" kind of expectation:
1. You'll be able to save each side of the tape into an mp3 file, with some five minutes of manual work for each file (select non-empty part of recording and trim, click export selection to mp3, wait till the file is saved a few mins, and also turn over the casette).
2. The tape is *played* through computer, so you're converting it in realtime, not any faster. Btw, Audacity allows you to playback what you're recording (an option in preferences), but I think it's off by default, which may make it harder for this use case.
3. I didn't try continuous mode, but I tried to let it play in the reverse direction. Somehow I couldn't get it work right in a minute, so I just decided to manually flip sides and not trust multi-directional playing. Not sure if it works actually.
4. If you want to cut tape into songs, prepare for manual work, comparable with the length of the tape.
5. Maximum volume actually causes distortion to the sound wave maybe that was one of the reason of quality complaints from other commenters. I had to spend 10-15 minutes playing with volume control and ended up using it at about 2/3rd of the volume, and then I did select all use "amplify" feature in Audacity to normalize. The good part is that volume control is physical knob, so you only do it once, and use it for multiple tapes.
Bottom line, for an advanced user without high expectations, it's a fine device, definitely great for price.
For a beginner user, it may work smoothly, but I also can easily see how he can run into trouble and would have to spend time figuring things out. Wouldn't recommend it to a non-geek friend, just to save myself from a chance he'd be calling me with questions :)I recently came across some tapes of answering machine messages that I saved for over 20 years, left by some loved ones who passed away. It saddened me that I would no longer be able to play these and save them for the future. I found this on Amazon, it was inexpensive and after some attempts I was able to save them as mp3 files and to a cd. There wasn't very much info in the manual that would help me through the recording process. I kept getting voice overs. I realized that pausing the computer while recording would cause it to record over the previous recording. I had to save each one individually in order to have it play back the way I had intended.
The unit itself is very flimsy looking, simple to operate, but I'm not to concerned with the cheapness of the machine as I would not be using it very often. However, it was a blessing to be able to hear the voice of my husband and mother and a short message from a dear friend who had also passed away.
I gave a 3 star review because of the manual and the flimsiness of the machine, but it was worth 10 stars to be able to hear these old messages.It took a bit to get it set up, but it works. I like that it has a link to software that can fix cassette recording, blocking out most of the "cassette tape" noise that comes with ripping it. However, I would have liked it to seperate the song, side 1 from 2, and automatically stop when it is done recording both sides and Fast forwarding or rewinding. Although it is going to take a lot of time to seperate the song and bring them to clear quality, it works for what I want it to work for.I managed to get this working well on a Mac laptop. I'm going to describe how and also put what a few other reviewers have suggested in one place.
First, throw out the mini-disk that comes with the tape player. Don't put a mini-disk into a slot drive that's not made for it. The software that's on the disk is freeware that you can download from the Audacity web site. They also have clearer and more explicit instructions on the Audacity site. Read the manual that comes with the player, and then toss that into the recycling bin. Read the instructions for Mac on the Audacity site.
Next, unless you don't care that you're recording in mono, not stereo, ignore the cable that came with the player. If you're transferring an audio book, you probably don't care that it's in mono, and you can use that cable. If you're transferring a mix tape, you probably want it in stereo. Buy a male-to-male stereo audio cable (they're about 6-7 bucks for a good one) that will plug into the headphone jack on the tape player and the Audio In (external microphone) port on your Mac. Go to Sound in your Mac Preferences and set the Audio In volume up 80%. At this point, read the instructions on the Audacity site and you're set. (You'll be using Line In (Built-in Input) rather than USB.)
I also turn the tape player volume rather high, and the Audacity recording volume setting up to about 2/3 (higher causes distortion). Audacity's "amplify" tool also works well to bring the volume up without clipping highs and lows.
Once your file is recorded and saved, you can easily break it into tracks and name them, and by following the Audacity instructions and downloading plug-ins, export multiple tracks in MP3 and other formats to iTunes that will work on your iPod.
Of course, you could have just done all this with the old cassette Walkman you used to own, or for that matter, any device at all with a headphone jack, including your home stereo system. Still, this player is conveniently small, and the sound that I'm getting from old cassettes is really quite good. Rating it 3 stars.
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I ordered this product because my mother had a bunch of cassettes she wanted to transfer to CD's. I bought it for the decent price and the fact that it seemed to be able to get the job done. I got it today and I have to say that it does work, it transfers the cassette to mp3 format just fine. The only thing that I don't like is that the manual that comes with the product is less than helpfull. It gives no directions on how to properly use the product, how to create separate tracks, what any of the buttons and icons mean. I had to play around with it for an entire day before I got the hang of it. So, if you don't get frustrated easily, this product will be fine for you.
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