DBTech Audio USB Portable Cassette Tape-to-MP3 Player Adapter with USB Cable and Software Cd Also F

• USB tape player turns music on cassette tapes into MP3s on Your PC
• 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 and Features Auto Reverse
• MAC users: Please Note that you are buying this product at your own risk we cannot guaranty that it will work for MAC

Great, low-cost method of converting those old tapes to mp3. I found all my old tapes when cleaning out my basement. Immediately, I had to listen to them but all I had was an old, dead walkman, no tape player in my car and not a boombox to speak of. I immediately went to Amazon to find a solution. This was it only $25 and works with my PC.

The unit itself isn't rock solid. It's made of plastic and will break if you drop it or mistreat it in any way. But left in good hands, this should last a while and I only need it to convert my tapes once. I followed the little instruction booklet to install the driver (I'm running Windows 7 Pro on a Dell XPS machine). Just plug in the device to a USB port with the included cable and the driver installs automagically. It uses a generic audio driver and then is recognized by your machine as an audio input device, basically a microphone. Now, just install Audacity from the small disk that's included. You can download Audacity for free and install it that way if you prefer, but the disk does come with the mp3 codec needed to convert the raw audio to mp3. Anyway, I installed from disk and followed set my preferences as instructed and had no issues with mp3 conversion. When I first fired up the tape device and pressed play and record in Audacity... NOTHING!?!?!

Well, I'm an idiot I guess. I had the volume on the unit all the way down so no audio was coming through. The instructions don't mention anything about setting the volume all the way up, and frankly I thought the volume was strictly for the headphone jack, but you'll want to do that to get the strongest audio signal as possible. As soon as I did that BAM! worked like a charm. I then recorded my tapes and saved each side as audacity projects so that I could go back later and cut up the tracks so I could save each track as an mp3 with all details. This way, iTunes will look at it as the actual album and download the artwork, etc.

The entire process is a bit time-consuming and it does require some basic knowledge of audio editing, especially if you're going to separate the tracks as I did. If you've used Audacity, Garageband, or any other audio editing tool then you'll have no problems. If you've never used one, then download Audacity for free and play around a bit before you try converting all your cassettes.

Finished mp3 files are lower fidelity than original digital files, and there is some tape noise that comes through, but all in all if you want to keep your treasures with you forever, especially those that you can't buy or reproduce anymore, then I would recommend picking this unit up and giving it a try.

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This little box works as advertised, but I'm not sure how long it will last. To start at the beginning, the instructions for Audacity software installation are written in micro print by someone who didn't speak english as a first language, but they work and *are* understandable. However, the instructions tell you in the Audacity Preferences to set recording device to "USB PnP Audio Device" from a drop down menu. I did not have that option, so selected SigmaTel audio, and that works.

The first night I was using it, the fast foward button quit working. The player has 'auto reverse' (automatically changes direction at the end of a tape), but Reverse is always in the same direction, so depending what side of the tape is playing/being recorded, it could be reverse or fast forward, so it takes a bit to figure out where you are on the tape.

BUTthe program works, and will save out to mp3 or wav files. I bought this unit because I do not have an ipod and didn't want to buy other units I saw that require the use of itunes. While the included instructions talk about installing Audacity, they do not do much for explaining how to use the programhow to separate the tracks, how to set levels, no details, and the Help section isn't much help. It's not too hard to figure out after a while of trial and error and clicking around how to make things work, but a little more explanation on the basic separating and labeling of tracks would be helpful. Another major point that should have been explained is that the recording level is actually set by the volume wheel on the cassette player, which leaves me wondering what's the point of the gain feature in the Audacity program itself.

Overall, it works to do what it's supposed to dosave my dusty old tapes of collected music to digital formatbut the unit seems cheaply made, the door could snap off easily, and I question how long it'll keep going before the reverse or play button also quits. But for about $20, I shouldn't complain.

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I bought this via Amazon. Used it for a few days copying old tapes of language lessons. Seemed OK. Then, when I copied music, I began to notice the notes were badly off pitch. Sour notes. Tried different tapes. No difference. Should note that these were classical and traditional vocal, not rock music. Assuming this was the result of crud on the heads, I cleaned the heads. No improvement. Put the tapes in the player in my car. Pitch was right. So it was not a problem with the tapes. Tried a different PC. Off pitch. Swapped USB cables. Off pitch.

It was clear that the tape drive was out of adjustment. No way for user to adjust. Do these people know about 440 A? There must be a tape somewhere that puts out 440 A. We can buy inexpensive guitar, etc. tuners so it is not asking a lot for these drives to be adjusted before being shipped.

Only reasonable solution was to toss this into the trash. At this price, it would cost far too much to return it or to have a technician repair it. Will try to find another brand. This time I will triple check that there is an adjustment screw which is user accessible without having to disassemble the device. A hole in the back cover with a rubber plug would work. Not exactly brain surgery.

If you look at the other cassette USB to CD listings, you will see that this same device is sold with a number of brands and sometimes cheaper. Read the one-star reviews of these. Some of them cite the same problems I had. No way to correct slow turning of the capstan.

Horrible. Simply horrible piece of junk.

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This seems nice in concept, however the software comes only on a mini-disc. The slot on my laptop cannot accommodate a mini disc. I emailed the manufacturer asking if I can get the software in full size CD or a download and they never even replied. Since I cannot access the software, I returned the unit as unusable. I also did not appreciate the lack of reply and non-existing customer service. BUYER BEWARE.

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Reasonable price for a product that pulls power from USB port. Disappointed with tape handling not enough power to move tape without some wavering. If you have good tapes that need to be transferred to MP3 format, this is a good tool. However, if the tapes are at all marginal (like mine played a whole lot) you may want to look elsewhere.