Tape to MP3 Converter

W

Wino

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Hi all. I am looking for a Tape to MP3 Converter. Takealot has one (ION) for about R600 and apparantly HiFi Corp also has one for R60 less.

Has anyone got one of these and what are your thoughts on it?
Where else can I get one?

Thanks
 
Nivo [Johannesburg] have them at R559: I purchased one at R399 six months ago <sigh>

See http://www.nivo.co.za/#buy~ion.tape.express.usb.portable.tape.to.mp3.player~p22956

They work reasonably well - I am using the unit to convert lectures so I can't comment on its use to copy music.

The supplied software is adequate. I did a bit of Googling and, as a result, switched to Audacity. Audacity enables me to clean up the sound quality of the tapes, which is less than stellar :)
 
So I might as well plug in any old tape player to my PC, and convert using Audacity?
I thought this device did something special, like actually do the MP3 conversion itself and store the files in a flash drive for me to take where-ever!
 
Wino said:
So I might as well plug in any old tape player to my PC, and convert using Audacity?
I thought this device did something special, like actually do the MP3 conversion itself and store the files in a flash drive for me to take where-ever!
Click to expand...

Would be the simplest if you still own one of those.
 
Wino said:
So I might as well plug in any old tape player to my PC, and convert using Audacity?
I thought this device did something special, like actually do the MP3 conversion itself and store the files in a flash drive for me to take where-ever!
Click to expand...

If you want a turnkey solution, then purchase the Ion.

If you want to save money, then cobble it together yourself ...

Incidentally, unless it is music that can't be replaced, I wouldn't recommend copying cassettes, given that they are probably +10 years old, are stretched from use etc
 
rrh said:
If you want a turnkey solution, then purchase the Ion.

If you want to save money, then cobble it together yourself ...

Incidentally, unless it is music that can't be replaced, I wouldn't recommend copying cassettes, given that they are probably +10 years old, are stretched from use etc
Click to expand...

Turnkey solution is just as much hassle as plugging in something myself!

Its for my wife's collection of talking classics - Emily Bronte, Doyle etc.
 
Wino said:
Turnkey solution is just as much hassle as plugging in something myself!

Its for my wife's collection of talking classics - Emily Bronte, Doyle etc.
Click to expand...

Just torrent new ones, surely there will be lots of the classics? She already has the tapes so you're just "copying" them without the hassle...
 
proxilin said:
Just torrent new ones, surely there will be lots of the classics? She already has the tapes so you're just "copying" them without the hassle...
Click to expand...

+1 ... it is a lot easier to just download newer digital copies than to convert from the old format.
 
From the user reports on various forums it looks like the software that comes with these devices does not do a very good job of splitting tracks. The comments suggest that you are better off splitting the tracks manually using Audacity. In that case it is cheaper and no more difficult to borrow a tape deck and plug it into your sound card, and then use Audacity for the conversion.


I recently tossed out my old audio tape collection. Before doing this I converted about a dozen to MP3 - stuff that I really wanted but could not replace digitally. Doing this is a major pain in the ****, takes a lot of time, and the sound quality off old tapes is not good. If possible follow the advice of the other posters an either buy replacement CDs or torrent the files. These are the options that I took for the bulk of my collection and it worked out a lot better than converting.
 
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