A Playlist From the Past
How to make digital files of your records and cassettes
Hearing a song from the past can sure leave you nostalgic for the music you used to listen to on records or cassettes. Assuming you still have them, you probably have no way to play them since most modern audio or home theater systems lack cassette players or phono inputs. You could repurchase some of your collection on CDs and online music downloads. However, you'll probably find that there are songs--especially ones on import albums and live performances--that just aren't available digitally. The good news is that there are ways to capture the sound from your records and tapes digitally, so you can play them as often as you'd like at home, in the car or on your portable player.
It's neither hard nor expensive to convert legacy media like cassettes and vinyl records into digital files. Depending on what equipment you own and how much time or money you want to spend in the process, here are a few options:
Easy: Do It Yourself
You may have most everything you need to capture your legacy media in digital format and not even know it. Assuming you have functioning playback equipment, such as a turntable or cassette player, all you'll need is a USB audio capture device for your PC. These accessories come bundled with software to help you record your analog media to your hard drive or a CD. If you're converting vinyl records and don't have a phono preamp, you'll want to look for a USB capture device with a "phono" input. This do-it-yourself option is usually the cheapest, but can be a bit time consuming since you'll be recording in real time. Tasks like separating the recorded clips into separate tracks (so you don't have one long file with several songs), entering song and artist tags, and saving or burning the recorded files adds additional time. Nonetheless, for converting a few songs off some old albums or tapes, this may be the way to go.
Easier: USB Turntable or USB Cassette Deck
If you don't have a working turntable or cassette deck, or if you are looking for a super-simple solution, a new USB turntable or cassette deck may be for you. They will not only play your records or tapes through your modern stereo or home theater system, but also make transferring media to your PC a breeze. You'll find recording music digitally is easy once you install the bundled software and plug the USB cable into your PC. Cue the music, hit record and walk away. Once recorded, the software makes it easy to separate tracks, create tags and save files to MP3 or other digital format. With less equipment and cables involved, this method is generally the easiest way to transfer at home.
Easiest: Professional Conversion
Now for the easiest solution around: let someone else do it. There are companies that will transfer your analog media to CD or digital files. Whether you drop your records and tapes off to a local company or ship them far away, professional conversion provides turn-key service and professional results. Imagine shipping off dozens, or even hundreds, of records or tapes and getting back high-quality CDs or digital files, complete with high-quality images of the original artwork and and ID3 (artist, album, song, etc.) tags. You'll have music ready to play through your home or car stereo or import into your digital library. In addition to true simplicity, you get a sound quality that would be hard for most people to achieve at home.
No matter which method you ultimately choose, you'll end up with music from your records and cassettes in a digital format, ready to enjoy now and preserved for the future.
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