Cassette to PC on the cheap

We've all got 'em - stacks of old C90s, C60s and a whole host of other crazy formats that used to be popular in the 80s! So if you're feeling the pinch at the moment and want a cheap way to get your old school tunes onto your PC then what are the options?

As you've probably noticed, your sound card at the back of the PC has a number of different inputs on it, next to the place where your speakers are likely plugged in now. These inputs take a standard 3.5mm jack. If you've got a spare 3.5mm male to male lead lying around, as well as a tape deck, then you should be able to record your old cassettes to PC this way.

Just connect the jack from the headphone socket on the tape deck, to the line in on your sound card. Now, we'll get to the recording part at the moment. But it's also worth noting that you've got a couple of important volume controls here to play with. On your PC, you've got the system volume sliders. On the cassette deck, you can adjust the output volume too.

So what can you use to record the the tapes to your computer? The best tool you can get, for free, is Audacity. This has some special filters to help when recording from tape. And also has the ability to clean up your recordings, and remove noise. Recording with this tool is pretty easy to do, and there's some sophisticated digital levels you can monitor to make sure your old albums are going to sound their best once they're recorded.

If you're looking for a SUPER EASY way to make high quality recordings from Cassette to PC, we recommend the USB Cassette Deck. Compare prices here and get a good deal on one today.