Best way to copy cassettes?

[jimmyrules712]

I've got a big task in front of me. A church has some 1,000+ services on cassettes. They want them all copied to MP3s on a computer. Money isnt much of an issue, in other words, if there is a piece of equipment out there I can buy to help get the job done, i have permission to buy it.

SO whats the best way to go about this? and is thee some equipment I can buy that will mostly do it for me?

[RJ]

All you need is a tape recorder with line-out, a cable to connect the tape recorder to the line-in of the PC's sound card, an audio capture program (they come with the sound card, otherwise use audacity), and an MP3 encoder.
And if you want to edit the audio a little bit, you need an audio editing program.

I think Audacity does audio capturing, editing and MP3 encoding.

RJ

[Gimpy]

check this out: http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/6908/

[jamesrpm]

1000 sermons , Wow !! , hope your pastor isn't as wordy as some are!!

I use Windows Plus digital media edition , and a cassete deck with a cord into my sound card to rip all of my old tapes. But I had to baby sit the process. Not sure I'd want to listen to all of those and still show up on Sundays. :^)

[roomwithamoose]

Yeah, that is a LONG process. I've had to do about 50 before, and that took a week and a half. I just used Pro Tools, since I alrready had it on the computer. Then just converted that AIFF to MP3. Unfortunately, there's no easy or fast way to change mediums.

[jimmyrules712]

yeah im just trying to figure out the fastest way to get it done. cost is not an issue

[roomwithamoose]

Well, if cost isn't an issue, then the most you can do is just buy quality parts. Get a nice tape deck, if you can find one, and just make sure you have nice cables, plenty of room on the computer, and a decent program. I don't know of any programs that will go straight to MP3, maybe someone else can name one. Other than that, just sit down and get started.

[Hi Ho]

Audacity will work just fine for recording. Once you record a tape you simply click File > Export to MP3.

[RayH]

The process is tedious. There is no "automatic" (or unattened) way to do this. It's not like ripping a CD. The process is that each cassette must be playedback individually and converted to MP3.

You don't need really high quality equipment for voice recording. The computer or software don't need to be anything special. Old computers can do it. You can use the freeware Audiograbber. It will record cassette directly to mp3.

The trick is that for 1000+, you may want MULTIPLE setups. You are talking about 1300 hours of work, assuming 1 hour per cassette. If you did 5 or 10 simultanesouly, it would go a lot faster. Just stagger them.

[jimmyrules712]

good idea rayh

[doctorgonzo]

I agree. In this case, parallel processing is what you should be after.

If cost isn't an issue, why don't they outsource the conversion? Asking one person to babysit over a thousand tapes isn't the most efficient use of resources.

[roomwithamoose]

That is a really good idea. If you could get multiple computers going, you'll save a ton of time. Try and see how the computers can handle running two or three of the programs at once, if you have enough inputs. That'll cut down on a lot of time.