How to Use Audacity to Transfer a Microcassette Recording to a Computer

By Christina Shaffer

Transferring recordings to your PC is easy.
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A microcassette recorder allows users to record and save audio on a microcassette tape. Whether you use your microcassette recorder for educational or business purposes, you can manage your recordings by converting the audio on your microcassette tapes to digital format. Though you will need an audio conversion program to complete the task, you can use Audacity, an open source application. After transferring the audio from your tape to your computer, you can also use Audacity to convert the file to a popular digital format, such as WAV or MP3.

Place your microcassette tape in your microcassette player and locate the point you want to start recording from your tape to your computer.

Insert one end of the stereo cable into the player's headphone or line-out jack. Connect the opposite end of the cable to the line-in jack on your computer.

Open Audacity.

Click the drop-down menu on the toolbar. Select the "Line in" option.

Press the "Record" icon on the toolbar, and then immediately press the "Play" button on your microcassette player. Audacity will begin recording the audio from your microcassette tape.

Press the "Stop" button on the Audacity toolbar when you're finished recording.

Click the "File" tab and select the "Export as WAV" or "Export as MP3" option. The MP3 option requires you to install the LAME MP3 Encoder, which is free and can be downloaded online. After selecting an option, the "Save As" dialog box appears on the screen.

Enter a name for your new audio file and select a destination folder. The audio recording will be converted to MP3 or WAV format and saved to your PC.

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