Audio Recording Tools?

Harvey · #1 May 6th, 2004, 01:08 AM

Hello all,

I need to convert some audio cassettes to mp3's.

I have done something similar on my old Windows machine back in the day by plugging a male-male headphone jack into the PC and recorder, and then hitting play on the recorder, and recording the output to the PC with a windows tool called "sound recorder".

This would create a .WAV file. Then I used "CD Copy" to convert to WAV files to MP3. Again, a Windows tool.

Does anyone know of similar tools, or a faster way, to get this done on an iBook?

I'm sure it's possible, just never done it before.

Thanks for any help!

-Harvey

Zammy-Sam · #2 May 6th, 2004, 03:39 AM

Hey Harvey,
I searched for you on versiontracker.com and found this.
Is that what you are looking for?

Zammy-Sam · #3 May 6th, 2004, 03:43 AM

Oops, I just realised you mentioned iBook. Does your iBook have a line-in? Am asking since my G3 iBook doesn't have such a plug and I am not sure about the newer iBooks.. If there is no line-in port, things might get slightly more complicated. You might be forced to use your mic for recording those cassetts

**mdnky** · #4 May 6th, 2004, 05:06 AM

On the line-in issue:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

A nice thing to have, definitely worth the $40.

Harvey · #5 May 6th, 2004, 06:15 AM

Would a male male headphone jack substitute for a line in port?

I had never heard of iMic before, thanks :-)

Zammy-Sam · #6 May 6th, 2004, 06:45 AM

Well, the problem is, you have to get the audio into your mac. You will need a line-in port. When you get/have such, you can easily use a male male jack which is connected to the headphone plug of your hifi/tape-player and to your line-in or mic-plug. So, as Michael said, $40 ain'T that much for such a useful item.

quiksan · #7 May 6th, 2004, 10:08 AM

sorry Zammy, I didn't follow the link to see what app you found, but here's a few that I've toyed with, doing the same thing:

audacity (open source, free!)
audio hijack (pro) by rogue amoeba. costs a few $, but WELL worth it!!!!

those are the main ones. i like the cheap and free.
not sure if garage band would work well for something like that, but it could be worth a try.

I know there are firewire audio input devices (kinda like that imic from griffin). I was talking to a guy at Guitar Center about them. says they're the best for that kind of work. don't know from experience though.

I just hope your tapes are in good shape - mine weren't when I attempted this, and the hissing and degredation of the casettes themselves ultimately made my work a waste of time.
guess I wore out my favorite music, back in the day.

perfessor101 · #8 May 6th, 2004, 10:15 AM

I will second the Audio Hijack Pro recommendation. Powerful, flexible, and will capture virtually any audio source that will play through the Mac. IMHO well worth the price.