Digital Bits Technology Column QnA

Question:

I’m having problems recording a cassette. I have hooked up the cable to my cassette player headphone jack and to my laptop headphone jack, I then hit record but after testing it there is no sound. Could you please help with this….I’m using the Audacity software you suggest for Windows XP.

Answer:

According to what you wrote, you’re saying you’ve connected one end of the cable to your cassette player’s headphone jack, and the other end of the cable to your laptop’s headphone jack. If that’s the case, it sounds like you just connected the cable wrong; the cassette player plays the sound, and the computer needs to record that sound.

It’s easily fixed: One end of the cable should be connected to your cassette player’s headphone jack, and the other end of the cable should be connected to your laptop’s microphone jack. This allows the cassette to play, and the computer to record.

Other articles related to this topic:

• Cassette to Audacity recording problem with heavy static
• Audacity recording records background noise, but does not record line input from cassette
• Audacity doesn’t record when it worked correctly before
• Will plugging in a stereo to a computer’s MIC jack damage the microphone?
• Cables and soundcards for tape to PC recording