Hi Rootsdub,
There are a ton of variables here:
1. The tape deck you're using to play your cassetes on, if your tapes were made on a different recorder, they're going to play back differently on the current one -- either in speed, or frequency response. This might not be a big consideration -- but it's there. Oh yeah, then there's the cables connecting the cassette deck to the CD player.
2. On the CD end: the Analog to Digital converter in your CD recorder, (along with the other analog stages before the A to D converter) will effect the sound of your transfer. The transfers from either tape or record to CD that I've done have been OK -- but these were done on very inexpensive (like 200 CD recorders), so I wasn't expecting anything great. The best way to find out is just to do an A/B comparison. Transfer a tape to CD and then compare your CD to the tape.
3. Depending on the condition of your tapes, even a "just okay" transfer can be fine, because you've saved your cassette collection from extinction !
4. If you transfer from CD to your PC in .WAV format that's fine, but look -- don't toss those burned CD's, just hold onto them. Hard drives have a way of crashing as just the wrong time !!
There are a ton of variables here:
1. The tape deck you're using to play your cassetes on, if your tapes were made on a different recorder, they're going to play back differently on the current one -- either in speed, or frequency response. This might not be a big consideration -- but it's there. Oh yeah, then there's the cables connecting the cassette deck to the CD player.
2. On the CD end: the Analog to Digital converter in your CD recorder, (along with the other analog stages before the A to D converter) will effect the sound of your transfer. The transfers from either tape or record to CD that I've done have been OK -- but these were done on very inexpensive (like 200 CD recorders), so I wasn't expecting anything great. The best way to find out is just to do an A/B comparison. Transfer a tape to CD and then compare your CD to the tape.
3. Depending on the condition of your tapes, even a "just okay" transfer can be fine, because you've saved your cassette collection from extinction !
4. If you transfer from CD to your PC in .WAV format that's fine, but look -- don't toss those burned CD's, just hold onto them. Hard drives have a way of crashing as just the wrong time !!