Cassette Recorded to CD via Analog Jacks?

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 !!

I plan to do the same thing for a bunch of guitar "Lick" tapes that are no longer available

Point one, Cassette Tapes are questionable to beging with. In my experience, they have a very short life span. However, your connection of the tape decks analog output to the CDR's analog input then immediately gets converted via the CDR's Analog to Digital converter. So once you have burned this disc, it is a digital recording.

The comments that digital does not sound as good as analog becomes irrelevant here in that virtually all discs (initially) were recorded via analog microphones into analog to digital converters at the recording point/site with equipment that likely costs many times that of the CDR that you are referencing.

Based on your other thread, you are somewhat new to this area (and I am no expert by any means). But in the end, transper your tapes to CD and your hard drive and the sound quality (while not analog) will last a lot longer than your cassette tapes sound quality. Also, don't get so caught up in the "analog sounds better". While there may be some truth to that debate, you will also find that well done digital can also sound pretty great. Plus there is not that much "true" analog available as new releases anymore (yes, I know there are some company's that are still recording and producing in true analog, but the list and categories are much more limiting that was is available otherwise).