What to do with old cassettes?

[souljacker]

Just cleared out my mum and dad's loft of all my old stuff. I have fuck loads of old tapes. Lots of metal mainly but also some techno, stones, punk and U2 (I was a big fan, don't ask).

I assume they are worthless, but will the charity shops want them? I've dumped all the ones that were my own recordings but the purchased ones must have some value to someone.

 

[SpookyFrank]

You can send em my way if you like. My car only plays tapes, even the radio is borked

 

[wayward bob]

knit them

 

[cupid_stunt]

I digitised all my old cassettes, then binned them as the charity shop wasn't interested in taking them, and I couldn't be arsed putting them on e-bay.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ION-Audio-...84&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=digitalise++cassette

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Arent cassettes becoming hip again?

 

[toblerone3]

I'm thinking of taping all my CDs and digital downloads and then throwing away the digital copies. Don't need them these days.

 

[krtek a houby]

Arent cassettes becoming hip again?

Reckon so; was in a hiphop store a few months back and they were selling old school cassettes for around a tenner a go! Not sure if they were flying off the shelves, mind.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I'm thinking of taping all my CDs and digital downloads and then throwing away the digital copies. Don't need them these days.

What?

You seem to be going backwards.

 

[krtek a houby]

What?

You seem to be going backwards.

Just don't play them backwards; you'll hear "satan is lovely" or something like that...

 

[skyscraper101]

I’ve still kept quite a few from my youth. There are some things like old band demos, DJ mixes and magazine mixtapes which I don’t think exist anywhere else but on those tapes.

 

[Spymaster]

Just cleared out my mum and dad's loft of all my old stuff. I have fuck loads of old tapes. Lots of metal mainly but also some techno, stones, punk and U2 (I was a big fan, don't ask).

I assume they are worthless, but will the charity shops want them? I've dumped all the ones that were my own recordings but the purchased ones must have some value to someone.

Most charity shops have boxes full of old cassettes in the back that they can't dispose of so you're doing them no favours by donating them in many cases. Video and audio tapes are a bit of a pain in the arse to get rid of without just binning them because the coatings make them unsuitable for recycling as plastic and nobody else wants them.

I'd give them to SpookyFrank if I were you but I'd record rude words in the middle of all the songs before I sent them to him.

 

[marty21]

killer b loves cassettes

 

[Sea Star]

The lodgers I had in in 2014 - a young couple in their late twenties - went completely ga ga over my cassette collection. Nicked a few i think, not that I mind. It's mostly 80s indie stuff that I've replaced by digital copies. It does seem they are back in vogue, though i still don;t know what to do with them.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

They were always shit and they are still shit.

U2....

....and Cassettes.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Ill have any decent cassettes.

 

[Callie]

What is the best way to transfer cassette to digital? I am not sure I would want to purchase a unit specifically for the task eg like cupid_stunt's ion thinggum.

I have a laptop, amplifier with aux option, various cables and doodads. I do not have a cassette player at present but I know people have them knocking about so should be able to pick one up

Been meaning to sort this for years but still havent got around to it

 

[ska invita]

What is the best way to transfer cassette to digital? I am not sure I would want to purchase a unit specifically for the task eg like cupid_stunt's ion thinggum.

I have a laptop, amplifier with aux option, various cables and doodads. I do not have a cassette player at present but I know people have them knocking about so should be able to pick one up

Been meaning to sort this for years but still havent got around to it

what have you got on tape? if its albums then there is no point in transferring them - you can stream them or "get" the mp3s - if its stuff you've recorded off radio, gigs, etc thats uniquely on tape then fair enough

 

[William of Walworth]

I've got shitloads of old cassettes, so I'll be interested in any answers to Callie 's post above. The pre-recorded ones I almost certainly will want to digitise. The ones I recoded myself, lots, will will be far too lamentable in quality though.

But for now I'm far too busy getting an even vaster number of CDs transferred to my MP3 player

 

[ska invita]

I've got shitloads of old cassettes, so I'll be interested in any answers to Callie 's post above. The pre-recorded ones I almost certainly will want to digitise.

Really is a massive waste of time...download them for free or get into streaming

The ones I recoded myself, lots, will will be far too lamentable in quality though.

These are the only ones worth digitising

Its quicker and easier to download the tracks from CD too than rip them I find

 

[Sprocket.]

Taping is killing music remember!

 

[pogofish]

I’ve still kept quite a few from my youth. There are some things like old band demos, DJ mixes and magazine mixtapes which I don’t think exist anywhere else but on those tapes.

Same here - I've got a big box of old tapes, many early releases by long-gone bands that I can't quite bring myself to dispose of, despite my last cassette player giving-up the ghost some years ago.

However, I have a rather nice TEAC deck stashed at work for when somebody there needs old tapes converted, so maybe one day I'll see about digitising them

 

[Sprocket.]

I’ve got a lot of rare stuff on tape as well as some live performances. I’ve been talking of digitising them for at least ten years but never have the time.
Something else to do when I retire no doubt.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Ill have any decent cassettes.

I'll grab any indecent ones.

 

[Callie]

what have you got on tape? if its albums then there is no point in transferring them - you can stream them or "get" the mp3s - if its stuff you've recorded off radio, gigs, etc thats uniquely on tape then fair enough

pirate radio innit

they may not even be any good now, some will be ancient

 

[Callie]

I’ve got a lot of rare stuff on tape as well as some live performances. I’ve been talking of digitising them for at least ten years but never have the time.
Something else to do when I retire no doubt.

but what is all the music falls off them

 

[ska invita]

pirate radio innit

they may not even be any good now, some will be ancient

oooh! intruged. how many tapes and what stations and what years?

 

[Callie]

majority will be Unity 88.4 from about erm 92/93/94ish? a few with Girls FM 106.6 from the same era, some from Energy 87.9 from later 97ish probably a few other random bits and bobs.

I doubt any are very high quality, reception wasn't great for Unity, probably a bit better for some other station that were closer.

ooh theres a marantz tape player on gumtree....£100

 

[cupid_stunt]

Some of the cassettes I digitised were of me doing [bad] shows on pirate stations in Ireland.

 

[stethoscope]

In some cases, 25-30 years old and still going strong (although I've ripped them all since for playing...)

 

[mojo pixy]

What is the best way to transfer cassette to digital?

I've got shitloads of old cassettes, so I'll be interested in any answers

I did this ages ago but the process is the same now; takes less time because computers are faster but it's still a massive pain in the arse if there are a lot to do.

1. Get some sound editing software. Audacity is good and free, but there are others. Install it, and configure your input source to be the mic/line jack on the computer. (Of course you'll be playing the tape into the computer through a cable from the Line Out socket in the tape player, into the Mic/Line In socket in the computer. Either 3.5mm jack to 3.5mm jack or Audio Connectors to 3.5mm jack, depending on your sockets)
2. Play something in to check the recording volume is right then set the computer recording, play the tape and record the whole of one side in one go. Then record the other side. Save each as a .wav file (they'll be massive). You can also edit out unwanted silences, you can even filter out hiss.
3. You can then export each of these as a single long mp3 file (especially if they're mixes), or you can cut out each track and save them as separate wav files. Audacity encodes mp3 files, but you may be able to make mp3s by importing them into your favourite mp3 player / converter software.

Rinse and repeat. It takes ages but you can do other stuff while you're taping so if you spend a lot of time working at a computer anyway there's no real reason not to.

I'd gladly take any original tapes and even pay postage