Cassette to MP3

I haven't investigated many fully automatic programs. The ones I have tried I have had problems because if an artist puts in a 1 second pause in the music you suddenly get a new track, and a bit of background hiss can also affect the determination of silence.

Check Amadeus Pro.

If you have a long MP3 you can detect silences with MP3Trimmer and split it up without recoding. It isn't fully automatic though.

AudioSlicer-1.1.1 splits long MP3s according to gaps. Fully automatic, but a bit of a learning curve IMHO.

Sorry, I can't answer your direct question (I use a USB Griffin iMic to import cassette tapes which being connected between my hifi and Mac is not the solution you're looking for) : what I will say though is, have you realised just how dreadful audio cassette converted to digital sounds (especially if you have the track already in digital format to compare the two)? It is muddy and hissy and no amount of EQ will fix it - as it happens, the EQ setting that most 'brightens' the treble frequencies is the same one that increases the hiss.

I would recommend you finding the very best audio cassette player out there (borrow or hire it), use 'play trim' with or without Dolby on the deck at the analogue playback stage, and use AAC 256 to convert to which will subjectively 'brighten' the sound much better than the MP3 compression algorithm (don't ask me why). However, where I can, I have replaced cassette conversions with their digital equivalent whenever possible and have never regretted the expense. The one exception is with a good chrome tape source such as TDK SA which produces 'acceptable' conversions after an EQ boost of the bass frequencies, especially if they were home recordings from a vinyl source done with good equipment. As for 'pre-recorded cassettes' (albums sold in tape form) - forget it. They are just awful and largely beyond redemption.

Not at all, sorry. I haven't done any conversion in the last year or two and the last time was RCA jack input through the wings AV card on my beige G3. 🙂

I have a Canopus ADVC 110 and have successfully imported audio off a videocassette tape into iMovie. If I wanted to do the same thing with audiocassette tape and iTunes, how would I go about it? Does some filemaking program or procedure have to be accessed before importing the files to iTunes? Thanks.

The track had to be on your Mac as an AIFF file in order to get it into iMovie, yes? You can just drag any AIFF file into iTunes (onto the Dock icon for example, with iTunes open), where iTunes will open and play it.

If you have iTunes set up to copy files into its Library, there will be an extra copy of the file there. You can then select the track in iTunes and convert it to an AAC or MP3 or Lossless format, whatever you want. Or leave it as AIFF if you don't mind large file sizes.

If you don't already have the AIFF file on your Mac, then you need a way to connect a device (usually via USB - I use a Griffin iMic) to the Mac, and then suitable software (I use the blissfully simple and unsophisticated FinalVinyl; most people opt for Audacity, a free download with an ugly interface and a bit of a learning curve). This will give you AIFF files of what you imported, and just take it from there.

Strangely enough, there was an "audio capture only" setting on the Canopus, so I captured it straight into iMovie the same as one would import video. Was just wondering if converted analog files could be captured as easily to iTunes or if there's some intermediate step.

What iMovie can do that iTunes cannot, is read in a live audio signal and use it.

You have to import the analogue somehow - Audacity will act as a DAC converter but you still need the hardware means to get the analogue signal into your computer. For more information, read here : http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=recording&i=records-tapes

Once you have files that Audacity has output (AIFF for example), then it is just a matter of dragging them into iTunes where you can convert them to other formats if desired, rename them, add tags, etc.

Thanks, that is helpful.

According to their manual, Audio Hijack Pro allows for external analog sources.

"Hijacking An Audio Device
Hijacking an Audio Device is useful for pulling audio from hardware such as record and tape players, as well as microphones.

Step 1) To begin, create a session in the Component list by clicking the + button. A new session will now appear, highlighted, with the name "(No Application Selected)". It's ready for editing.
Step 2) In the Input tab, adjust the Audio Source popup to "Audio Device", then set the desired input device from which to pull audio. You may also adjust the Output device if you desire. By default, the input will be played through the System's default output. Be careful to mute your speakers (with the "Mute" button) or use headphones to avoid a feedback loop.
Step 3) Once you have the device set, just click the "Hijack" button. The "Hijack" button will then illuminate and the Recording controls will be available. AH Pro now has control of the audio coming from the Audio Device."

This, however, fails to explain how to connect the analog device to the computer without an intermediate device to convert the analog to digital.

Yes - Audio Hijack allows you to capture audio on (or, it seems, COMING INTO) your Mac, but as you say, you still need a DAC to get the analogue into the Mac, digitised, and once you have crossed that bridge, there is no point in using AHPro as the free Audacity will do the same job.

My route has always been
Analogue source -> Griffin iMic -> USB port on the Mac
The iMic has a very good DAC and I've found it well worth the money (it cost me 30 GBP a few years ago).

Another advantage of the iMic is that it uses 2 RCA phono as its input, thus allowing me to digitise vinyl, audio cassette, and minidisc (or even, if you have a VCR with phono output, video cassette soundtracks)

What's the most portable device that does audio cassette tape to MP3 conversion that works with Intel Macs running 10.5.5? Specifically I'd like something that automatically is able to detect silent breaks in the music and make separate tracks based on that silence and save it as 192 kbps MP3 to my Mac's hard drive.

No idea of a device (hardware) but CD Spin Doctor (comes with Toast) will record and split the files into songs.

Kewl. Is it smart enough to realize the gaps between tracks on a cassette or record are separate songs, or do you have to record each one separately? Or do something to separate them after recording?