Transfer Digital Audio Tapes (DAT) From Panasonic SV3700 DAT Deck to MacBook Air With Mojave

Thanks! I'm looking forward to learning how you accomplish it. There's probably a better solution than what I did.

The optical input was indeed a valuable feature that I miss. These days no dedicated audio input exists, analog or digital, so your first task is to find a suitable analog to USB converter. They're not expensive.

If I am not mistaken DAT is digital audio tape, correct? It's a shame to convert it to analog only to convert it to digital all over again just to use a Mac's USB input. If there's a way to avoid that intermediate step I don't know of one. I doubt any meaningful loss occurs by doing such a 360° turn, it just doesn't appeal to my sense of digital efficiency. Once a signal is digital it should stay digital.

That's only the first challenge. The next one is to find a program to record that audio. I have used GarageBand for that purpose, foregoing 99% of its capabilities and just recording the audio as a "vocal track". I am not a GarageBand expert but it was easy enough for me to figure out. Once that task is accomplished it's a simple matter to import it into iTunes.

I'm afraid this won't help you much 😕 and the only qualified audio expert I knew of doesn't frequent this site any longer. Perhaps you would be better served by asking your question in the GarageBand for Mac forum. Try asking over there.