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I'm about to convert old micro-cassette content to digital mp3 files. I intend to buy a Craig or Sony hand-held micro-cassette recorder/player, which usually come with a headphone and/or mic jack. My iMac, however, has only a USB input. Must I purchase the gadget called "iMic" or is there another way to connect the micro-cassette recorder to my iMac? I plan to use Audacity software.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
What year/model iMAc do you have. Up until the latest ones all iMacs have audio in jacks.
If your iMAc is the newer one without the audio in jack then yes you will need to buy something like the iMic - Griffin Technology to connect.
regards
Frank... My iMac isn't what I would call 'new' .... it was purchased in Nov/2009. It's the 21" desktop. I looked for an audio-in jack (in rear of screen), but all I see are USB inputs.
You are right! Used a flashlight and now I see them! LOL. So I don't need "iMic" ....
Now I'm torn over what cassette player to buy. There's a Panasonic shoebox recorder/player which comes with an AC adaptor (better than using batteries), but I'm concerned about it's mono output: http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-RQ2102-Cassette-Recorder/dp/B00004T1XK
Perhaps I'd be better off finding a used stereo boombox with RCA jacks and use a "Y" plug. I'm so anxious to start this project. I've already downloaded Audacity and C/Net posted a video for using Audacity. Says to make WAV files (to store as original master); then create mp3's. I'm a 70 yr old senior. I'm feeling challenged, but unless there's an easier way, I guess I'm ready to start.
Cheers, -Rita
Oh... to clarify. I intend to convert both micro and standard cassettes. For the micro's I'm looking on eBay for a hand-held recorder/player; for the standard cassettes, I'm looking at the Panasonic RQ2102 or a boombox.
Thanks for that iMac illustration you sent. It really helped.
When looking at players try for one tht has a line out socket out not just a headphone socket.
The reason being the line out socket will have a stronger signal and will give you a better recording. You can get by with only a headphone out socket but you'll get better results with line out.
The AC adaptor is a good thing to look for also. If you're doing a lot of tapes you'll go through s lot of batteries. If the player does not come with one but there is a jack for dc in you can get a universal AC adaptor to use with it. You'll just have to know the voltage it needs.
Audacity is good software, I use it myself. It's a bit complicated at first but for what you seem to be doing you can ignore most of the features and just concentrate on basic recording. Figure on making a few test recordings to get the hang of it all.
Make sure you use good names for the files you create. Come up with some plan before you start and stick with it. Nothing worst then having a folder full of dozens of recording files and the only way you can figure out what is in each is to listen to it!
good luck
regards
PS I can relate to the difficulty in finding those plugs in the back of the Mac. My eyes have a couple of years to go before they hit 70 but flashlights definitely required. 😀
A line-out jack would definitely be best but it would help to know what kind of audio are you trying to capture. The type of audio being capture would be useful in knowing because it may not be necessary to capture in stereo.
The STANDARD cassettes are mostly homemade recordings... 1) spoken stories, and 2) music taped from fave radio shows. At the time, I had a real nice Onkyo dual cassette tape deck hooked to an Onkyo receiver. The radio shows were simply direct-recorded to cassette and the spoken word stories were spoken into a Mic connected to the tape deck.
The MICRO cassettes are all homemade voice recordings. Two kinds: 1) Stories spoken into a Sony hand-held micro-cassette recorder; and 2) Recorded phone calls made using the 'record' feature on my phone's message machine (I did genealogy research then, and when speaking on the phone with family members I would ask for permission to record their memories rather than writing it all down).
While nothing you list sounds like it requires stereo there is really no penalty in recording in stereo and most of the cables you get are setup for stereo anyway so I wouldn't really worry about it.
Sounds like you have some pleasant of work in front of you. Have you thought about what you are going to do with the recordings once you have them on the computer?
I'd like to make gift CD's from some of the mp3's (if that's possible)... but not sure what my possibilities are once I have this stuff in WAV and then mp3 format.
Someone online remarked that I might want to get an external drive, because CD-quality stereo audio eats up about 10MB of space per minute. I don't even know where to look, to see how much space is left on my iMac.
I agree with Frank. Nothing sounds like it really requires stereo. For instance the spoken word audio definitely can be captured in mono because voices are normally recorded in mono anyways. You will not gain any advantage from capturing this in stereo vs mono. For the music you may get a little better quality capturing in stereo but not enough that I think will be noticable. If the music was dubbed down from the radio, chances are capturing in stereo wouldn't improve anything because radio stations are broadcasted in from an analog signal. I think the only time where capturing in stereo is an advantage is when you are capturing something from a direct source and it is being played out in stereo.
BTW, you can check and see how much space is left on your Mac by clicking on the finder icon and at the bottom of the window it should show you how much space you have remaining. And alternate method is to secondary click on your hard drive (if you have it set to mount on your desktop) and select get info.
Frank Caggiano... You have been so generous with your time! Thanks to your feedback I now feel that I'm on the right path to start this project. Looks like I'll be purchasing the Panasonic RQ2102 'shoebox' player/recorder and make-do with the mono headphone jack.
Appatight... thanks for the second opinion and for showing me a quick way to check how much space is left on my Mac. I have 451 GB remaining. Wonder how many MB's are in a GB?? I'll look on Google.
Once again, I'm quite impressed by the kindness shown to me. THANK YOU.
OOPS.... maybe, per Frank's advice, I should keep shopping...and look for a tape player with LINE OUT. Will have to have speakers built in, though.
how to hook up micro-cassette device to iMac which has USB input
