Cassettes

[Andy]

You want to record music which you have in digital format ONTO the cassettes so that you can play them in the car, yes?

Yes

[Martin F]

You may be able to pick up a cheap mini hi-fi at a charity shop with a stereo input, you'd just need the right cable then.

[Chris from Fieldtown]

Andy Can you not just connect it up via the headphone mini jack connection via a cable mini jack to what ever input is  on your cassette recorder? I have used that method on my tascam 4 track tape recorder a couple of times with mp3's of some band stuf to rehears against at home.

I don't have a cassette recorder of any sort, haven't for years.

I have digitized many cassettes. I just connected my a standard cassette machine to a standard hifi amp (a few quid from Ebay) and then used to line out (rec)  from the amp to my line/mic input on the PC. Any recording software will then take care of the digitizing. Many use Audacity (free), I use someting cheap, but makes track naming easier. It works well, I can make MP3 recordings relatively easily and then burn CDs or just make a playlist and add to my Itunes library.

But I want to record cassettes

Sorry Andy, lazy reading on my part. My solution is to have a nice but cheap amp handling all my computer audio, both in and out. It was less than £50 on Ebay. I just use the line out from the amp into a second hand cassette recorder. I used to make many recordings of special church services onto tape from MP3s for people.

[markwood]

This sort of adapter will work with a phone/mp3 player's headphone output, straight into a car cassette player (or some cassette players):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323101442215?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20180816085401%26meid%3Dbaf4aa1abbb449d7af0118af643c1e26%26pid%3D100970%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D323101442215%26itm%3D323101442215%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100970.m5481&_trkparms=pageci%3A990dd982-65b9-11ed-9ab1-d647c8a6f592%7Cparentrq%3A80ce94661840a6e5774863d4fff67616%7Ciid%3A1

It just puts a tape head in contact with the one in the cassette player and if you're lucky and they're aligned properlly with each other, they can work quite well. They've been around for years and they were always a bit hit and miss. Whether they trigger the cassette player's autostop/autoreverse (thus rendering it unusable) is something you can really only find out by trying it.

[Andy]

I don't have anything to connect that to.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Could these guys help?
https://www.cassette-to-cd.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdKbBhDHARIsANJ6-jduR6hRfPLIcEFMTmCZOaWgkj6NPb6mZkos9x91HoLls_GjzVxzw9YaAnxPEALw_wcB

[GubGub (Al)]

You want to record music which you have in digital format ONTO the cassettes so that you can play them in the car, yes?

Yes

Andy, this seems to do what you are looking for; Mp3 to cassette as well as the opposite. Not sure what the quality will be like but it seems to be the only inexpensive unit around designed for that purpose.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DIGITNOW-Cassette-Personal-Recording-Converter/dp/B07DLWCBKJ/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=cassette+recorder&qid=1668644262&sr=8-17

[Andy]

Could these guys help?
https://www.cassette-to-cd.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdKbBhDHARIsANJ6-jduR6hRfPLIcEFMTmCZOaWgkj6NPb6mZkos9x91HoLls_GjzVxzw9YaAnxPEALw_wcB

No.  They offer digitisation of cassettes. Not what I want.

Can't quote your reply, GugGub, but there's a review saying that it does do what I want, but very badly. So I'll carry on looking.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Tasha]

ive done it semi successfully by running a cable from my PC headphone jack into my cassette MIC IN jack.

[Andy]

ive done it semi successfully by running a cable from my PC headphone jack into my cassette MIC IN jack.

Yes, it looks like I'll have to buy an old-fashioned cassette deck.

[Tasha]

ive done it semi successfully by running a cable from my PC headphone jack into my cassette MIC IN jack.

Yes, it looks like I'll have to buy an old-fashioned cassette deck.

Not always easy to find ones that record these days.. I used to use a cassette adaptor and plug my MP3 player in that way. You can get decent ones that work very well. The Bluetooth ones are useful.

[Jules Gray]

ive done it semi successfully by running a cable from my PC headphone jack into my cassette MIC IN jack.

Yes, it looks like I'll have to buy an old-fashioned cassette deck.

I'd recommend any of the last generation of Pioneer or Sony cassette decks, presuming you won't want to splurge on something like a Nakamichi.

Jules

[Alan2]

ive done it semi successfully by running a cable from my PC headphone jack into my cassette MIC IN jack.

Yes, it looks like I'll have to buy an old-fashioned cassette deck.

I'd recommend any of the last generation of Pioneer or Sony cassette decks, presuming you won't want to splurge on something like a Nakamichi.

Jules

I have 2 Nakamich decks - the real expense comes when one needs servicing. I used to use them a lot, but less so now.

[davidmjs]

Been trying to complete my Robin Williamson collection but I'm still missing:

Songs of Love and Parting ('81)
Rory Mor and the Gruagach Gaire ('82)
Music for the Mabinogi ('84)
Legacy of the Scottish Harpers ('84)
Legacy of the Scottish Harpers Vol 2 ('86)
Music for the newly born ('90)
Fireside Stories One ('91)
Fireside Stories Two ('91)
Robin and John Renbourn - Wheel of Fortune (Flying Fish) ('93)

If you have/know of any do let me know.  A few of the cheaper ones are available in the US on Discogs but the postage just makes it uneconomic...

[Nick]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/20/fun-way-consume-music-why-sales-of-cassette-tapes-soaring

I was half expecting your name to pop up while I read this, David!

[wayne stote]

While I still pick up second-hand cassettes, I bought my first new one in a long while today: the debut album by The Red Locusts, which came out a couple of years ago. I've been on the lookout for it for a while on CD but it's tended to be either unavailable or prohibitively expensive so I was delighted to find the cassette at a reasonable price.

They are a band set up by Rick Springfield alongside Matt & Gregg Bissonette to play homage to The Beatles and power pop bands of the Seventies and Eighties. That sort of thing is not normally my bag (which is why I didn't want to pay a fortune) but I usually find something to enjoy in Rick's writing, and happily that's the case with this album. It's a lovely, breezy Summer listen.