Tascam CD/Cassette to USB recorder

fitness1 · #1 06-17-2018, 08:19 AM

I have almost 1500 CD's and probably 3000 titles on very high quality cassette recordings from my record store days.

As times have changed, and there are no players in the cars, I've been thinking about transferring a good part of the catalog onto flash drives for playback in the car.

Anyone have any experience with this unit?

http://tascam.com/product/cd-a580/

ctgagnon · #2 06-17-2018, 09:02 AM

No experience, but it looks like line in to mp3 would let transfer vinyl to mp3? That would be a plus if you have "records" too.

fitness1 · #3 06-17-2018, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctgagnon

No experience, but it looks like line in to mp3 would let transfer vinyl to mp3? That would be a plus if you have "records" too.

I do - quite a bit actually. I'll have to check on that.

Yes - looks like I could run a line out of my Adcom preamp into the Line input.

muscmp · #4 06-17-2018, 10:30 AM

if the cassettes haven't been played in a while, make sure to fast forward and rewind them first. hopefully they haven't lost any of their pitch. i had that problem when i transferred them to my computer as wav files.

if you dump them to your computer then you can choose what you want to put on your phone that most likely connects in your car.

play music!

fitness1 · #5 06-17-2018, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muscmp

if the cassettes haven't been played in a while, make sure to fast forward and rewind them first. hopefully they haven't lost any of their pitch. i had that problem when i transferred them to my computer as wav files.

if you dump them to your computer then you can choose what you want to put on your phone that most likely connects in your car.

play music!

I don't use a smartphone - that is the appeal of this unit - I don't have to use the computer or smartphone to load up flash drives with music. I can do it "direct"

A lot of my cassettes have never or rarely been played. Even the ones I thought I'd 'worn out' playing at the record store still sound really good. They were recorded on an Akai GX head deck and all on TDX or Maxell (mostly chrome) tapes.

marioed · #6 06-17-2018, 12:00 PM

Hi Fitness,

I don't have any experience with this unit but looking at the specs I noticed a few things that would bother me. First it only does mp3, a lossy format, if you're converting cd's, tapes & records for archive/playback I'd want to use a lossless format like flac, alac or aiff. The other thing that would cause me concern is the frequency responses for recording from cassette & cd to mp3 which aren't even 20Hz-20kHz. The line in recording to mp3 is 100Hz-15kHz which is what you'd get hooking up a turntable. Personally I'd want a minimum of 20Hz-20kHz for my transfers.

If you're just looking to do conversions for a portable mp3 player or car unit it probably would work well. If you want at least cd quality I'd probably look elsewhere.

I think I replied to an earlier thread you started about ripping cd's to audio files. As I remember you mentioned your ear for music was quite good. You might consider doing a test rip of a cd to mp3 320kbps (the best quality the Tascam can do) and compare the cd & mp3 sound qualities.

I've converted about 250 live soundboard cassettes & 100 lp's to audio files using an audio interface similar to this, https://www.guitarcenter.com/Focusri...o-Interface.gc and Audacity recording software, (it's free and available online) I did them all as 24 bit/96kHz flac files. If you have any interest in doing transfers this way let me know and I'll be happy to tell you more about it.

Regards,
Ed

srick · #7 06-17-2018, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marioed

I've converted about 250 live soundboard cassettes & 100 lp's to audio files using an audio interface similar to this, https://www.guitarcenter.com/Focusri...o-Interface.gc and Audacity recording software, (it's free and available online) I did them all as 24 bit/96kHz flac files. If you have any interest in doing transfers this way let me know and I'll be happy to tell you more about it.

Regards,
Ed

this must have taken forever! Does anyone know anyway to speed the transcription process?

Tico · #8 06-17-2018, 01:13 PM

Not that I'm old or anything, but when I started playing guitar in 1907 all we had was a Dictaphone recorder.
I have all these cylinders of little Tico I can't play any more.

Attachment 9944

Does anyone make a unit to convert my Dictaphone cylinders to MP3?

Seriously, I feel your pain.
When my best friend passed on a few months back I had to figure out how to transfer cassettes to MP3.
We started recording our singing and guitar playing at age 14.
There were tears all around when they were played at her memorial service.

Brucebubs · #9 06-17-2018, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tico

Does anyone make a unit to convert my Dictaphone cylinders to MP3?

I can put them on 8-track if you like.

Tico · #10 06-17-2018, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

I can put them on 8-track if you like.

............

wkbryan · #11 06-17-2018, 06:09 PM

I've transferred a number of cassettes to digital and I've had good luck going a very economical route. I have a Tascam DR-05 recorder and on a whim I used the included 3.5mm-to-RCA cable and hooked it up directly to a standard tape deck. I chose the format I wanted to use and gave it a try. So far I've never been disappointed with the results, and since I already had the recorder it cost nothing to try it!

ManyMartinMan · #12 06-17-2018, 10:28 PM

My process over the years has been to transfer to the next medium as soon as it was obvious that the technology had changed. I bought all my important to me albums on CD when CD's overtook cassettes and albums. Once you get behind it gets hard to find older players to transform music and it gets very expensive to transfer 8-track into cassette. Cassettes and albums into CD. CD onto hard drives.........Beta max onto VHS. VHS onto..... it is endless.

Tico · #13 06-18-2018, 03:48 AM

I've read the US Library of Congress has the exact same (and very expensive) problem ... technology that vanishes with upgrades.

fitness1 · #14 06-18-2018, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marioed

If you're just looking to do conversions for a portable mp3 player or car unit it probably would work well. If you want at least cd quality I'd probably look elsewhere.

I think I replied to an earlier thread you started about ripping cd's to audio files. As I remember you mentioned your ear for music was quite good. You might consider doing a test rip of a cd to mp3 320kbps (the best quality the Tascam can do) and compare the cd & mp3 sound qualities.

d

I remember your posts on my other thread. Yes, I have a pretty darn good ear, but here's where I was 'then'....

I had used my Ipod Shuffle in my '16 Accord that only had a 1/8" mini plug "auxiliary" input. I wasn't real happy with the volume or dynamics.

In preparing for switching cars, I bought a 16 gb Sandisk Mp3 player which has a mini USB out and some kind of variable gain (separate from the volume control) that I adjusted all the way up (3 settings I believe) My '18 Civic has only USB input, and between the two changes, the sound is MUCH better in all respects.

That's why I'm considering this Tascam - I could put music direct onto flash drives and just plug them in. Of course, there is no gain setting on a flash drive, so I'm not sure the results would be the same - thus this thread - wondering if anyone had actually used this unit.

kkrell · #15 06-18-2018, 06:13 AM

I've used the MK II version of this Tascam to transfer from cassette to CD in .WAV quality, then RIP on my computer to .WAV or .MP3. The current model is the MK IV, and there are line outputs you could probably use to acquire more directly to computer. No direct to USB on this unit, though. But the Tascam is quality stuff. Get a SquareTrade warranty up to 4 years, and they will repair or replace the unit if it fails in that time period.

http://tascam.com/product/cc-222mkiv/