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How to rip old home tapes?

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Nowadays we live in the world of digital age that involves CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and scores of audio and video formats to render multimedia data. But, for instance, before the mid 1980s the things went different concerning audio carriers – tapes reigned. Probably you have some tapes that you recorded by yourselves long time ago and want to digitize them. AVS Audio Recorder is what you need then. It is very easy to use and at the same time has quite enough features to get what you want. Follow the steps of the guide to see all the simplicity of the process.

to download it. After the download is finished, run the AVSAudioRecorder.exe file and follow the installation wizard instructions.

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Note: before ripping you will have to face the stage of connecting your tape recorder to the computer:

• Usually the players have an RCA output jack, so you need an RCA <-> mini-jack cable to link it with your computer system sound card input marked as Line In.
• If your tape player isn't supplied with the embedded amplifier then you'd better use an external receiver-amplifier. Probably the best way to link the receiver and your computer system in such a case is to use an S/PDIF <-> S/PDIF cable (in case the receiver has an S/PDIF output jack and your sound card has an S/PDIF input jack) and employ, for instance, an RCA <-> mini-jack cable to link the player and the receiver.

For all the details concerning possible ways of connecting devices, please, refer either to the User Manuals bundled with them or manufacturer support team.

Run the AVS Audio Recorder executable using the desktop shortcut or the Programs section of the Start menu. Then drop down the Input Device list and choose Line in or S/PDIF in of the sound card you connected a player to or USB-audio device:

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Now decide which audio format the material of your tape is going to be rendered into and choose it in the Recording Format section:

Note: if you are going to listen to the ripped audio using your mp3 player only then choosing MP3 or WMA as the output format will be the best decision, otherwise in case of using, for instance, a good quality stereo system you'd better set your choice on WAV format.

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Press the Browse button:

and specify a folder to store the ripped audio in and click the Select Folder button:

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Make sure everything is OK with all the settings of AVS Audio Recorder one more time, then check whether a cassette is inserted into a deck of your tape recorder. Click the Start Recording button of AVS Audio Recorder and start playback of the tape, to cancel the ripping click Stop Recording:

The process of recording will begin:

Note 1: although you can use either auto or manual volume gain to regulate sound boost it can cause loudness distortion as well. If it is so even after having disabled gain (the Auto Level button is deactivated and wheel cursor is set to the very beginning of the scale) then try to decrease the volume level of your tape recorder or external receiver-amplifier (in case of using it) and make sure their equalizer controls are properly adjusted.

Note 2: pressing the Stop Recording button of AVS Audio Recorder won't stop the tape playback, you should do it yourselves.

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To play the resulting file(s) straight away, click the corresponding button of the AVS Audio Recorder built-in player:

Your file(s) can be found in the destination folder.

If you want to edit your ripped audio or convert it to some other format use one of the following buttons:

• Click the Edit button to launch the AVS Audio Editor application if it is already installed on your computer or to go to our web site and download the program.
• Click the Convert button to launch the AVS Audio Converter application if it is already installed on your computer or to go to our web site and download the program.

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