How to Record Cassette Tapes to CDs With Goldwave

Cassette tapes did not exist until Philips invented them in 1963. After their invention, cassettes became one of the world's most popular recording mediums. However, a cassette tape has a finite lifetime. Digital media lasts forever. Use a Goldwave audio recorder to transfer your musical memories from cassette to computer, then burn the audio to CDs and listen to them wherever you find a CD player.

Step 1: Connect RCA audio cables to the "Audio Out" jacks on the back of your cassette deck. Some cassette decks may label these jacks "Line Out" or "Aux Out."

Step 2: Plug the other ends of the cable into the RCA jacks of a 3.5mm RCA Y-Adapter. Purchase one from an electronics store. The top of the adapter has two female RCA jacks and the bottom of the adapter has a 3.5mm male plug that plugs into your computer.

Step 3: Plug the Y-Adapter's 3.5mm plug into the "Line In" or "Aux In" jack of your computer's sound card. If you do not see one of these jacks, plug the plug into your "Mic In" jack.

Transfer the Audio

Step 1: Open Goldwave and press "CTRL+N" to create a new document.

Step 2: Click "Presets" to display a drop-down list of values. Select "CD Quality, 5 Minutes" if your cassette audio is five minutes or less. Otherwise, select "CD Quality, 80 Minutes."

Step 3: Click the small green arrow below "Help" to open the "Control Properties" window.

Step 4: Click the "Device" tab to open it. At the bottom of the window, you will see "Device." Below that is a drop-down box containing a list of your audio devices.

Step 5: Select "Microphone" if you plugged the Y-Adapter into your computer's "Mic In" plug. Otherwise, select "Line In." Click "OK" to close the Control Properties Window and return to the main window.

Step 6: Click "Tool" and then "Control" to open the Control window. Use the controls in this window to record, pause, play and set volume levels.

Step 7: Put your cassette into your cassette player and press "Play." As it plays, you will see an animated audio graph in Goldwave's Control window. The audio graph has green, yellow and red colors. Use the slider above the graph to adjust the volume of the sound. Move the slider until the yellow part of the graph lights up.

Step 8: Press "Stop" on the cassette player and rewind the tape to the beginning.

Step 9: Cick the "Record" button in Goldwave's Control window to begin recording.

Step 10: Press "Play" on the cassette player to play the tape. Goldwave will record the audio.

Step 11: Click "Stop" in Goldwave's Control window when the cassette ends.

Step 12: Click "File" and select "Save as" to open the "Save Sound As" window. Select your desktop.

Step 13: Enter a name for the audio recording and click "Save." Goldwave will save the file to the desktop.

Transfer to CD

Step 1: Place a blank CD-RW CD into your computer's CD drive.

Step 2: Double-click "My Computer" on your desktop. A folder will open a list the media devices on your computer.

Step 3: Double-click the CD icon to open that folder.

Step 4: Drag the audio file that you saved to the CD icon into this folder.

Step 5: Click "Burn to CD" at the top of the window. Windows will write the audio file to the CD.