Doc on Tape

I have a number of tapes with Doc Watson on them. Since he's passed I realized I need to do something to preserve what I have. Honestly, I never thought about converting tapes and LP's to disc. I have a lot. Someone please tell me what I need to purchase/borrow/steal to burn LP's and cassettes.

I can't even begin to tell how I feel about Doc's passing. I was born in Appalachia and Doc's music was a favorite of my family. My Mom and my aunts use to sing on a local radio station out of Logan, W. Virginia way back. Though I didn't pick up the guitar until way late in life and my short term memory has gone to hell, I can still remember the old gospel, country, and bluegrass songs Mom use to sing.

There are many reasons/excuses for losing parts of history, family connections, folklore handed down, etc., and a good deal of that will forever remain a mystery to me and my kids. It's nearly shameful to a degree. Anyway, I've been on a search over the last couple of years. And I'm thinking I don't want to lose anymore of who I am and where I came from. Doc and the music is part of that. So, thanks for helping out if you can.

Peace

I've been slowly digitizing LPs & cassettes for a couple of years now. I've got an Apple computer, and its built-in software Garage Band works well for this. I just plug the stereo Line Out into the computer's input, set GarageBand to record and play the LP. After the LP is finished, I send the recording to iTunes.

I don't know what the equivalent software would be for Windows, but I'm sure that it exists (Audacity maybe?). Hopefully someone on LTG will recommend something.

When I began this process, I burned the music from iTunes to CD. I don't do that any more - I now copy it onto two external hard drives.

Thanks Ross. Online I searched and found some $$$$ devices that play and record all to CD. I have audacity software but not aware it would do anything like that....I'll check out. Thanks again.

Peace

My cousin has one of those "direct-to-CD" devices. Convenient, but pricey.

Is there such a thing as an Audacity forum?

http://www.ionaudio.com/products/detail ... headphones
I used this to convert all the old tapes. It uses I-tunes, downloaded at no cost. Worked fine on my pc. You can select the quality of the uploads from space saving mp3 to cd quality. And you can edit and burn what you want to discs from your computer. Easy instructions online, just save and/or print what you want to refer to. Nice thing is you can also use it as a tape player thru your computer speakers or the included headphones...and listen as you upload, allowing you to upload only what you want, in real time.Got it for less than $49.

They also have the following, for cassettes and lp's
http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/duodeck

And if you still have all the stereo gear with outs:
http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/record-2-pc

Whatever you get, don't use the installation discs that come with the product...best to go direct to the company's website and download the latest driver software.