Simple sound recorder that works?

[selkie305]

I want to record music from cassettes on my computer. I downloaded Audacity but it looks really confusing and I don't know where to start. I tried Microsoft Sound Recorder- I used a cable to connect the earphones port in the tape player with the microphone port in the computer. The sound did record but it sounds like poo.  Tried lowering the volume of the tape player, no change. What was I doing wrong, and is there a free sound recorder that works and is easy to use? I also want to record songs that are several minutes long. What I eventually plan to do is combine the songs with pictures and put them on YouTube.

[ThomasTheXPUser]

Personally, I like Audacity, and I find it simple when you get the hang of it. if you don't want to use Audacity, there is this:

http://www.screenvirtuoso.com/audio-recorder.html

Hope That Helps!

[selkie305]

Thanks- I'll check that out. The thing with Audacity, it offers a million choices when I just want to do one thing, and there seems to be no guide to it- how do you know what to do?

[Karnac]

Audacity tutorial...

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Transferring_tapes_and_records_to_computer_or_CD

[ThomasTheXPUser]

You plug in the cassette player to the mic jack, select record from mic jack as your option, and hit record. it should do the trick. karnac, nice link, I had the Audacity tutorial in my bookmarks, somehow they came out of my bookmarks

[selkie305]

Thanks, guys!    I think I'll give Audacity a try now that I have the tutorial. Thomas- were your last instructions for using Audacity, or that other one you recommended? I downloaded that one, and then when I tried to unzip it, it told me I had to put in some kind of disk that I don't have. There's always something! I'll let you know how my next adventure turns out.

[ThomasTheXPUser]

I was just saying that is how I record cassettes in Audacity, but I am sure the tutorial is better