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These were cassettes that were old enough to be ready to break. How it works with PC's I can't say, since I have an Apple. The end result actually sounded a bit clearer than the cassette, and of course it's preserved digitally on my computer instead of on these cassette tapes that were about to break, and had some recordings I made back in high school (the 1980's for me.). The product comes with some recording software that I can't comment on because I already had Sound Studio downloaded on my computer. My first thought was some sort of USB cassette deck, but that seemed unnecessary since I had a cassette deck that worked. Of course once I've made a Sound Studio file I save it on my desktop, then drag that as an AIFF into iTunes and convert that to a smaller file, but that's all pretty simple.
I can say that Sound Studio has worked pretty well for me since it's helped me transfer old vinyl l.p.s and cassettes. I plugged in the RCA cords I already had (they don't come with this product) from the back of my cassette deck to the little receptors, set the thing on "line" instead of "mic" and plugged the USB into the computer. I imagine the software they provide would work, but can't say that's the case from experience. So this Griffin device worked well with my Sony cassette deck and my Apple computer.
It was out of the box and working in minutes. If you need to transfer some cassettes cheaply to an Apple computer, this should do the job. I used this because I had a cassette deck that still worked and an Apple G4 and wanted to preserve some cassette tapes in my iTunes and iPod. Then I played the cassette and recorded using Sound Studio on the computer.
I also had Sound Studio on my Apple which has helped me when transferring vinyl, for which I've used my USB turntable, but that's another story. So, this little product arrived and it worked exactly as I wanted. The important thing is getting the cassette recorded in digital form, and this device made it possible for me to do that.
Bought this as a present for my father, who wanted to transfer cassettes to his computer, and it has since provided him with hours of fun. The included Final Vinyl software worked very well too - better than Audacity.
Rather than plugging and unplugging an audio-out connector, one simply selects the choice in the System Preferences menu. The audio-out connector on my Mac had a failure due to the numerous making and breaking of connections of the plug. This device makes it very convenient to switch between a Mac's internal speaker's to an outside sound system. The Apple Store Genius called to my attention this product which solved the problem affordably and was actually what I wanted in the first place.
I play the cassette and (after setting up in the Sound window of System Preferences) capture the incoming sound using Final Vinyl. I then tweak the piece with Audacity and save it in the format preferred (often merely MP3 since these are generally spoken word tapes). Terrific product -- I use it to connect a cassette player to my iMac computer. Simple and to the point for translating cassettes to digital.
Works about like Pyro, but better for LP copying. Final Vinyl is a pretty neat little program too. Honestly, for simple recording/monitoring tasks, this interface works well. I would recommend it to any homebound composer, hobbyist, or anyone who just needs the extra ports on their Mac. All in all, it's definitely worth the price.
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