Review on Enhanced Standalone Type I Cassette Converter: Direct and Efficient Conversion by Chris Sweeton

Like: Great idea, cheap, compact. It would be great to be able to play a cassette and burn it to MP3 with a device. Dislikes: My example didn't work, but in trying to get it to work I found a few features that might help others. This is a cassette deck with an mp3 recorder screwed on. So there isn't much synergy or similarity between the two sets of controls. One is completely mechanical and the other is completely digital. Apparently not enough engineering has been done to combine the two devices. Recording volume is affected by playback volume, and this is normal. When I had the volume low, the recordings were full of noise, but they were long. When I turned up the volume, the device would record for a few seconds and then stop. The louder the sound, the faster it stops. I assumed that the circuitry somehow didn't have enough current to write at volume peaks. Second, I soon heard a constant clicking noise and noticed that the auto-reverse mechanism worked continuously. As a master, I opened up the block and pulled the gear out of the auto-reverse mechanism. This stopped the auto-reverse and minimized the clicking noise. The experience was so bad that I modified the device to only throw it away. Great idea, bad execution. Fired up with an old boombox I already had and ordered a VTOP USB2.0 Analog Audio Capture Card Device; Although not as compact, I was able to get the job done.