Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The ION Tape2PC is a good tool for converting old audio cassettes to modern digital formats. I have used it to convert over 700 cassettes of varying ages ( some going back over 40 years), brands and types (Ferrous, Chrome, Metal) and sources (home recordings, pre-recorded albums, LP to tape as well as radio and special mixes). Works great for these - I still have about another thousand tapes to convert so doing at least one tape per day I’ve got a few more years of transfers ahead :) A Note on Sound Quality : The ION device itself has been compared by other sites to have audio quality at equivalent to CD level, however I have also noted some persons making the complaint about less than Hi-Fi results. There are some real limitations with any digitization process starting with the quality constraints on the audio cassette in the first place - whatever you have recorded is as good as it will ever be given a few adjustments for EQ and levels. Next the ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) in the ION that takes the tape analog audio to the digital stream coming over the USB cable. This seems to be at a very good level that exceeds or matches the limitations of most audio cassettes. Critically the audio recording input process on the user’s PC is the next big challenge. I would suggest that before making any tape conversions that the user ensures that the recording input settings from the ION device is set to max - i.e. DVD quality. On a Windows PC, check the Sound Settings > Recording Tab then look at the Device Properties in the Advanced Tab. The highest level there is 2 channels, 16 bit, 48000Hz (full stereo with DVD quality). You will not get the best from the ION at any lower setting. I had the unfortunate experience of recording well over 100 tapes, that on later listening review, had slightly muddy sound for quite a few and poor stereo separation. I discovered that my recording input was set at 1 channel, 16bit, 22050Hz (mono with AM radio quality). After fixing that little issue I recopied my tapes at the DVD recording level with the vastly improved results that came alive with clear sound and good stereo separation. Finally, after making sure you’re getting the best from the source material, the choice of recording software and the encoding format - loss-less or lossy - gives the final touch. A tough choice here between the large file sizes from loss-less vs. the space saving but lower quality lossy formats. It comes down to personal choice and storage space realities. You have to try some test recordings and listen to the results for several formats and quality levels. As a general rule try a level or two up from what you find as a good recording - disk space is getting cheaper, your tapes are getting older and you don't have the time to do it over if you find that it could have been better recorded. I settled on 2 channel mp3 at 320Kbit - this was better than the quality of the source audio cassette and provided a good quality reference to replace my aging cassettes. The originals can go back to storage while the digital files allow them to live on again for hours of listening.