What's the quality of the tapes?
I ask because, if the originals are of excellent quality, you might want to invest in a good sound card, if you don't already have a good one.
If the tapes are more of a so-so quality, the cheap sound chips on most motherboards should suffice.
Try it with what you've got, before spending any cash.

Connect your stereo's line-out to your PC's line-in. If you US types use the same connectors we do on this side of the pond, you'll likely need a cable with two phono-plugs at one end and a stereo mini-jack at the other: [invalid URL removed]picture of a cheap looking cable.

Make sure you un-plug at least one of the appliances when connecting them. If possible, supply them from the same wall-socket.

Start recording on your PC, press play on the tape recorder and away you go.

If the software that came with your PC isn't up to the task, searching for "audio" on Tucows, brings up several options. [invalid URL removed]PolderbitS is one. It should help you split up the individual tracks for the CD.

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Edited by - K on 9/17/2006 9:57:41 AM

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Anyways, K covered it. My father converted some stuff to listen to while he walks. It doesn't look so hard to do.

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I hate all those low dynamic / washy / colourless / 2D MP3-files. But by now I thing you know my sinister background ...

p_n

Edited by - pinc_noiz on 9/18/2006 11:06:34 AM

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I believe Roxio and Nero have simple audio tools to help with the capture, splitting into multiple tracks, editing (cleaning up hiss) and burning.

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I had some oooooooold audio plays with a piss poor audio quality I wanted to transfer, clean up and put on CD, so I just got the cheapest Walk-man I could find.

I can almost hear the audiophiles shifting uncomfortably in their seats at the thought of connecting the headphone output to the sound card's line-in (you'll need a cable with a stereo mini-jack at both ends). But with the quality of the source material anything better would have been a waste of money.
And using a battery powered tape player also meant there would be no risk of blowing the line input with a nasty potential difference. I've known people who did that when not supplying the devices from the same wall socket.

If you go the same route, find the recording level indicator in whatever software you end up using, and set the Walk-man's volume at a level where the loud parts reach about half way up the scale.
That way you should still have enough range left to avoid clipping any short volume spikes.

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