USB tape deck converts cassettes to digital format

The TAPE2PC USB Cassette Archiver from ION Audio is designed as a solution for those of us with a massive tape collection of eighties classics sitting in the garage gathering dust. The dual cassette deck system includes recording software that takes your music collection and converts it via your PC into MP3, WAV or WMA digital files or simply copies it to CD.

Aimed at simplifying the process of transferring cassette tape to a digital format, the US$169.95 TAPE2PC plugs into the USB port on your PC or Mac and requires no special drivers.

System requirements for the device are either PC running Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP, Vista or Mac running OS9 or higher plus one available USB1.1 port or higher. The product is largely self-sufficient but does require manual intervention when it comes to marking track division.

For all those vinyl junkies, ION has also released a turntable with the same functionality. The single deck TTUSB is capable of converting all your old 7” and 12” records to MP3 or CD and also features a switchable phono/line level output for connecting to any home stereo with an AUX input. It even has a built-in pre-amp. It plays at both 33 1/3 and 45 RPM and retails for US$149.95.