Standalone Type-I Cassette Audio Tape Player/Converter to USB Flash Disk Directly - Request No Computer

I was trying to create MP3 files from some old cassettes. The sound quality on some of the old cassettes wasn't the greatest so it would stop recording even though the cassettes still had audio coming out. This was frustrating. Sometimes stopping and restarting the recording or playing with the volume level would allow it to record the entire cassette.

Like: Great idea, cheap, compact. It would be great to play a cassette and be able to record it as it plays to an mp3 using one device.Dislike: My sample did not work, but in trying to make it work I discovered a few quirks which might help others. This is a cassette deck with an mp3 recorder bolted on. So there is not much synergy or similarity in the two sets of controls. One is all mechanical and the other one is all digital. Apparently not enough engineering work was done to bring the two devices together. The recording volume is affected by the playback volume, which is ok. When my volume was low it made recordings that were overwhelmed with noise but were long. When I turned the volume up the unit would record a few seconds and then stop. The louder the volume the quicker it would stop. I surmised that the circuitry somehow does not have enough current to record when there are volume peaks. Secondly I soon heard a constant clicking sound and noticed that it was the auto-reverse mechanism triggering continuously. Being a tinkerer I opened the unit up and ripped a gear out of the auto reverse mechanism. That stopped the auto-reversing and minimized the clicking sounds. The experience was so bad and I had modified the unit so all I could do was throw it away. Great idea, poor execution. Wound up using an old boom box I already had, and ordered VTOP USB2.0 Analog Audio Capture Card Device; while not as compact, I was able to make that work.

I don't really like this product. I used it according to instructions but when I tried to download to computer or try to plug and play, it doesn't work. Waste of money.

Tried to make flash drive from a cassette tape. Came up “file empty”

I would not recommend this item if you are looking for any quality. plastic toy like item... I am returning it!