I have a microcassette recorder with a headphone jack. I would like to be able to take the tape recordings and put them on my computer in mp3 format. I have a cord, that didn't come with the recorder but it has the jacks on both ends so I was thinking I could plug one end into the mic input and then record it. what software would I need, and if this wouldn't work how would I go about transferring the tapes to mp3,... I have win xp pro. Onboard sound, it has 4 jacks(one red with a mic painted on and the green with a speaker painted next to it, the other to have the music note symbol w/ an in and out arrow next to it. I also have a tv tuner card. thanks

I do this sort of thing using Windows 98, so it should work in XP. You need a sampler of some kind to record (there's a basic one on 98 called sndrcd or some such thing - I use a package called CoolEdit, don't know if it's still around) and an mp3 encoder to convert the .wav files to .mp3's. I use Audiocatalyst (http://www.xingtech.com/) but there are free ones available. The free ones can be annoyingly fiddly, though! Whatever software you use, the basic idea (headphone socket to mike socket) should be fine.

You should use the Line-in jack actually. That's what it's for, the mic might give you some sort of distortion or unnecessarily boost it.

I use the 'Line-in jack' on the sound card, the 'tape out' jack on the amplifier and MusicMatch jukebox (free version). I have recorded my vinyl records to the PC and burned them to CD-R. You can also do this with a microphone, tape deck or radio. Only use a microphone in the microphone jack. Only use the Amplifier's (or tape deck's) 'tape out' jack. I find albums are recorded quieter than singles so you may wish to compare output levels with regular CD's and adjust the recording level as necessary, (there is a program to automatically control this but I can't remembers it's name).