OK, I'm starting my monumental project of converting audio tapes (reel-to-reel and cassette) to digital. These are studio and live tapes of the many groups I've performed in along with tapes of some of my Radio DJ days.

I've got the tape decks connected to my computer. I'm using Audacity to record the tapes to digital on the computer. But, what format do I save them in so I can burn them to CDs which will be playable in home DVD and CD players?

Here are the choices offered by Audacity.

The one you have selected is right. Also make sure they are 44.1 kHz.

There's a little window in the bottom left corner of Audacity which looks like this.



I hope the 44100 setting is what you are talking about. Can you tell I'm a novice

Yep, that's it.

Yes, Jack. A 16 bit .WAV file samples at 44.1KHz (44,100) is correct.

Make sure that you do, indeed, burn them as audio CDs (don't just burn the file to CD as a data disc).

This sounds like a fun project. I recently did the same with some long lost cassette tapes.

When you're ready to create your CDs, I can't recommend a free and easy to use little program called CDBurnerXP strongly enough. It's just a great utility.

Thanks everybody. Mark, in addition to CD-R or CD-RW, can I burn to DVD-R and/or DVD+RW?

Kruncher, I'll check into that program. Thanks.

Jack, you should use CD-R discs only. If you're going to be giving any out, you want to make sure that the discs you create will play on a standard CD player.

Again, make sure that the discs are burned as Audio CDs...not data...so they are finalized correctly.

If you put all these files on a drive and sent it to me, I could output Redbook CDs and duplicate and print copies for you to distribute!

Well, I've only just begun to record to digital. I really wasn't planning on "giving any out." I can't imagine anyone would want such ancient, primitive music. However, when it comes time for burning, you'll be hearing from me.

Just don't let him put Boobies all over those CDs. Hmm, on second thought...