ION Tape 2 PC Cassette Transfer
by Chris Hafner | Published April 2008 | In the Mix Archives

The word "mixtape" is quickly becoming obsolete. I haven't so much as seen a cassette tape for sale in at least three years, and it's been about that long since I put my cassette deck away for good. And while we've covered vinyl-to-digital transfer devices here in the past, it's a fact that much of the best early 1990s tracks debuted on cassettes long before (and, given duplication, maybe even in greater quantity) than vinyl. And then there are the old mixtapes... I have quite a few that I've held on to for years, that I'm almost afraid to play again lest they break.

The ION Tape 2 PC machine is a neat and inexpensive way to save those old cassettes before the tape snaps or is eaten. The execution here is a bit dodgy (there is a dual deck for reasons I can't imagine ­ isn't the point to get the music off this antiquated medium?), but it's difficult to argue with the simplicity. This really is plug-and-play: after a few moments pause, the device was recognized by my computer just as if it were an external harddrive. The included software works on both PC or Mac ­ actually, the Mac software is the same Audacity program available for free on the internet, but it's included here for ease of use. You can also fine tune things a bit with a Metal or Cr02 tape selector.

Tape may be a thing of the past but hopefully all of the good music recorded on it isn't. Even if you only use this in one shot, the dozens of tapes I thought enough of to preserve were worth the price tag.