transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options

Has anyone had lots of experience with transferring large numbers of
cassettes (we're talking 500-1000) to CD or MP3? I am contemplating
this project as my collection is rather large, and the Plusdeck 2C
looks like it could make it easier. However my main concerns would be,
if you are xferring many many cassettes (which would be the case for
me) how easy is it to degauss & clean the heads / rollers / etc. I
don't suppose it has glass heads like the high end reel-reels in the
60s? (yeah right) My main fear is after a couple hundred transfers or
so the unit will begin to eat tapes. Also how good are the actual
audio components? How often will you need to degauss/clean it and
where can you get good cleaner cassettes (Radio Shack sells them but
they are expensive) or is it better to use old fashioned Q-tips and
Tascam head cleaner & rubber cleaner solutions (which I still have a
couple bottles of)? It looks like a car cassette deck, so getting
inside with Q-tips doesn't look like an option. Still I am intrigued
at the idea of being able to install a unit like this on a PC at work
and digitize cassettes in the background while earning a living. But
if the recordings aren't preserved to the best sound quality possible
(after all, cassettes need all the help they can get) or the unit
begins eating tapes, maybe it's better to pursue another solution
(such as using a full sized component deck). Any advice would be most
appreciated.

http://www.plusdeck.com/

http://products.howstuffworks.com/bt...eck-review.htm

http://www.mobilewhack.com/reviews/p...converter.html

http://www.pcstats.com/NewsView.cfm?NewsID=57801

http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/plusdeck.html

http://www.worshipmusic.com/plusdeck2c.html

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Perip...usdeck-Review/

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/index....reviews&id=403

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20060815/plusdeck-2c/

http://www.firebox.com/product/1700

http://www.bizrate.com/miscellaneous/oid595834129.html

http://www.amazon.com/Meritline-DIGI.../dp/B000CSGIJW

http://www.amazon.com/PC-Cassette-De.../dp/B000OT9L98

http://www.discountcomputerwarehouse...p3-p-4375.html

http://www.ipodsuperstore.net/search...P3/per_page=25

http://www.ipodsuperstore.net/buy.ph...P3/v=Geeks.com

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/search/cassette+to+usb

http://stuff.tv/news/gadget-of-the-d...c/default.aspx

http://www.techzine.nl/exreviews/907...k-at-Ocia.html

http://pricemagician.wordpress.com/

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7597_102...geID=212847 2

http://www.gadgetell.com/2006/03/pop...-into-your-pc/

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/53469/

http://www.pcper.com/news.php?page=6&s=14

http://www.texxors.com/2007/08/01/co...assette-tapes/

http://pricemagician.wordpress.com/2...cassette-deck/

http://fillserv.com/cic/product.php?...nverter&ref=BR

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Revie...ck2/index.html

http://www.gadgetell.com/wp-print.php?p=989

It's a cheesy car-style transport that mounts in a computer. It is not
a good way to get decent sound quality and it is not going to hold up to
heavy use.

Just go the Nak Dragon route. Your time will be radically saved because
you won't be having to redo anything, and the azimuth control is automatic
so you can do the work more or less unattended. Run it for a thousand hours
and you might need to replace the heads but that's just a normal thing.

Yoou do NOT use cleaner cassettes, you use the "Head, Red and Roll cleaner"
from Precision Motor works or something similar and a swab. And you do it
after every reel change. You can use 92% isopropanol in a pinch but it takes
a lot more elbow grease.

Don't waste your money on crap. Get a good deck either with manual or
automatic azimuth control.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Thanks for your reply.
How important is azimuth control?
Are all cleaner cassettes bad? Are there any good ones?
What is the best degausser?

On Aug 7, 2:41 pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
It's a cheesy car-style transport that mounts in a computer. It is not
a good way to get decent sound quality and it is not going to hold up to
heavy use.

Just go the Nak Dragon route. Your time will be radically saved because
you won't be having to redo anything, and the azimuth control is automatic
so you can do the work more or less unattended. Run it for a thousand hours
and you might need to replace the heads but that's just a normal thing.

Yoou do NOT use cleaner cassettes, you use the "Head, Red and Roll cleaner"
from Precision Motor works or something similar and a swab. And you do it
after every reel change. You can use 92% isopropanol in a pinch but it takes
a lot more elbow grease.

Don't waste your money on crap. Get a good deck either with manual or
automatic azimuth control.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

wrote:
Thanks for your reply.
How important is azimuth control?

It's critical. Because azimuth stability on the cassette is so awful, you
will need to adjust azimuth for every cassette, or let the automatic device
do it for you. Otherwise you will either have no high end on half the
tapes you find, or it will wander in and out.

Note that if you have a thousand tapes, you should expect to find at least
a few dozen that need to be transplanted into new shells or at least have
the pressure pad replaced. Get a box of fifty SHAPE shells to have around
for the job.

Are all cleaner cassettes bad? Are there any good ones?

Well, none of them clean the whole path, and they are more trouble than just
doing it with a swab.

What is the best degausser?

You don't need one. If you _really_ want one, get the Annis Han-D-Mag with
the magnetometer, which allows you to measure remnant flux so you only wind
up demagnetizing when it's necessary. But with a proper transport, you should
not have any magnetic metals anywhere near the tape except in the head. The
erase and record heads get demagnetized when you use them, and the playback
head should not easily be magnetized. Note that the Annis today costs more
than most cassette decks.

Most people do more harm than good with a degaussing wand.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Wow, I never knew that azimuth stability was such a problem with
cassettes. Thanks so much for pointing that out.

How do you know how to adjust the azimuth - or how would a device know
what the correct setting is? Is there some fail safe way to tell, or
do you have to use your own ears?

Thanks again.

On Aug 7, 3:36 pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
wrote:
Thanks for your reply.
How important is azimuth control?

It's critical. Because azimuth stability on the cassette is so awful, you
will need to adjust azimuth for every cassette, or let the automatic device
do it for you. Otherwise you will either have no high end on half the
tapes you find, or it will wander in and out.

Note that if you have a thousand tapes, you should expect to find at least
a few dozen that need to be transplanted into new shells or at least have
the pressure pad replaced. Get a box of fifty SHAPE shells to have around
for the job.

Are all cleaner cassettes bad? Are there any good ones?

Well, none of them clean the whole path, and they are more trouble than just
doing it with a swab.

What is the best degausser?

You don't need one. If you _really_ want one, get the Annis Han-D-Mag with
the magnetometer, which allows you to measure remnant flux so you only wind
up demagnetizing when it's necessary. But with a proper transport, you should
not have any magnetic metals anywhere near the tape except in the head. The
erase and record heads get demagnetized when you use them, and the playback
head should not easily be magnetized. Note that the Annis today costs more
than most cassette decks.

Most people do more harm than good with a degaussing wand.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Aug 7, 5:55 pm, wrote:

How do you know how to adjust the azimuth - or how would a device know
what the correct setting is? Is there some fail safe way to tell, or
do you have to use your own ears?

You got it! On the bench, you can use a test cassette and an
oscilloscope but when ajusting the deck to match an already recorded
tape, your ears are the best guide. It's pretty apparent when you have
it right, or at least close enough. For routine transfers just for
fun, you can probalby get away with adjusting it once, but to to a
really good job, you need to listen continuously and when you hear it
getting off, stop the tape, stop the recording, re-adjust the azimuth,
continue the copying, and then edit the pieces together.

The automatic adjustment looks at phase difference between the
channels and drives a motor which adjusts the head.

wrote ...
Wow, I never knew that azimuth stability was such a problem with
cassettes. Thanks so much for pointing that out.

That and the low tape speed were primary deficiencies
of the format.

How do you know how to adjust the azimuth -

"Tune" for maximum high-frequency response.

or how would a device know
what the correct setting is?

It adjusts for maximum HF response. In much the
same way that an "auto focus" camera does.

Is there some fail safe way to tell, or
do you have to use your own ears?

Depends on what you have available to do the job.
Your ears are the minimum requirement. You can't
tell when you have optimum adjustment without some
way of monitoring.

On Aug 7, 5:55 pm, wrote:
Wow, I never knew that azimuth stability was such a problem with
cassettes. Thanks so much for pointing that out.

How do you know how to adjust the azimuth - or how would a device know
what the correct setting is? Is there some fail safe way to tell, or
do you have to use your own ears?

Thanks again.

On Aug 7, 3:36 pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

wrote:
Thanks for your reply.
How important is azimuth control?

It's critical. Because azimuth stability on the cassette is so awful, you
will need to adjust azimuth for every cassette, or let the automatic device
do it for you. Otherwise you will either have no high end on half the
tapes you find, or it will wander in and out.

Note that if you have a thousand tapes, you should expect to find at least
a few dozen that need to be transplanted into new shells or at least have
the pressure pad replaced. Get a box of fifty SHAPE shells to have around
for the job.

Are all cleaner cassettes bad? Are there any good ones?

Well, none of them clean the whole path, and they are more trouble than just
doing it with a swab.

What is the best degausser?

You don't need one. If you _really_ want one, get the Annis Han-D-Mag with
the magnetometer, which allows you to measure remnant flux so you only wind
up demagnetizing when it's necessary. But with a proper transport, you should
not have any magnetic metals anywhere near the tape except in the head. The
erase and record heads get demagnetized when you use them, and the playback
head should not easily be magnetized. Note that the Annis today costs more
than most cassette decks.

Most people do more harm than good with a degaussing wand.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

here are two nakamichi decks with azimuth controls listed with
AudiogoN
nak DR1 http://tinyurl.com/2rv2rd
nak CR7A http://tinyurl.com/34tb7g

The automatic adjustment looks at phase difference between
the channels and drives a motor which adjusts the head.

Actually, that isn't the way it works. As the phase between the channels of
a stereo recording has no necessary standard or fixed relationship, it's not
a useful way to set azimuth.

In the Nakamichi, the outermost track (the one closest to the tape edge) is
split into two head gaps, each with its own amplification. The head block is
moved until the HF output of these heads peaks. (Or is it that the phase
difference is minimized?) Anyhow...

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
. ..
The automatic adjustment looks at phase difference between
the channels and drives a motor which adjusts the head.

Actually, that isn't the way it works. As the phase between the channels
of
a stereo recording has no necessary standard or fixed relationship, it's
not
a useful way to set azimuth.

In the Nakamichi, the outermost track (the one closest to the tape edge)
is
split into two head gaps, each with its own amplification. The head block
is
moved until the HF output of these heads peaks. (Or is it that the phase
difference is minimized?) Anyhow...

I'd put my money on nulling based on minimizing the phase difference. It is
going to work well with less regard for program material HF content.

We had circuits like this in the missile systems I worked on in the Army.
They did a really good job of getting missiles to collide with airplanes,
radar receivers to ignore ground clutter, and transmitters to have minimal
RF noise on their carrier.