I had a good look at the USB cassette decks in Maplins recently: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=220602&C=Maplin&U=SearchTop&T=cassette&doy=31m7 The case is cheaply made, thin plastic, the door hinges look weak, there is inadequate provision for cleaning and I could see no access for adjusting the heads. This is a cheap unit. You get what you pay for. I did buy an internal �plusdeck2c� Cassette-to-MP3 converter: http://plusdeck.co.kr/eng/ The unit fits into one of the front slots on your pc. I found the unit easy to use and solid. It seems to be based on the basic design of a car dashboard cassette player. As with the USB option cleaning wasn't easy - I had to use a head cleaning cassette, which I wasn't happy about. I ran the device for a month, using it every day to digitise a batch of cassettes I was working with. At the end of that period I found that a small percentage of recordings had short but very noticeable glitches. Short periods of audio were missing and there were occasional loud clicks and crunches. In fairness I think this was a problem of the software supplied, rather than the unit itself. I made a number of captures, bypassing the plusdeck software, using Adobe Audition and didn't notice any problems. In addition I found the deck temperamental, with a tendency not to eject the cassette without the aid of a handy pencil or screwdriver. In all I found the experience very negative and had to ditch a months work. I guess I should sell the device, but I'd feel bad about passing on this piece of crap to anyone else. Trey Bunn wrote: > I've seen some USB cassette decks before, but I wondered about the > quality of them. Mainly this is because the first place I saw one was > in a clothing store in a mall, so I thought, "Oh great, another crappy > modern consumer model that probably sounds terrible." Does anyone > know if these are actually good decks, or are they as bad as I think > they might be? Any cassette players (consumer models I mean) that > I've bought since the turn of the millenium have been hissy and > horrible compared to the older stuff I used to have growing up. These > USB models may be aimed at Joe Shmoe wanting to copy his friend's > cassettes or whatever, but I wonder if they even approach archival > quality. > > Does anyone have experience working with this newer equipment? > > > --------- > Trey Bunn > Audiovisual Conservator > Emory University Libraries > Preservation Office > Atlanta, GA > 404-727-4894 > > -- Mike Hirst Managing Director DAS-360� 16 Ocean View Whitley Bay Tyne & Wear NE26 1AL tel: 0191 289 3186 email: [log in to unmask] web: http://www.das360.net