Hi
Has anyone else had to wrestle with the thorny problem of converting 4 track cassette tapes into digital format, still being able to retain the integrity of the 4 tracks? We get hundreds of these a month and would like to get away from using transcribing machines for them, as all the rest of our work is digital. Any ideas would be great. At present if we need to we hook up an MP3 recorder to a transcribing machine, but you lose the integrity of the four tracks that way and essentially get a dubbed recording, which can be a bit of a pain if it's a ropey recording -- as a lot of them are!!
Regards
Paul

Hi Paul,

I don't know how many dictators create these tapes, but wouldn't it be more cost-effective and less of a hassle to have them either buy a handheld digital recorder or perhaps if there weren't a whole lot of dictators, you could furnish them with one? Maybe you could give them $100 off their next bill if they get one. You can buy compatible handhelds (not every handheld is appropriate for voice files, so do your research)very inexpensively these days--for around $100 US.

I've not personally wrestled with this issue as I have not had my own clients in a few years, but if I were starting up again with clients I would definitely have a digital setup--I would guess you would recoup the money laid out in a very short time if you are picking up tapes or even mailing them.

Check out this link on Medword.com for an explanation if you need more information:

http://www.medword.com/digital-transcription.html

Hope this is helpful!

Sorted it, thanks. I just bought a Tascam 4 track and am able to transfer them to digial no problem. Most of my clients are digital now, but these are all old recordings that have been made over the last 10 years or so; they'll gradually diminish in number as time goes on, I suppose.