The big burn

SOME YEARS ago, we inherited a sackful of audio tapes, adding considerably to those we already had ourselves.

These days, of course, we listen to music on CDs, so the question is what to do with all these quaintly old-fashioned music recordings? Shame just to ditch them – there are some classics among them, and some, indeed, that are no longer available on either CD or tape.

A little while ago I surfed the internet and discovered that with a simple, freely downloadable bit of software called Audacity and the use my old Sony Walkman I could transfer my old tapes onto disc.

Excellent, I thought. Simple and easy. All my old recordings onto freshly minted CDs. What could be better?

Oh dear, oh dear!...

I find it’s neither easy nor simple, and certainly not quick.

While I have managed to get my head around this software package, the results are – so far – rather disappointing. The CDs are not even as clear or as sharp as the old tapes, and what’s more the “burn” process is by no means problem-free either.

At the bottom of my rubbish box now is a stack of discards, of CDs which, for one reason or another, failed to burn properly, or at all, and which are now useless.

The faintness of the recorded sounds – and the resulting distortions – make them painful to listen to, and they all seem to have a “dead” quality which the tapes certainly lacked. By eliminating all the hiss and click of the original recording, somehow the warmth and life of the music has got deleted too.

And that leaves aside the problem of fitting a 90 minute tape onto an 80 minute disc, and the magical way that tracks seem to transpose themselves for no apparent reason.

The result is, once again, modern technology has left yours truly an unhappy – and deeply frustrated – bunny.

Whether I shall continue with this “big burn” is now seriously in question;  I might just splash out on a new cassette player instead.