IT DEVICES

How to Record Cassette Tapes to PC/Computer

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<span style="color: #111111; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.6em;">So you have a bunch of old audio cassettes that you want to copy or transfer to your computer? There are many gadgets and programs out there that you can buy which will make the process as simple as possible, however, since I’m a techie and my blog is all about easy to understand computer tips, I’m going to try and teach you how you can transfer audio cassettes to your computer for free!</span></h1>
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I’ll also mention a couple of those gadgets at the end for those of you who don’t have the time or patience do follow the instructions below.</div>
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Using Audacity to for Audio Transfer</h2>
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What you’ll need before you can copy cassettes to your computer or PC:</div>
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1. <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/beta_windows" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Audacity</a></span> – Free recording and editing software</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/audacity.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="audacity" border="0" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/audacity-thumb.png" height="300" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/audacity-thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="439" /></a></div>
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2. <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cassette Tape Deck</span> with RCA output jacks or tape player with 3.5mm mini-plug (hopefully you already have this if you own a lot of cassettes)</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cassette-tape-deck.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="cassette tape deck" border="0" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cassette-tape-deck-thumb.png" height="102" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cassette-tape-deck-thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="304" /></a></div>
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3. <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1019924-REG/pearstone_smyc_2rm6_y_cable_stereo_mini_m_to.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stereo RCA cable</span> with mini-jack connector</a> or <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Mini-to-Mini-Cables/ci/4171/N/3992462208" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">mini-male to stereo mini-male cable</a></div>
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<img alt="mini to rca" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56942" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-to-rca.jpg" height="325" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-to-rca.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="298" /></div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-male-to-male.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="mini male to male" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56943" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-male-to-male.jpg" height="300" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-male-to-male.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="527" /></a></div>
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4. <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sound card</span> with line-in jack (usually in blue)</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/line-in-jack.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="line in jack" border="0" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/line-in-jack-thumb.png" height="139" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/line-in-jack-thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="209" /></a></div>
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Step 1: Connect tape deck to computer</h3>
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The first thing you’ll need to do in order to record the audio from a cassette tape is to connect the tape deck or tap player to the computer itself. You’re going to need the Stereo RCA cable with mini-jack or the mini-male to mini-male cable for this step.</div>
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Go ahead and connect the male RCA side of the cable (red and white) into the female RCA connectors on the tape deck. Make sure that the RCA jacks on the tape deck say “<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Line Out</span>” or “<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Audio Out</span>“.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cassette-deck-line-out.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="cassette deck line out" border="0" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cassette-deck-line-out-thumb.png" height="138" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cassette-deck-line-out-thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="243" /></a></div>
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Now it’s time to connect the other end of the cable to your computer. If you’re using the RCA cable with mini-jack connector on the other end, then simply plug it into the female <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Line-In</span> jack on the back of your computer (the blue one out of the three). However, if you have an RCA cable that has red and white RCA connectors on both ends, you’ll need to buy a <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/408220-REG/Hosa_Technology_YRA_167_Stereo_Mini_Male_Angled.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">mini-male to 2 RCA female adapter</a> as shown below.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-male-to-2-rca.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="mini male to 2 rca" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56945" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-male-to-2-rca.jpg" height="308" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mini-male-to-2-rca.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="500" /></a></div>
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However, if you’re going to be buying this, you may as well buy a cable with the mini-jack already on the other end! Using an adapter may cause a loss of audio quality.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/line-in.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="line in" border="0" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/line-in-thumb.png" height="131" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/line-in-thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="241" /></a></div>
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If you’re using a desktop PC, it should be color coded, which makes it much easier to figure out where to connect it to. Basically, it’s the blue colored jack that is your Line In.</div>
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Step 2: Record audio from cassette tape using Audacity</h3>
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Now that you have your cassette tape deck connected to the computer, we can use the open-source audio recording and editing software Audacity to capture the audio.</div>
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Firstly, open Audacity and click on <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Edit</span> and then <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Preferences</span> way at the bottom. If it’s not already there, click on<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Audio I/O</span> in the left hand menu. This is where you can select the Input Source that you want to record sound from. You should see a section heading called <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Recording</span> and under that a drop down menu called <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Device</span>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/audacity-preferences.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="audacity preferences" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/audacity-preferences-thumb.png" height="81" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/audacity-preferences-thumb.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="520" /></a></div>
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Make sure that you do <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NOT</span> pick <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Microsoft SoundMapper</span> if you’re on a Windows machine. It should be something similar to what you see above or something like “<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Line-In:Realtek HD Device</span>“, etc. You can try all of the options in the drop down until you actually get the sound to record, one of them will work.</div>
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Now you simply need to adjust the volume for your recording by clicking on the downward pointing arrow on the right hand (red) VU recording level meters.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/record-sound.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="record sound" border="0" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/record-sound-thumb.png" height="85" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/record-sound-thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="307" /></a></div>
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Now click on <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Monitor Input</span> or <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Start Monitoring</span>. Now when you begin recording by clicking the Record button, if you see the sound is going too far to the right (red bars), then you can adjust the input volume level by dragging the slider to the left in the Mixer Toolbar (which is slightly lower and to the left of the recording levels meters.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/input-volume6.png" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="input volume[6]" border="0" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/input-volume6-thumb.png" height="110" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/input-volume6-thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="485" /></a></div>
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When you are finished recording, go ahead and click the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop</span> button (yellow color) and go to File and choose <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Save Project As</span>. This is will save it as a Audacity project so that you can come back and edit it later.</div>
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To export the final edited version of your recording to MP3 or WAV format, click on File and choose <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Export As</span>. You can then take these MP3s and burn them to CD or import then into iTunes. You can choose between WAV, AIFF, OGG, FLAC, and MP2 format for exporting.</div>
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Remember you can always pause the recording at any time if there are parts of the cassette tape you don’t want transferred to your computer. Otherwise, you should now a digital version of your audio cassettes!</div>
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Other Methods to Transfer Audio Cassettes</h2>
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If you don’t mind throwing down some cash, there are a couple of handy gadgets you can purchase to make the transfer process a lot easier.</div>
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USB Cassette Player</h3>
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My favorite and your cheapest option is the USB Cassette Player like the one <a href="http://www.amazon.com/AGPtek%C2%AE-Cassette--Converter-Headphones-Software/dp/B00ADXLBS4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417416435&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+cassette+player" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">from Amazon</a> shown below for $22. You just plug the thing into your computer’s USB port and use the accompanying software to record the audio into MP3 format.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/usb-cassette-player.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="usb cassette player" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56940" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/usb-cassette-player.jpg" height="367" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/usb-cassette-player.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="508" /></a></div>
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Tape Deck with CD Recorder</h3>
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The more expensive option is to purchase a tape deck like I have shown in the tutorial above, but instead buy one that includes a built-in CD recorder. A normal tape deck will cost you anywhere from $50 to $150 whereas the tape deck with CD recorder option will set you back anywhere from $200 to $350.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/teac.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="teac" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56941" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/teac.jpg" height="179" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/teac.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="471" /></a></div>
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Teac is a popular brand and has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teac-AD-RW900-B-Recorder-Reverse-Cassette/dp/B006BUVOZ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417417046&sr=8-1&keywords=cassette+deck+with+cd+recorder" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">one model</a> that lets you play and record directory on the device itself. It’s a bit expensive at $335, but possibly worth it if you have hundreds of cassettes you want to convert to digital format.</div>
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Hopefully, this is enough information to get your cassettes into digital format without a lot of trouble. If you have a question, post a comment! Enjoy!</div>
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Troubleshooting How to Record Cassette Tapes to PC/Computer

So you have a bunch of old audio cassettes that you want to copy or transfer to your computer? There are many gadgets and programs out the...

4 Free Tools to Remove Duplicate Files and Photos

10:06 AM Unknown 0

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<span style="color: #111111; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.6em;">Looking for some utilities to find duplicate files and photos on your computer quickly and easily? I recently organized all the data that my father had stored on multiple computers and multiple external hard drives into one safe backed up location, but found that there were duplicates of pretty much everything. There was no way I was going to manually try to figure out what was the same and what was a duplicate, so I went ahead and tried out a couple of duplicate finder programs.</span></h1>
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In this article, I’ll mention the ones I used and give a short overview of how the program works, its effectiveness and any issues that I ran into. It’s worth noting that you should never completely trust the results of a duplicate finder program because there are always scenarios that can confuse the search algorithms and give you false positives. So always double-check once before you delete anything.</div>
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Also, it goes without saying that you should definitely make a backup of all data before you start this process just in case. Once you are certain the correct data was deleted, then you can get rid of the original backup.</div>
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NirSoft SearchMyFiles</h2>
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If you’re looking for some of the <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/essential-free-software-downloads/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">most useful software tools for Windows</a>, then NirSoft should be the first place you look. One of their tools is <a href="http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/search_my_files.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">SearchMyFiles</a>, which is basically a super search engine for your local files and folders. It has a ton of filters that let you search by wildcard, by file dates, by file content, by file size, by file attributes, etc.</div>
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It also has a search mode called <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Duplicates Search</span>. Once you download and run it (no need to install), just click on the drop down at the very top and change the value to duplicates search.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/searchmyfiles.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="searchmyfiles" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56950" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/searchmyfiles.jpg" height="582" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/searchmyfiles.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></div>
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Next, you choose the base folder where you want the search to start from. As you can see, everything else is self-explanatory. If you’re only looking for duplicate files and want to find all of them, then don’t change any of the filters or settings. By default, they are configured to search everything. If you want to restrict the types of files scanned, then you should use the filters.</div>
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Go ahead and click <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Start Search</span> and you’ll get the results in a pop up window. I tried my tests on the sample photos included with Windows 7 and it worked fairly well. Even though the file names for the photos were different, it seems to find duplicates based only on size. If they are the exact same size, the files are considered duplicate. When I resized one of the photos, it no longer showed them as duplicates even though it was the same photo, just a different size.</div>
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This method of searching is good, but it’s not perfect for photos because there may be times when you have the same photo with two different names or the same photos in different sizes. I also ran into issues with documents that had the same contents and even the same name, but were slightly different in size and therefore didn’t show up in the results. It would have been nice if they also showed files with the same name even if they have different sizes.</div>
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It really depends on what your goal is, but I’ll mention other programs that search differently in case this is not what you’re looking for.</div>
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Duplicate Cleaner</h2>
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<a href="http://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/duplicatecleaner.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Duplicate Cleaner Free</a> is a bit better than the NirSoft utility because it has more advanced options for the search criteria. Firstly, you have to choose whether you want to find files with the same content or if you want to ignore the content. Then you can also choose options like Same File Name, Similar File Names and Same Size.</div>
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Using these criteria, you can perform more complicated searches for duplicates like searching for all files with the same name, but not necessarily the same size and searching for all files with the same content, but not necessarily with the same name.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/duplicate-cleaner.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="duplicate cleaner" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56951" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/duplicate-cleaner.jpg" height="528" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/duplicate-cleaner.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="384" /></a></div>
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Once you choose the search criteria, you then have to add the search locations. Go ahead and navigate to the folder and then click the little arrow button to move that folder to the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Search Paths</span> side.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/scan-locations.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="scan locations" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56952" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/scan-locations.jpg" height="229" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/scan-locations.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></div>
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When you are done, click the Scan Now button at the top and the results will show in the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Duplicate Files</span> or<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Duplicate Folders</span> sections.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/duplicate-files1.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="duplicate files" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56953" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/duplicate-files1.jpg" height="290" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/duplicate-files1.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /></a></div>
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Now to get rid of the files, you have to click on the little magic wand icon next to <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Selection Assistant</span>, click on <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mark</span>, then <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Select by group</span>, then select <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">All but one file in each group</span>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mark-files.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="mark files" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56954" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mark-files.jpg" height="138" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/mark-files.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></div>
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This will mark all files in a group of duplicates except for one. In order to delete the duplicates, you have to click on the circular <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">File Removal</span> icon at the top. You can mark files with different criteria also, but this is the easiest way when trying to get rid of duplicates.</div>
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You may have also noticed the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Image Mode</span> and <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Audio Mode</span> under Search Criteria and both work very well, but not all of the features are free. The image mode option is the best, but it requires you to purchase the Pro version for $30. I would highly recommend the Pro for anyone who really has to deal with a ton of duplicates including photos and audio files because I used it and it saved me a lot of time the free version could not accomplish.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/image-mode-search.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="image mode search" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56955" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/image-mode-search.jpg" height="206" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/image-mode-search.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="356" /></a></div>
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With image mode, you can find similar images even if they have a different resolution or have been rotated or flipped. Audio mode will let you search for duplicate songs by metadata for free, but if you want to compare the actual audio data, you’ll have to purchase the Pro version.</div>
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Fast Duplicate File Finder</h2>
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If you’re looking for just finding exact duplicates, then <a href="http://www.mindgems.com/products/Fast-Duplicate-File-Finder/Fast-Duplicate-File-Finder-Download.htm" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Fast Duplicate File Finder</a> is a good choice. The free version will let you find unlimited exact duplicates, but only 10 groups of similar files. The similar files functionality is quite useful since it can help you find documents like Word docs that are exactly the same in terms of content, but for some reason have different sizes and other slight variations.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/fast-duplicate-file-finder.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="fast duplicate file finder" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56956" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/fast-duplicate-file-finder.jpg" height="324" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/fast-duplicate-file-finder.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="608" /></a></div>
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However, that functionality along with a few other features like filters and the ability to delete the duplicate files will set you back $40, which is a way too high for a program that just finds duplicates. However, the free version does a good job of finding exact duplicates.</div>
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Just click <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Add Folder</span> at the top to select the folders you want to search for duplicates, then choose your search method and finally click the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Start Scan</span> button. By default, the free version will give unlimited results for 100% Equal Files, which means they have to be the exact size.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/fast-duplicate-finder.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="fast duplicate finder" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56958" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/fast-duplicate-finder.jpg" height="423" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/fast-duplicate-finder.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="263" /></a></div>
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Again, this program would not show me the two Word files that had the same name and had the same contents because they were slightly different in size. When I chose the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Similar Files</span> option and set the<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Similarity value</span> to 75%, then it showed them correctly.  However, it will only show you 10 groups of similar files in the free version, which is kind of annoying.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/similar-files.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="similar files" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56959" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/similar-files.jpg" height="253" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/similar-files.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></div>
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Overall it is a good program, but only useful for exact duplicates. Works best with multiple copies of pictures, videos or audio files and not so well with documents.</div>
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Anti-Twin</h2>
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It’s got a funny name, but <a href="http://www.anti-twin.com/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Anti-Twin</a> is another good duplicate finder that has a clean interface and doesn’t try to bombard you with ads. As with most of the other programs mentioned above, it doesn’t quite catch all the duplicate documents unless you search by identical file name. Usually with documents, it’s rare that you’ll have duplicates with a different name, so these programs will still work for most people.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="antitwin" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56961" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin.jpg" height="470" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></div>
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In Anti-Twin, you have to choose from either one or two “base” folders and then from a couple of options. If you have two folders under a main folder, then you can simply choose the top-level folder as a base folder and then check the<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Include subfolders</span> box. You would then select <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Only files in different subfolders</span>for comparison.</div>
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If you have two folders that are in completely different locations, choose one base folder then check the<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2nd folder</span> box and choose the second folder as another base folder. Then you would check the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Only files in different basic folders</span> box. You can also select <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Compare all files</span> to compare everything in the base folders and/or subfolders to each other.</div>
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For <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Comparison methods</span>, you can either Compare names or Compare content or compare both. Note that if you check both boxes, the comparison will before an <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AND</span> operation meaning that both criteria will need to match in order for it to show as duplicate.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin-results.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="antitwin results" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56962" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin-results.jpg" height="368" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin-results.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a></div>
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Click the Search for duplicate files button and you’ll be brought to the next screen where you can see the results. What I really like about this program is the ability to compare images (pixels) when searching for duplicate pictures. Basically, if you have two images that are the same, but one is of lower resolution, you’ll want to click <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Compare Content</span> and then click the <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Compare Images (pixels)</span> radio button.  Reduce the percentage to 95% of less and then perform the search.</div>
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<a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin-similar-files.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="antitwin similar files" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-56963" data-original="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin-similar-files.jpg" height="150" src="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/antitwin-similar-files.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="564" /></a></div>
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As you can see, I had two files with the same name, but different sizes due to the resolution. When you reduce the match percentage, you’ll see a new checkbox called i<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">nc. 100%</span>, which basically will show you the pictures that are exact duplicates also. Otherwise, you’ll only see the ones that are similar, but not exact matches.</div>
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So there you have four programs that have different advantages and disadvantages, but get the job done. There are a ton of other duplicate remover programs, but a lot of them have ads or come bundled with junkware. If you have any questions or issues, post a comment. Enjoy!</div>
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