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Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
It is time to clean up.
We have a large number of audio cassettes that we would like to digitized.
From a hardware standpoint, we have a SONY cassette deck FX120 and the cables necessary to connect the deck to one of our workstations.
The question is, what is the best available software to use during the digitization program?
Kathy, I’ve always used “Messer Audio Recorder” and found it to be a nice program as well as easy to use. I still use it on my Win XP laptop but I’m still seeing it listed in Google.
For years I used Audacity. There’s a bit of controversy now. Evidently a few versions ago people got mad about telemetry. Older versions didn’t have that. Nice thing about Audacity, it’s free to use.
Of course there’s plenty of audio recording software you can purchase. For instance I use one from Acon Digital called Acoustica (standard version) which has some great plugin support for declicking, and denoise which I found very useful when converting old analog sources to digital.
When I started the digitization project earlier today, a quick internet search pointed us in the direction of Audacity.
Without giving it much thought, we downloaded and installed the app.
Then we had second thoughts. Who owns Audacity, what are their privacy policies, and where are they based?
It turns out that their privacy policies have come into question by a number of journalists at responsible organizations.
And the Muse Group’s (owners of Audacity) main office is in Russia. Something that cannot be discovered by looking through the Muse Group’s website. The firm’s website is devoid of any contact information.
Consistent with our boycott of Russia’s Kaspersky Lab due to their country’s invasion of the Ukraine we immediately uninstalled Audacity and restored the computer to the state it was in prior to the installation. Better safe than sorry.
Moving forward, we may install Audacity on a PC that is not connected to the internet but for now we have decided to put the digitization project on hold.
Why not just use one of the older portable versions? Wikipedia is your friend to determine which versions had the telemetry. Take your pick.
The Audacity controversy: https://hackaday.com/2021/07/13/muse-group-continues-tone-deaf-handling-of-audacity/
If you want to avoid the telemetry / Muse Group input, download V2.4.2, or 2.3.3 for W7.
https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity-old.html
Alternatively, spend a few bob and buy WavePad standard edition
https://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html
cheers, Paul
We are at a time when a totalitarian state – Russia – is at war with the Ukraine and they are being threatened with economic and other sanctions by the European Community and its friends.
And Russia is threatening to use nuclear weapons, should assume that there is a potential risk associated with downloading and using Audacity (an app owned by a Russian company) that is greater than telemetry alone.
Think about embedded code.
When we have choices, why accept one that poses an unknown but potential risk to our PCs.
Think about Russian owned Kaspersky.
Almost all North American retailers have removed Kaspersky’s Anti-Virus software from their sites. The exception being Amazon who is selling the antivirus app for three devices for $11.99 US down from $59.99 a couple of months ago.
Has anyone experienced a problem using Kaspersky software? Not that I can recall.
Is there a perceived risk in using Kaspersky software? Yes.
So why take the risk associated with installing Russian owned Audacity when there are other options available at little or no cost?
Goldwave audio editor can digitize audio for archival purposes, I have used it for years. For myself it was clear and easy to understand, and low cost for a yearly license at the time of this post. As it is a concern the software is Made in Canada.
(To the moderators: Sorry, I guess the previous post may have looked like a spam-like advertisement for this software.)
Moderator comment: Let’s try to keep things non political here. I understand your continued stance on Kaspersky.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
We are narrowing down our search for a free app to use for digitizing audio cassettes.
After eliminating Audacity for the reasons outlined above, we have narrowed the search to:
We have already had feedback here on WavePad and are open to any other feedback prior to making a final decision.
Well, we may give WavePad Audio Editing Software a try.
We reviewed the websites of Wavosaur free audio editor, Ocenaudio, and WavePad and found:
Wavosaur
According to their website, “The Wasosaur team is composed of developers from France, Groenland (Greenland) and Feroe Island.”
They represent that, “We decide to code software that would be useful for everyone who want to do audio editing (cut, copy, paste, mix, loop, etc.) on their audio files and use their favorite VST effects inside Wavosaur.”
Unfortunately, their site contains no information on corporate ownership or privacy.
Ocenaudio
Ocenaudio’s website is devoid of ownership and privacy related information.
WavePad Audio Editing Software
WavePad is owned by NCH Software, Inc. NCH is headquartered in Canberra ACT, Australia with a satellite office in Denver Colorado, USA.
According to their website the firm’s privacy statements includes:
For us it is all about ownership and transparency. We will give it some more thought and look at the paid options before moving forward.
We are at the beginning of the WavePad Audio Editing Software’s learning curve.
When starting the project, we failed to recognize the sheer amount of time it would take to edit and then label each separate track on the hundreds of cassettes we had planed to digitize.
It is beginning to look like the best time to work on this project is during a blizzard – when the Internet is down – sometime in the future.
Oh well, off to the next project.
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