transferring cassettes to laptop to burn

cabrams,

I'd like to add a couple of things to aroee's comments. First here is an excellent article by a forum regular on connecting a stereo to a soundcard.

Fireberd's Article



But there is something else that might be happening. Dell ships the Inspirons with the ability to monitor the input at the mic jack turned off. On models with the Sigmatel STAC975x chip this can be restored by editing the Registry subkey 'DisableMicFromPlayback'. But your model of Inspiron used a different chip, the Sigmatel 9700, that wasn't utilized in many other Inspirons and I have very little info on it. I'll paste in the 975x instructions for doing the edit because it might (or might not) work with your 9700.

But there is yet another issue. All of the Inspirons with the Signatel 975x chip & driver had only a monophonic mic jack ... no way to get a stereo signal into the computer. This could also be the situation with your Inspiron. If so then the only way you can make stereo recordings from your cassettes in by getting an external soundcard like aroee said. Here is a good entry level Soundblaster usb card for only $39.

Mp3+ external usb card:

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=207&product=154

_________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Here are the instructions for the Registry edit:

[NOTE to anybody else who might read this: This set of instructions is ONLY for models with the Sigmatel STAC9750 audio chip. There are different instructions available for those with the newer 92xx chip.]

1. Go to Start menu and click on Run. Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK to open the Registry.
2. At the top of the list, highlight My Computer.
3. Under the Edit menu, select Find.
4. Type in 'DisableMicFromPlayback' without quotes and click 'find next'.
5. Highlight DisableMicFromPlayback. Right click on it and select Modify.
6. Highlight 01 and change to 00. Click OK.
7. Optional (but 8600 users should do this) find "EnablePoPBypass" and set the value to 00.
8. Optional (but 600 & 6000 should do this) find "DisableMicSelect" and set the value to 00.
9. Exit the Registry and restart the computer.

Next, configure the system mixer:

1. Open Volume Control by right clicking on the speaker icon on the taskbar, or go to Start/Control Panel/ Sound & Audio Devices Properties/Advanced (button).
2. Under the Options menu, select Properties.
3. Under 'show the following volume controls' check the box next to Microphone. Click OK.
4. A mic control appears in the Volume Control. Make sure the mute box is unchecked.
5. If your external audio source (a stereo or tv tuner etc that you have connected to the mic jack) has a way to control its volume level, turn it down to control excessive input volume.

Jim


NOTES:

This works for Inspiron 1100, 1150, 1200, 2200, 5100, 5150, 5160, 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 600m, 700m, 710m, xps, xps gen2 and any others with the 9750 chip & driver.


This is the direct Registry path to the key:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Control\Class\
{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0005\Settings.

you will need a "line in", not a "line out".

 

"would it be called something else"

In the Inspirons the headphone jack doubles as the line-out.

Jim