I have a tape which I'm anxious to play to convert to a CD, but it just won't play ! It will fast wind both ways but on play just shuts off. (It hasn't been played for a long time) It does this on several different machines, so it's not a drive belt problem. I have tried putting the tape in a different holder, but no go. I noticed however that the tape seemed to be undulating with regular vertical marks along it, so it seems that the tape itself is the problem. Frustratingly, I got it to play for a few minutes by actually smoothing out a portion of tape and trying it; but later even after playing for 5 -6 minutes it suddenly stopped again, and wouldn't even re-play the part that I had played ! Any ideas how I can get the information off the tape ? Or how to treat it so the machine doesn't reject it ? John G.

I may not have worked on one of these before but all tape decks have some common drive parts. Yours is missing the proper torque to drive the reel table in take-up for play and your fast wind observation also points to either drive transfer problems or the motor itself. I suspect the fastest answer is to have a tape deck technician work on it. Dual cassette decks are not known for being the long lasting products like a singles cassette deck is.

Can you come up with a more descriptive issue than tape won't play?
At the service counter I used to get complaints like the deck is broke.
I asked what is broke about it- Technicians spend a lot of time trying to find out what is not working on a unit and can miss the problem entirely as it is not stated- all this time costs the customer in the long run.
Technicians want to get the problem and deal with it. Something like it has no take-up, or the speed is off or slow, or the deck will not engage play, or the fast winds do not work. Get the idea?

The only way is to take the top off and watch what the tape is doing! You might even see some object inside which should not be there!

look to see if tape will fully load and if FF or REWIND work, if not a transport problem, drive mechanism not moving the tape, unit will sense this and shut unit off----even a problem in the loading mechanism for the VHS tape not loading the tape all the way will do the same thing.

Wow! A beta unit.

what most likely is wrong is the drive mechanism is either worn or slipping or you have a bad belt that drives that.

A trick to try--put it in fast forward and let it run all the way to end of tape and then rewind all the way a few times.

if it will then try to work in play it is either a idler (rubber drive wheel) or slipping belts.

They used to sell kits with the drive idler and all the belts but that was a long time ago..........

The tape deck must be in need of a belt kit replacement. Difficult to get and even more difficult to replace.

Cassette decks have sensors on the reels which tells the deck when the tape is at the end. When the reel stops the deck switches the direction of the tape and sometimes the position of the head(depending on the deck design). Most common problem is the tape is hard to turn, or the deck won't turn it ( deck thinks it's at the end, click, still won't turn, click, won't turn, click) you should fast forward and/or rewind your tapes from start to finish once in a while to keep them lined up(narrow spool/less friction), you shouldn't have to but it works. BUT,...your problem sounds like a slipping or broken belt/or dirt causing the problem. Take the deck out to have a look and clean the capstans(rubber rollers)belts,heads with alcohol and a Q-tip while your at it. Dirt's usually the main culprit and if you do have some other problem, cleaning it is always a win/win (It will also sound better clean)

Everyone buys dual cassette decks and wonder why they don't last- it needs to see a Technician and if not that it will be landfill.

Your question is posted under a "CD Shelf System" heading. If you really have one of these, the answer is "you can't". The CD player is a player only, not a recorder.

On the other hand, if what you're asking is how to transfer cassette tapes to CD using a computer, there are a couple of ways. One is to connect a cassette player (boom box, component system cassette deck, etc.) to the line-in jack of your computer's sound card. Download and install Audacity, which is free software for recording and editing sound. Then you can record the sound from your cassettes as you play them into the computer.

Another option, If you want to be fancy and spend a little money, is to buy a USB cassette deck. It automatically converts the cassette audio to digital and sends it to your computer over a USB cable. Recording software is supplied (sometimes the Audacity program mentioned before). Several companies make them. Here's one from a company called ION that some friends of mine have, and it seems to work well for them. They've been converting a lot of tapes of family members, and Audacity has been good for cleaning up tape hiss and enhancing the sound.

Either way, once you have the sound in your computer and processed to your liking, you just need to burn it to a CD using whatever burning software you have. (I use CDBurnerXP. It's free, easy to use, and does everything needed for normal CD and DVD burning.)

While holding the 'Erase' button down, press the 'Rewind' or "Fast Forward' button. It will erase the tape while it rewinds or fast forwards.