Hi, Justin,
adding to Brian’s post, if the CDs are real audio CDs, so-called CD ripping
programmes will do what you want, making the process seamless and fast.
One example of such software is CDex, but I believe later versions come
with a lot of junkware. Windows Media Player can also rip CDs.
As far as tapes go, Audacity may work. I’d recommend installing the latest
version, though. I think you still need to download the MP3 encoder separately
if you want MP3 files. this is a licensing issue since the Lame encoder is
proprietary software and Audacity is an open source project.
There’s also a programme called Goldwave, which is pretty accessible.
Goldwave has the benefit of being a decent audio editor with some effects
that may help you with audio restauration. You will sometimes have pretty heavy
audio artefacts, depending on the age and recorder model used at the time of
recording.
Audacity also has restauration plugins, but I don’t know how accessible
those are.
Lastly, there’s Magics Sound Forge, but that may be a bit over the top for
what you want. It’s quite costly, but a very powerful audio studio.
Regards,
