I have been using Cool Edit Pro to copy audio casettes to my hard drive and burn them onto cd for a few months now. My latest venture, the unabriged Harry Potter books suddenly disappeared. 35 hours of tape playing vanished and now, Cool Edit won't record anymore. The casette player is patched into the computer and I can hear the tapes playing fine but, when I try to record, nothing is copied. Cool Edit acts like it is recording although, I don't have the visual waves as the tape progresses like I used to. It scrolls along in time, it just doesn't seem to be recording anything. When I try to play back, I get nothing, just dead air. Have I inadvertently done something stupid? Is there some setting somewhere that I changed without meaning to? Anyone have any helpful suggestions?

Ah yes, know where you are coming from, had that problem myself a few times when I reinstall XP.

I have a Soundblaster card and part of the Creative Soundblaster software controls where the 'recording source' is set. I'm sure other soundcards have similar applications.

This is not a Cooledit thing but a Windows thing.

By default the 'recording source' is not the 'line in' so the symptoms are exactly as you describe - the red recording line does not go right across to the right and the wave created is silent.

Have a check around for whether recording is set to CD, Line In, Microphone, etc - it's in there somewhere.

HTH

Do a basic check of all your interconnecting leads making shure all the jsck plugs are inserted correctly. Minijacks are totally useless so as you're doing loadsa recording get some good quality leads.

Also worth checking is the HDD capacity. Cooledit defaults to a fairly low HDD alowance which you definately will have exceeded with over 35hrs of recordings. CE does usually tell that this has happened, ie you have run out of Hdd capacity, bur check the settings anyway and adjust as nescessary.
Check also that CE settings for source haven't changed ie make shure that Default recording device is your sound card.

Thank you. Thank you. Somehow, the microphone was set as the recording device and so, of course CE wasn't picking up the casette deck. I don't know how this was changed but, at any rate, it's fixed now and I can return to the salt mines. I appreciate your help, both of you.

always keen to help a lady in distress.

Now if I could only find someone to come over and do all the coverting for me I'd be all set. Maybe if I tie myself to some railroad tracks I'd have better luck finding a suck... er a volunteer.

Looks like JW has volunteered then

Really? Is this one of those cases of he-volunteered-cause-everyone-around-him-was-quicker-on-the-uptake-and-took-a-step-backwards things? I'd hate to have an unwilling victi...volunteer.

No? he's very quick on the uptake and, therefore, knows when to keep schtum.

Ah.. but I would be carefull, you know how those male models are.

If, however, Lola you'd like to fly me out to your Malibu beach house for the Winter - I'll do all the copying you like.

The trouble is that I don't live in Malibu. Worse still, I'm moving to an even colder locale than the Southern Ontario one that I am in currently. I don't think you'd like it much, you have to break the ice in the toilet bowl in the morning. Maybe I could just send you pictures of Malibu beaches instead. I could include a big bucket of sand and some seagull sound effects too if that will help sway you.

He's a model?

1:43 scale

Yer funny.

And clever.