What is the easiest way to transfer music from cassettes to CD?

Answer 1

Get a RCA-plug (2-plugs) to 1/8" stereo phone plug cable (like the end of a headphone set). Connect cassette "out" to "line in" on computer sound card/integrated sound (back of computer, usually).

Then you need appropriate software. I use MusicMatch Plus (cost $20 for upgrade from basic (free) version). It's easy once you learn it. Next, I use Sony Sound Forge to chop off extra bits, separate tracks (if I didn't the settings quite right on Music Match or if there was a long, quiet passage within the track), clean up some tape hiss, etc..

There are probably other programs (free and otherwise) you can use. I just had these.

Answer 2

Put simply, you will need to connect your cassette player to your PC soundcard, then play the cassette whilst recording on your PC. A step-by-step guide is available at:
http://www.cassette2cd.co.uk/diy
The recording software is the key, there are some free software downloads available at:
http://www.cassette2cd.co.uk/downloads.php
I have used ‘Magix Audio Cleaning Lab’ and ‘Audacity’ – Audacity is particularly popular since it is free!
If you record to WAV format, expect file sizes of around 10MB per minute, or 1MB per minute for MP3 (at 128kbps).
Once you have your digital versions of the recording on your PC, simply burn them on to a CD (Nero burning software or similar..). If you use Magix Audio Cleaning, the software will burn an audio CD for you without needing additional software (assuming you have a CD writing drive of course!)
You can also download a free PDF version of the step-by–step guide from the download page mentioned above, the guide is complete with diagrams and screen-shots.
Hope this helps