Cut power to the computer and cassette deck before making your cable connections.
Insert the white and red RCA plugs located on one end of a stereo Y cable into the white and red (respectively) "audio out" terminals on the cassette deck’s rear panel. These jacks may be labeled “L” for left and “R” for right.
Plug the stereo plug end of the stereo Y cable into the stereo "line in" jack on the computer. On a PC, the line in jack is the small, blue-colored jack on the rear panel.
Turn on the computer and cassette deck.
Launch the audio-recording and editing software installed on the computer. Windows comes preinstalled with a “Sound Recorder” application. It’s located in the Start menu at “All Programs” > “Accessories” > “Entertainment” > “Sound Recorder.” This audio-recording application has limited features, however. If you to prefer use a more robust audio-recording and editing application, a few freeware audio recording programs are available for download on the Internet, such as Audacity, Traverso DAW and Kristal Audio Engine (see Resources). Or you could shop around for other options.
Open the “Preferences” or “Properties” box in the audio-recording application and set the sound-recording device to the computer’s soundcard.
Insert the cassette you want to play on the computer into the cassette deck.
Click the “Record” button in the audio-recording application. Press “Play” on the cassette deck to begin transferring the cassette audio to the computer. You should see waves forming as the audio is transferring. Click the “Stop” button when the transfer is complete.
Click the “Play” button in the audio-recording application to play the audio from the cassette on the computer.