Frequently Asked Questions
We get a lot of common questions about our analog to digital transfer service which we've compiled into this FAQ. Feel free to contact us about our transfer service if you have any questions or concerns that aren't covered on this page.
Other Formats:
What about videos? 78s? Reels?
Logistics:
Can I pay by check?
How long does this take?
What about other countries? APOs?
Can I make/sell copies of my new CDs/MP3s?
This cassette/record is irreplaceable! I can't risk mailing it!
Privacy/Guarantees/Copyright:
Is this legal?
Do you listen to my tape/record?
Do you keep a copy of my audio?
What if my cassette/record is damaged?
CDs:
A bogus title comes up when I put the CD into my computer. Huh?
MP3:
How do I load my MP3s into iTunes?
Cassettes:
I'm not sure how long my tape is...
I only want the second song from side A and...
What if my cassette is broken or breaks on you?
How is it split up into tracks?
Do you offer cassette transcription to Word or PDF?
Records:
My record is scratched and skips. Can you fix it?
Can you put 2+ short records onto one CD?
How is it split up into tracks?
I only want the second song from side A and...
Do you do hiss/pop/noise filtering?
Other Formats
What about videos? 78s? Reels?
Cassettes and vinyl LPs and 45s are all we do.
If you have something else, see our other formats page for a referral to who can help you.
Logistics
Can I pay by check?
You bet. After you place your order, just make a check out to "Reclaim Media" for the final amount and pack it with your cassettes or records.
How long does this take?
Most of the start-to-finish turnaround time consists of the you-to-us and us-back-to-you shipping steps. More on this.
What about other countries? APOs?
APOs (US military bases) are fine.
As for foreign countries, we can only handle Canada.
However, even if you're in Timbuktu, you can still use our service! You can ship things to us from anywhere, so that's no problem. The only trick is to use a friend or family member in the USA as the ship-to address, and then nicely ask them to bounce it to you. A bit of a hassle, but it works.
Can I make/sell copies of my new CDs/MP3s?
When it comes to ability, there's nothing stopping you. If it's copyrighted material, though, then you're in trouble. Fair Use lets you make a digital backup of an analog recording for yourself, but not distribute more copies.
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This cassette/record is irreplaceable! I can't risk mailing it!
It's natural to not want to hand over your tapes or records to strangers. The good news, though, is that we've never lost audio that's made it through our door.
To ensure that happens, just use Fedex or UPS. Walk into the nearby Fedex-Kinko's or UPS Store, pile up your tapes or records on the counter, give them our mailing address and they'll take care of it. You can even get a thousand dollars of insurance for about ten bucks extra.
On the other hand, if you're using US Mail, then tag each and every item with a return-address sticker. That way, if your box breaks open en route, they'll still be able to return them to you.
Privacy/Guarnatees/Copyright
Is this legal?
You bet. Fair Use lets you make a digital backup of an analog recording that you already own.
Do you listen to my tape/record?
As a rule, no. We do hear little snippets of sound while placing track points, but no one will ever sit down and listen to the whole thing.
Do you keep a copy of my audio?
Yes, for 30 days. It lets us make copies if you need more later. More importantly, it also lets us reconstruct your order if something happens in the mail.
What if my cassette/record is damaged?
We'll make great efforts to fix or replace media that's damaged as a result of our actions.
CDs
A bogus title comes up when I put the CD into my computer. Huh?
This is a real stinker. Most computer audio programs (like iTunes and Windows Media Player, mainly) look up a CDs track titles on CDDB, an internet database of CD info.
So when one puts in a store-bought Beatles CD and the computer says "She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah," that track title was not read from the CD itself, but was rather looked up in that CDDB database.
This CDDB track info is indexed by the lengths of a CDs tracks. This means that if a CD we make for you has the same number of tracks, and with the exact same lengths, as that Beatles CD, then you'll see "She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah" when you play it too, whether it's the Rolling Stones or Books on Tape.
Mind you, this only happens with about one of every thousand CDs we make, and it's not like the CD sounds wrong. It just means that when importing into iTunes, say, you'll have to "override" the defaults and type in the track titles yourself.
MP3
How do I load my MP3s into iTunes?
Each MP3 disc comes with the following instructions:
1) Start the iTunes program.
2) iTunes -> Preferences...
3) "Advanced" tab.
4) Check the box "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library."
5) Drag MP3 files (or the whole disc) directly into your iTunes playlist! Whammo!
Cassettes
I'm not sure how long my tape is...
It doesn't matter. We charge by the tape, regardless of length. More on this.
I only want the second song from side A and...
Nope, sorry, that's not how our service works. We do the whole tape, all or nothing, and only trim off the silences at the start and end of each side. Similarly, we are unable to combine multiple tapes onto a single CD.
What if my cassette is broken or breaks on you?
We can fix it! On the "Payment" stage of the order form, you can tell us whether to make a "fix attempt" for ten dollars when a tape won't play for some reason. If the fix attempt doesn't work, though, then of course there's no charge for either the fix attempt or for the conversion that we were unable to do.
A "break" is any mechanical reason why your tape won't play all the way through. The fix is always the same: taking the reels out, splicing together any breaks in the tape and installing the reels into a new plastic tape case. The most common "breaks" are:
1: The "pressure pad," that tiny rectangle of felt or styrofoam near the bottom face that pushes down on the the tape against the deck's play head, often falls off. The tape will sometimes play, but the sound will be so muffled and crappy that you won't want it.
2: Sometimes, over the years, the layers of tape in the reels get stuck to each other. This is usually fixed in the "exercising" step, where we fast-forward and rewind it before playing. If that doesn't do the trick, though, then the decks won't have enough power to pull the tape through and quit. Our decks are especially wussy power-wise, actually, because we don't want to hurt anything, but that means that this problem can come up for us even though it doesn't happen for you at home.
3: A teensy bit of adhesive connects either end of the brown magnetic tape to the plastic leader strips that are hooked to the sprockets. Sometimes that adhesive fails, and the magnetic tape and leader become detatched.
How is it split up into tracks?
If it's a spoken word tape like a lecture or audiobook then you'll get two big tracks, one for each side. For music tapes with clear breaks between songs, though, we use a special computer program to find the track points by hand.
For tapes containing live performances, DJ sets or other content where the songs blend together, we can't always guarantee our track-seperation to be perfect, but we can try our best. Let us know if you prefer to have us attempt to track them, or to create one track for each side.
Do you offer cassette transcription to Word or PDF?
We don't do cassette transcription, but our friends at Casting Words do! They do a great job and their prices and turnaround are very competitive.
Records
My record is scratched and skips. Can you fix it?
If a thorough cleaning will fix it, then you're all set. Otherwise, well, you're not. If it's a forward-skip, then that two-second piece of audio will be missing from the CD. If it's a back-skip, then we won't be able to transfer that particular song.
Can you put 2+ short records onto one CD?
For 45s, yes, this is what we do. We compile the songs onto however many CDs are required.
For LPs, though, no, we do the whole thing, all or nothing. Also, we won't put two LPs together onto one CD.
How is it split up into tracks?
We use a special computer program to find the track points by hand.
I only want the second song from side A and...
Nope nope, we do the whole thing, all or nothing.
Do you do hiss/pop/noise filtering?
You bet! It works really well.
Between the record cleaning and our super-fancy digital click and pop reduction algorithm, your records will be sounding better in your CD player or computer than they did on the turntable.