How to Convert Your Minidiscs to MP3

If you gigged through the 90s and 2000s, chances are a shoebox of minidiscs is still holding your set hostage. You can't buy a new minidisc player, your old one won't last forever, and your next tablet has no slot for them. The good news: converting them to MP3 is straightforward, and once it's done, it's done forever.

What you need

• A working minidisc player with a headphone or line-out socket.
• A laptop.
• A 3.5mm-to-3.5mm audio cable (a couple of pounds online) — or an RCA-to-3.5mm cable if your deck has red/white output sockets.
• Audacity, free from audacityteam.org (only download from the official site).

Steps

1. Connect the cable — one end into the minidisc player's headphone/line-out socket, the other into your laptop's line-in socket. (No line-in on your laptop? A small USB audio interface like a Behringer UCA202, around £25, plus an RCA cable solves it — and gives cleaner sound.)
2. Open Audacity and select the correct input — in the audio settings dropdown at the top, choose your laptop's line-in (or the USB device). Set it to record in stereo, 2 channels.
3. Test the level — press play on the minidisc. You should see the meter move and a waveform appear. If the waveform constantly touches the top or the meter turns red, lower the minidisc's output volume. Peaks just under the top is perfect.
4. Record — click the red record button, press play on the minidisc, and let the track run in real time. A 4-minute song takes 4 minutes. Put the kettle on.
5. Stop and trim — click stop, select any silence at the start or end by clicking and dragging, press delete.
6. Export as MP3 — File → Export → Export as MP3. Name it the song title. Repeat per track, or record a whole disc as one long file and export each song as a separate file afterwards.
7. Upload to Yourtracks — sign up free at yourtracks.net, add to your home screen, and your entire library now lives on your tablet, permanently, offline.

Tips

• Record in a quiet room.
• Run the player on mains power if you can.
• Back up the MP3s to a USB stick too.