I am such a geek.

So, I have these tapes, right? They're foreign language tapes. Pimsleur Language Programs' Speak and Read Essential Dutch. I've had them for at least a year and a half, and got them before I even thought of registering for that class down at the Belgian Embassy.

But my tape player is old, and sometimes doesn't work right. So I don't like to use it.

The other day, I was thinking, "If only I could get that onto CD--or my ipod--then that would be awesome, 'cause then I'd feel like listening to it more often." (You're supposed to listen to no more than one new unit per day, but if you didn't feel comfortable with the previous unit, you just repeat it the next day.)

And then I realized: I can do BOTH!

I got a cord a couple weeks back that connects headphone-jack-to-headphone-jack. Well, in this case, it's really headphone-jack-to-microphone-jack. And I've got a hard drive that will hold 160 GIGABYTES, so I have plenty of space for that kind of thing.

Today, I plugged the cord into the headphone jack of my tape player, with the other end plugged into the microphone jack of my laptop. Then, I plugged in my headphones to the laptop (so I wouldn't bug my roommates), and opened my Audacity program.

Holy Toledo, IT WORKS! It came through loud and clear, and I was able to record it and then export the recording to MP3! I also managed to get rid of the static (there was a lot of it) using Audacity's "Noise Removal" effect.

I've decided I'm going to record each of the ten units, plus each of the ten reading exercises, into twenty different "tracks."

And--this is the REALLY GEEKY part--I'm going to get some blank CDs, hook up my laptop to my VCR/DVD-R, and make my own CDs! I'd forgotten until this evening that my VCR/DVD-R could do that.

Once I've finished the Dutch course, I've got quite a few other cassettes (French, Finnish, and actual music tapes) which I can transfer to CD!

So, totally a geek.