We recently looked at the Plusdeck 2c, a device for converting old cassette tapes to MP3 files.

We complained that, while it was easy to use and produced good results, the setup procedure was needlessly complicated by the fact that it used outdated cabling.

Now along comes the Firebox USB Cassette Deck, which does exactly the same thing, but doesn't require taking your computer apart to install it, and uses an easy USB connection.

It works as a normal double tape deck, so it can be connected to a standard amplifier. The device's plastic looks are decidedly 1980s but the sound quality is reasonable. It's also possible to do tape-to-tape dubbing using the device on its own.

Two kinds of software are included and the user can choose between them when installing the deck. The first and more basic involves a colourful program that uses a wizard to take the user through the copying process. It's not automatic, so you need to press buttons on the deck as well as in the software, and it's not capable of splitting tracks automatically.

It had a couple of minor quirks, such as refusing to save any tracks until we'd quit our email program, but otherwise the program is quite useable. It loads the final tracks into iTunes for playback.

The second way uses the free Audacity sound-editing software, which is less friendly but more powerful and offers various filters and effects to clean up the recorded tracks. Basic (unedited) sound quality is the same either way, and is fairly good, although it will, in the end, depend on the quality of the tapes you're copying.

While this USB cassette deck is decidedly easier to set up than the Plusdeck 2c, and it doesn't require opening the computer's case, it's not quite as polished a product on the whole, and the software is less powerful than that of its competitor. We're not convinced that it's worth the extra £20, but if you're using a notebook computer, or don't have a serial port, it's not a bad way to convert old tapes.

Vista compatible: Yes