This page has MP3 samples of the transfer of Cassettes to CD.
The best way of digitising and converting Cassette Tapes to CD, or MP3, is to use the OLDIES made GOODIES Specialised Audio Restoration Service.

Don't require this level of restoration?
Have a look at the "Low Cost Transfer" page.

Cassette Tape.

The audio quality when they were first manufactured can vary considerably.
The quality of the blank tapes used also varied widely and this can affect the way they have survived over the years'.
Most have other problems apart from the "hiss" and in some cases these are more noticeable after the "hiss" is removed.
They can develop "dropouts", either by degradation or even just by storing them. Many now have dropouts on the beginning of the first track caused by the joint between the leader tape and tape itself. This is leaving an imprint that runs through several layers of tape - and several dropouts the length of the joint..
Excessive wow and flutter is by far the worst problem to deal with as there is isn't any way round it, if it is caused by the tape having been stretched or if the original came with the problem built in. It's worth mentioning that all Cassette Decks produce wow and flutter so a low quality deck will add to the problem, if used for transfer.
Some is caused mechanically by the tape in the headshell and this can be dealt with.
Cassette Tapes can and do degrade over time, so simply removing the "hiss" will not address this sort of problem.
Here's an example.
The track starts reasonably well but runs into trouble after about 40 seconds, with distortion, garbled audio and phasing between the channels. Fortunately, the track is in mono so in this particular case it was possible to completely re-build the track.
Without complete audio restoration this type of fault will be very noticeable through, for example, headphones or ear buds on an i-Pod or MP3 Player.
First sample is the original and the second the restored version.


But, there are some good quality recordings on good quality tapes that still provide excellent results after restoration.

Transferred on a decent Cassette Deck they can give excellent results. This clip has been shortened considerably but gives an example of what can be expected. First we have the original from Cassette and the second clip is the restored version.



This track taken from a restored vinyl 45 from around 1954 and  recorded onto a 25 year old tape has suffered a little bit over the years and you will notice a few other faults in the sample, along with the "hiss". These have been rectified as part of the standard restoration process in the final version. Original from Tape first followed by the restored version in the second clip.