Ain't technology wunnerful?!

The best thing about computers is you don't process in real time. If it didn't work, hit 'undo' and try again, and you hear the results immediately. Better still, you can save the settings for the next track...

I recently did an old 78 for a friend - got rid of the hisses and scratches, and pseudo-stereo'd it! He was gobsmacked.

I've looked at CoolEdit, and it seems to do more than Sound Forge. Unfortunately, it's 'cripple ware', so I couldn't evaluate it properly. Shareware's all well and good, but not giving it full functionality for the 30 day trial period is short sighted. It put me off! So I am sticking with Sound Forge (from Sonic Foundry Inc.).

Regarding the old tape stock problem - nobody has mentioned how important it is to keep the tape heads clean! Isopropyl alcohol is cheap enough from most chemists (pharmacies?), and cotton buds are the ideal cleaning tool. Failure to do this will drastically reduce the high frequency response, which is impossible to put back afterwards.

Lecture over! Good luck!