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Okay Steve, you caught me!
I actually didn't get to see/use any 4 tracks, but knew they were still in vogue at the local radio station for their quick commercial tapes. I got my first car in '76 and put a fine Pioneer SuperTuner/8-track combo in it!
As for CD's being on their way out...well maybe, but if I have the choice and chance to get the songs I want on CD or download in MP3 format, I take the CD every time! They are still much superior in sound quality, and they provide the "backup" source you spoke about. Yes, Jack, you will want to make backup copies of your MASTER files, either onto a second CD...or IF you also have a DVD burner, would suggest putting them onto them instead.
DVD's will hold about 6.5 CD's worth of WAV files, but burned as DATA files, not AUDIO files persae`, they are still WAV audio files and can be played from the DVD with the use of the COMPUTER and a Wav file player program, but not on a regular CD music player.
I recommend the DVD's because they are more durable...the data layer is sandwiched between the two plastic layers, so they don't need a stick on label to protect the data layer. You can just use a SHARPIE marker to label each disc as you go. THE CD disc's data layer is right on the surface of the CD...and can be easily damaged, scratched, and destroyed with minor bumps, scratches, etc.! So..if you don't have a good label maker, printer, stamper...the thing that helps you CENTER the disc on the label before you actually press the sticky glue side against the data layer. If you are going to be using these CD's in your car, mobil device, then you really need to put a protective label on them. Also burned CD's are not as durable, and can actually be erased/scrambled when stored in a car in the summer heat!!!
As Steve stated, we really recommend recording just 1 song at a time, I know this would take a bit more "time" having to monitor the computer as you are recording, having to stop the program/cassette player after every song, but you'll easily be able to have each song separated.
Remember, you should record the cassette songs onto the HARD DRIVE first, and then use a CD burning program to put them onto the CD. True, you could record 1 whole side of a cassette as 1 long track, and then burn it to a CD as 1 whole track, but then you loose the ability to easily and quickly seek or pass individual songs/tracks since there are no song/track markers between the songs in the 1 long file/track. As Steve stated, you could place end of track markers into the 1 long track, but that's even more work IMHO!
You can still record the cassette side in 1 long song/wav file for ease and less monitoring of the process. Save the large file FIRST. THEN you can use the WAV file editor program you recorded it with to view/highlight/select EACH SONG from the main file, COPY that section, then open a NEW wav file, PASTE that into the new file, and then save that file as 1 song. Then go back to the Master recorded file, select the NEXT track, repeat to save them all. This way you still get your individual songs separated, and the convenience of recording the cassette or Album a side at a time! YMMV!
Recording the Cassettes will actually be easier because you won't need to edit them to remove any pops/clicks and such like on an ALBUM. There are some advanced editting tricks to use to remove pronounced pops/clicks from an album track. I won't go into that right now. The "filtering" features of some album recording software seems to filter out more than just the pops/snaps....and can make the sound muffled or not as crisp...IMHO!
Steve, you'll just need to check your cars specs to see what size Flash drive it can recognize. Mine can also use flash drives as well as SD cards, but can only "see" 2 GB sized or less. Also, it may only recognize USB2 or 1, not USB3 type flash drives? IIRC, I just copy the MP3's onto the flash drive or SD card both just in the main root directory, but also have set them up in separate folders and the player spans the folders. I found out that it will only recognize 255 songs/tracks, so even though my 2 GB SD card can hold more, it will not see the tracks after the 255th one, and it sees them in the order that they were copied onto the drive, not in alpha-numeric order! HTH.
T.C.
I actually didn't get to see/use any 4 tracks, but knew they were still in vogue at the local radio station for their quick commercial tapes. I got my first car in '76 and put a fine Pioneer SuperTuner/8-track combo in it!
As for CD's being on their way out...well maybe, but if I have the choice and chance to get the songs I want on CD or download in MP3 format, I take the CD every time! They are still much superior in sound quality, and they provide the "backup" source you spoke about. Yes, Jack, you will want to make backup copies of your MASTER files, either onto a second CD...or IF you also have a DVD burner, would suggest putting them onto them instead.
DVD's will hold about 6.5 CD's worth of WAV files, but burned as DATA files, not AUDIO files persae`, they are still WAV audio files and can be played from the DVD with the use of the COMPUTER and a Wav file player program, but not on a regular CD music player.
I recommend the DVD's because they are more durable...the data layer is sandwiched between the two plastic layers, so they don't need a stick on label to protect the data layer. You can just use a SHARPIE marker to label each disc as you go. THE CD disc's data layer is right on the surface of the CD...and can be easily damaged, scratched, and destroyed with minor bumps, scratches, etc.! So..if you don't have a good label maker, printer, stamper...the thing that helps you CENTER the disc on the label before you actually press the sticky glue side against the data layer. If you are going to be using these CD's in your car, mobil device, then you really need to put a protective label on them. Also burned CD's are not as durable, and can actually be erased/scrambled when stored in a car in the summer heat!!!
As Steve stated, we really recommend recording just 1 song at a time, I know this would take a bit more "time" having to monitor the computer as you are recording, having to stop the program/cassette player after every song, but you'll easily be able to have each song separated.
Remember, you should record the cassette songs onto the HARD DRIVE first, and then use a CD burning program to put them onto the CD. True, you could record 1 whole side of a cassette as 1 long track, and then burn it to a CD as 1 whole track, but then you loose the ability to easily and quickly seek or pass individual songs/tracks since there are no song/track markers between the songs in the 1 long file/track. As Steve stated, you could place end of track markers into the 1 long track, but that's even more work IMHO!
You can still record the cassette side in 1 long song/wav file for ease and less monitoring of the process. Save the large file FIRST. THEN you can use the WAV file editor program you recorded it with to view/highlight/select EACH SONG from the main file, COPY that section, then open a NEW wav file, PASTE that into the new file, and then save that file as 1 song. Then go back to the Master recorded file, select the NEXT track, repeat to save them all. This way you still get your individual songs separated, and the convenience of recording the cassette or Album a side at a time! YMMV!
Recording the Cassettes will actually be easier because you won't need to edit them to remove any pops/clicks and such like on an ALBUM. There are some advanced editting tricks to use to remove pronounced pops/clicks from an album track. I won't go into that right now. The "filtering" features of some album recording software seems to filter out more than just the pops/snaps....and can make the sound muffled or not as crisp...IMHO!
Steve, you'll just need to check your cars specs to see what size Flash drive it can recognize. Mine can also use flash drives as well as SD cards, but can only "see" 2 GB sized or less. Also, it may only recognize USB2 or 1, not USB3 type flash drives? IIRC, I just copy the MP3's onto the flash drive or SD card both just in the main root directory, but also have set them up in separate folders and the player spans the folders. I found out that it will only recognize 255 songs/tracks, so even though my 2 GB SD card can hold more, it will not see the tracks after the 255th one, and it sees them in the order that they were copied onto the drive, not in alpha-numeric order! HTH.
T.C.
Supposedly there isn't a track number limit, but go too big and the head unit will take longer and longer time to upload the track index, to the point where you may have to wait a 1/2 hour or more before the system will work (or so I've been told). It also depends on what program you use to put the tracks on the flash drive (I-tunes, etc). 
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