Getting Started (copying cassette)

Question

I opened up Garage Band for the first time, trying to copy a tape to my iPOD. I don't know anything about recording, so I have been guessing. My playing around has left me wanting to get some guidance. Let me say what I have done so far, and let you tell me what I did wrong and what I need to do next.
First, I figured out how to turn off all effects, and turn on the monitor, and start a new track with the + button. I didn't see anything to adjust the recording level (hopefully this was automatic). I also didn't see any way to make the graphic of the sound larger, and not knowing what this graphic was called, did not find it in the help.
I'm using my wife's Mac as I'm still saving up for mine, so it's hard to find time when it's free. I recorded a tape to a new project (The tape was made from a high school production of Caberet, so I called the project Caberet - The track seems to be called No Effects), and saved it. Saving it aborted, sending a message to Apple. This is the first time we got those common Microsoft type messages to send to Apple. I told it to save it the slow way with
iLife preview. I have no idea what that means or if that was the right way to try to save it.
When I opened that project it was empty, so I tried again. I discovered that if I double click the red recording button (on the bottom, my first attempt used the button at the top, it started a new recording in that track.
So I sat in front of the computer so I could listen for gaps between songs to double click the record button. After a while, I saw that I was recording over a previous recording of this album. When I turned off the record button, I could hear the previous recording.
I quit and started over, but the same thing happened when I opened the project.
I have a few false starts in this recording that I will need to delete, and I may need to play with the recordings I made (move to new tracks??).
Once when I double clicked the record button, I got error code 54. I pressed it again and it continued recording. When I got done, I saved the project again and wrote this message.
I understand that I will want to export the results t o iTunes, but haven't gotten that far yet.
Please advise on my mistakes and what I should do next.
Thanks

Answer 1

i'm very lost on this "double-clicking" that you're doing.
first off, the quick way to get a new track is to create a "New Basic Track" this will automatically have no effects on it.
next, with that track selected, you should just press the record button once (i'm also not sure what other "record" button you're talking about. perhaps the record-enable button within the track header?
the recording you see within the track is called a region.
there's no reason to stop the record and restart it, you could record the whole thing and cut it up later. Skim through this tut to see how:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials.html#allabouttransferringlps
as always, i recommend an audio editor:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html#audioeditors
but you can use gb if you want.