Is the Line-in Jack On the Verge of Extinction?

SlashD0tter writes "Many older sound cards were shipped with line-out, microphone-in, and a line-in jacks. For years I've used such a line-in jack on an old Windows 2000 dinosaur desktop that I bought in 2000 (600 Mhz PIII) to capture the stereo audio signal from an old Technics receiver. I've used this arrangement to recover the audio from a slew of old vinyl LPs and even a few cassettes using some simple audio manipulating software from a small shop in Australia. I've noticed only recently, unfortunately, that all of the four laptops I've bought since then have omitted a line-in jack, forcing me to continue keeping this old desktop on life support. I've looked around for USB sound cards that include a line-in jack, but I haven't been too impressed by the selection. Is the line-in jack doomed to extinction, possibly due to lobbying from vested interests, or are there better thinking-outside-the-box alternatives available?"

Comments

Yes, it's dying

[blhack]

The line-in jack will disappear with physical audio. Honestly, unless you're a DJ, it's pretty unlikely that you have any audio that doesn't exist as something digital (MP3, AAC, WAV, etc.)

And if you are a DJ, you should be using a dedicated piece of hardware... Don't get me wrong, this makes me sad (probably because audio is a hobby of mine) but it isn't at all surprising.

If true, its because nobody cares

[Gothmolly]

Other than a few Slashdot readers and luddites, few modern PC purchasers need a line-in jack. iTunes and Amazon won, for $9.99 you can get a perfect MP3 rip of my old vinyl, without spending 1+ hours per album ripping then tweaking, then exporting.

It went out with a whimper.