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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?"
If you took your investments in "all of the four laptops I've bought" (4) you could have bought a MacBook that has a line-in.
I'm just saying.
Also, your laptops seem to have a useful lifespan of just 2.5 years. Sumthin' wrong there, too.
My 10-year old PowerBook with line-in is still in use.
What have you been buying???
From one Australian to another. Aldi Supermarkets have a USB Turntable on special this week for $A79 - no line in required - complete with Windows software for recording. Simple, neat and good enough for making mp3s from your old vinyl. Cassettes are a different story, but I am sure there are plenty of options in that area too.