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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?"
I'm glad my laptop doesn't have a line-in, what a waste that would be! It's a very *specialist* use-case that should not be installed standard. Are there really that many old records that haven't been converted to digital yet? Or is the problem just that certain people don't think they are entitled to download a digital version of something they already own without paying for it a second time?
This reply is so mindbogglingly stupid that I just don't know what to say about it. The effect of stereo--the whole point of having two speakers--is that the sound originates from two separate places in the room, adding a spatial dimension to the sound. It's to give you a sense of placement of instruments/voices/noises/etc. within the room that you can't get from just one speaker. Crosstalk in the wire causes a certain amount of the same sound to come out of both speakers, thereby reducing the stereo effect. Please use common sense before you try to be a smartass.