Line-in jacks in MONO?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Fr@nk" <Fr@nkATwizardDOT.net> wrote in message
news:NKwOe.24843$Ie.13436@lakeread03...
> I was really decided on buying a particular HP laptop when by chance I
> glanced at its service manual online. The mic-in (audio-in) jack is MONO
> (monaural); not stereo! I checked a couple of other HP laptops' manuals
too,
> and some others (including their high-end 17" P4 model) also have a
monaural
> audio-in jack. I couldn't believe it.
>
> I looked at Sony's site and saw mono line-in jacks there too! That's when
it
> hit me: this must be some kind of copy-protection-thwarting attempt.
That's
> always an easy workaround to whatever DRM the companies come up with
> (they're talking about copy-protecting plain old audio CDs now)....just
play
> the CD on an external device and record its (analog) audio directly into
the
> computer.
>
> Having a mono input jack may discourage some people, as they probably
won't
> be able to tell why their "recording" of their CD doesn't sound right
(maybe
> it's only recording the Left channel??). Of course, this would only drive
> people (myself included) to buy a decent sound interface (probably PCMCIA)
> to record into.
>
> Anyone know why some companies are penny-pinching to the extreme with
these
> mono audio-in jacks? I can't imagine it saves more than a few cents.
>
> Better yet, anyone have one of these laptops whose specs say the jack is
> MONO but actually can record analog audio in stereo? Just wondering.
>

Mic-In Jacks on computers are normally mony. Line-In are usually stereo,
but where they double up as is common on lap tops, mono is the rule. It's
not a copy protection thing, just penny pinching.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

It's not copy protection, it's cost-cutting. The Mic in jack is mic in,
it's not intended to be "line-in", which most laptops do not have. The
solution is an add-on sound card. Both USB and PC Card sound cards are
available that have a full range of I/O's, and also much better sound
quality (the inside of a laptop is electrically noisy and is a bad place
to do A-to-D conversion of low-level audio signals).


Fr@nk wrote:

> I was really decided on buying a particular HP laptop when by chance I
> glanced at its service manual online. The mic-in (audio-in) jack is MONO
> (monaural); not stereo! I checked a couple of other HP laptops' manuals too,
> and some others (including their high-end 17" P4 model) also have a monaural
> audio-in jack. I couldn't believe it.
>
> I looked at Sony's site and saw mono line-in jacks there too! That's when it
> hit me: this must be some kind of copy-protection-thwarting attempt. That's
> always an easy workaround to whatever DRM the companies come up with
> (they're talking about copy-protecting plain old audio CDs now)....just play
> the CD on an external device and record its (analog) audio directly into the
> computer.
>
> Having a mono input jack may discourage some people, as they probably won't
> be able to tell why their "recording" of their CD doesn't sound right (maybe
> it's only recording the Left channel??). Of course, this would only drive
> people (myself included) to buy a decent sound interface (probably PCMCIA)
> to record into.
>
> Anyone know why some companies are penny-pinching to the extreme with these
> mono audio-in jacks? I can't imagine it saves more than a few cents.
>
> Better yet, anyone have one of these laptops whose specs say the jack is
> MONO but actually can record analog audio in stereo? Just wondering.
>
>
> Fr@nk
>
>