I have a power book and the audio seems to function fine. built in internal mic produces audio into the audio input bar amplitude monitor in the preferences/sound. functions normal!!
If I plug in an old mic, set to preferences "line in" the audio is week but still there. If i run it through a preamp on a boom box the audio works fine. Lot's of bars and high amplitude. SO my audio seems to be working fine.
Ok what is my problem?? well when i try to plug in a head phone set to use telephony like skype, ...nothing. zero, completely dead. If i try to run the head set mic through a preamp... nothing. not out of the boom box speakers nor the computer. I took the head set back and exchanged for a new set (dif maker) and... nothing. same problems.
How can i get head set mic to put audio through?

Hi Ronald
Welcome to the discussions.
A question your head-phone set what plugs does it have on it, I presume one for the microphone and one for the headphones both 3.5mm?
You said you tried the microphone in a boom box and it was dead, so that rules out the PB.
The microphone on the headset does it expect power? Some microphones need power supplied down the connector from the device it is plugged into.
Does it say anything on the box for the headset?
If you can have a look and get back.
Phil

Hi phillip

Thanks for addressing my problem

Interesting thought that the mic may need a voltage supply. That may be the problem or at least something I haven't thought of. I checked the headphone set specs and and it does say "mic power source: 5v dc. So yes it would appear that it needs a power source. If this is the problem then would suggest that both the Mac input jack and my sterio preamp are passive inputs with no voltage supply.
I just assumed that any headphone set from a retailer would work universally in all computers and that Mac would be similar to standard line in expectations. There's nothing on the package to indicate computer compatibility nor there of. And if needing a special non generic mic was required by the Mac, you'd think there would be lot's of stuff in the help and everywhere noteing this requirement, yet there is nothing anywhere about it.

Still, I have the problem. I've since pluged the headphone plug (not mic) into the mic input on my computer or also preamp and presto! works well, very well. Surprise. Turns out the headphone speaker can be a mic sending device and I've used it very well in this capacity. Only down side is you must hold it like a mike and of course another headhone set is required. (which I have)

I thought that a possible reason, may be that my sterio simply uses the left channel while a headphone mic may send only on right, thereby produceing a dead response while an old mic works fine.

Well, Phil, I hope I didn't confuse you. What do you recomend; A special headphone set not requirening a voltage sorce, maybe a "sterio" mic, maybe a sterio to mono plug adapter? THoughts?

Hi Ronald

Is there any information that came with your headphone set as to how the power can be supplied to the microphone? The reason I am asking is whether a separate box could be built that you first plug the mic into then you plug the output of the box into the Mac. This box then supplies the necessary volts, say via a battery for the mic, but at the same time stopping the volts from then appearing on the input to the Mac. Do you know any electronic whizz kids who might be able to make a box for you?
Otherwise you will need to hunt around for a headphone set that does not require any volts to be applied to the microphone.
Sorry I can't be more help.
Phil

This is one of the only things that has me upset with Apple. They *know* that people will see the "audio line-in port" and believe it's a mic port, but it's not. It takes audio from a powered source like your stereo set or something. The manual even says "You can also connect external microphones or other audio equipment to the audio line in port," but what they don't tell you is that 98% of mics out there won't work (just like they don't tell you that many of the DVD-Rs won't work in your Apple drive). You not only need a powered mic, you need a powered mic rated for a specific amount of db's which I can't find in Apple's specs anywhere (someone said 60).

After buying two mics and neither worked (one failed completely, the other had only the weakest of signals), I came upon a kludge: connect the mic to my digital video camcorder, then go out from that to the Powerbook's line-in port. Messy, but it works.

It's either that, or pay forty bucks for a Belkin iMic AND the price of a microphone.

Thanks blogD and Phillip for your help

Thought I was imagining things and surprised that there's no info on this and I'm the first in Macs help disscussion to raise the topic. Strange.

Ok, the final conclusion is we need a special mic with it's own power source or external (not Mac voltage) source.

Ironicly, with any generic headphones, you can use the ear peace in reverse. That is, instead of as an earpiece speaker, you can hold it to your mouth and use it as a mic. Simply run it though a preamp and then into the Mac line in. Works well with good quality. Of course you can solve the high amplitude input requirement (week audio) by simply turning up the volume of the preamp. You also need to pay attention to which channel (left, right) your using, unless you have a channel mixing option or mono preamp output.

So, like you blogD, I guess after buying two headphone sets to no avail, it's the special belkin ones I must get. ..I'm a hard core Mac fan, but this time mac didn't impress me much!

I've just run across a very odd problem. I've been using Skype on my 1Ghz PB G4 for many months...with a simple telephony earpiece that I got free somewhere. It looks like a wired earpiece with in-line mic that you'd use for a Nokia phone...but plugs into the line-in and headphone jacks separately.

It suddenly stopped working when I moved a few weeks ago. I have the same ISP (Comcast) and nothing has been done to my machine (all of my other connections are working)...it's still running the same OS and I haven't added any software other than update to the latest version of Skype.

Thinking that maybe the wires in the earpiece have gone bad, I plugged the earpiece into my Mirror-drive door G4 at work...and still got no audio. So I just bought a new Logitech telephony headset...supposedly Skype certified and when I plug it into the line-in and headphone jacks...I can hear everyone else...but I have the same problem - NO audio. I've checked my Skype and System preferences to set the sound input to line-in. No luck.

Anyone have a similar problem? This is really perplexing...

I notice that the only headsets that the AppleStore sells are the expensive USB variety. I got my cheap Plantronics set with ordinary 3.5mm jacks to work with Skype by connecting through my Griffin iMic which amplifies the microphone to work with the PB and provides a USB interface. Any "normal" microphone MUST be amplified to work on the PB. (or possibly any Mac?) So I'm amazed you got anything to work without this!

I have the same issue, as do all 15 inch PB users. Unfortunately, Apple decided to use a powered line-level input as opposed to a plain line-in. This is all well and good for people who have nice audio setups, and run their mics through preamps anyway, but for those of us just wanting to use VoIP, its a bit of a hassle. I have found that if you send the signal through a guitar amp, the sound is fine. I would suggest getting a USB headset, or a bluetooth headset.

So I've just run into this issue as well. I thought my line in was working fine with my non-USB Logitech "Skype Certified" headset. Turns out it was actually still using my Powerbook's built-in mic. When I switched the source in the System Pref's to "Line in" no one can hear me.

So a cheap mic wont work on the Powerbook. Hugh "D'ohhhh!" All the USB headset are 3x the price too.

Just thought I would check back and conclude with what i did to finally resolved this issure. You can reslove this problem, essentially 3 ways

a) use the line in jack with a standalone mic and preamp/sterio as talked about above

b) buy a USB headset. Advantage; simple and no messy connections. Downside; expensive and can only use the headset on a computer. If it dies then you are without a headset until your next purchase oportunity.

c) buy a USB audio interface: such as belkin iMic or Griffin iMic. Advantage; provides universiality with any standard head set. Dissadvantage: one more complication and more connections and wires, though the connection is simple.

I bought a Griffin iMic. I forget exactly how much, I think it was about $25 (U.S) Works very well and has other functionallity too, such as output function, phono adapter, software. Well.. happy voiping.

These postings were helpful. I agree with those who expressed surprise that a 'third party' stereo headset does not work. In fact, the HELP file says that one can use regular microphones as well as 'Plain_Talk" microphones. It's unlike Apple to have such a 'Mickey-Mouse' setup.

All of this explains why the icon on the PBG4 differs from the 'Radio Mike' icon.

In summary, one needs to travel with:
A cell phone headset.
Stereo haedset,...and
a iMic

This is not a good solution!

Powerbook G4 Titanium 550KHz Mac OS X (10.3.9) use Skype

Appreciate hearing about the Griffin iMic. Looks like a great product!

Here's what PBG4 HELP says:f your computer has a built-in microphone, you can speak commands to your computer using the built-in microphone. You can also use an external microphone connected to your computer.
(You cannot!)

Powerbook G4 Titanium 550KHz

My PBG4 help text doesn't say that. It says "If your computer has a built-in microphone, you can speak commands using the built-in microphone. If you have more than one microphone, speech recognition selects the one it uses in this order: external USB microphone, external analog microphone, built-in microphone."

Your PBG4 is an older one, which was probably produced at the time Apple was still making "PlainTalk" microphones which were specifically designed to work with the Mac's line-level input, and maybe that's what your help file is referring to. So your help file may be correct given the mics available at the time.

I use an adapter called an NEMic (pronounced "any mike") that allows the use of unpowered mics on Macs. It used to be sold by Griffin for under half the price of the iMic, but production ceased around the same time Apple stopped making the PlainTalk mics. They'll sell you an iMic now.

(P.S. Your equipment sig is wrong. A 550KHz G4 would be unbearably slow [by 1000x?]. I think you mean 550MHz.)

PowerBook G4 15 Aluminum Mac OS X (10.4.3) 2GB RAM

i have the same problem... snif snif

so the audio input will only work with a "powered" microphone attached to it? really? that doesn't make any sense, this is a laptop?! i'd need all that extra material to be able to have a normal skype conversation?

please no? i assume this can't be fixed with a patch, this is hardware, right.

big black dell Windows XP new powerbook

The Mac already has an internal microphone which means it has a pre-amp to get the signal to a level high enough to work.

Would not Apple have thought of using the existing pre-amp fitted in the Mac to amplify the external Audio line-in? In that case the existing pre-amp would be the common element for the two streams of Audio signals.

Did any on the Mac designers think of such a solution?

Lets hope now that Macs are coming out with an "Intel Inside" they don't become another PC with a Mac as name. Where you have to buy extra bits to make the machine to do what you really want it to do.

FiL

PowerBook 15in, G4, 1.5Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.4)