Monday, May 14, 2001 Using a line input Virtually all sound cards offer a Line Input jack that can accommodate signals from cassette, DAT, and MiniDisc and other playback devices where the audio is preamplified.

So you want to play music, speech, or other signals through your PC? Virtually all sound cards offer a Line Input jack for just this purpose, and can accommodate signals from cassette, DAT, and MiniDisc players (and other playback devices where the audio is preamplified). Simply connect the audio source to the sound card's Line Input jack, then use the Volume control applet in your System Tray to enable the Line In source and set an adequate volume level. If you don't have a volume slider for the Line Input in your Volume Control applet, simply click Options and Properties, then check the Line-In box in the "Show the following volume controls" area.

Formerly part of Computer Currents, Stephen J. Bigelow's Computer Advisor column has been resurrected on computeruser.com as a daily tech tip column. Find Stephen at www.dlspubs.com.