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How to Get a Microphone Working through your Headphone Jack!

Next year Apple will add GPS to the iPod touch and people will praise Apple and buy a new one. Milking money from the herd at its finest.
 
Here's what I've been thinking the past few hours.

iPT 2nd generation... now with audio input capability, meaning primarily mic input through the headphone jack.

Headphone jack used for connecting headphones, earbuds, IEMs, the soon to be released Apple IEMs with the inline remote for mic/volume/playback controls.

iPT 2nd generation... now with an unannounced but sortakinda expected Bluetooth chip, currently not active but obviously there for some reason.

Headphones... wireless... Apple loves Bluetooth... iPT... see where this line of thinking goes?

Bluetooth stereo headphones on the block before or at MacWorld? With possible mic capability? We already know about that functionality in the new Apple IEMs, would it be that much of a stretch to go a few inches more and introduce some decent actual Bluetooth stereo headphones since that's been something lacking from Apple so far?

Bluetooth in the iPT... GPS, anyone? Bluetooth GPS devices are getting cheaper all the time, it's not another unreasonable few inches to see where this is leading. An iPT on your hip or in a pocket and nearly all the functionality controlled from a remote device in a hand or worn on your head...

Ah, speculation is fun. :)

Edit:
Just as I posted this the guy above me mentioned Bluetooth also and specifically GPS capability. Glad to see I'm not alone in my speculation... hehe
 
GregA said:
I'd like to see Apple do this, but unfortunately I don't think they are.

Sorry, wish you were right. Hopefully they've realised the possibilities and will work on them!
Click to expand...

Thinking not is of as much value as thinking so, except there is a possibility, a great opportunity, for Apple to make money using their M.O. if they are preparing to create a phone-data service.

I always think back to the scene in 'Pirate of Silicone Valley' when Jobs, Woz and Capt'n Crunch are sitting around talking about what is important in the world to have power - communication.

While that was a dramatization, it is a powerful statement and has been the over riding modus operandi in Apple since Jobs took over in the late 90's. For Apple to fumble this opportunity would be strange, since sites like .Mac and MobileMe are going in that direction already.

Speculative, but using the headphone-mic to have a WiFi phone in any iPt/iPhone opens up a large consumer base to subscribe to a worthy communication platform - a Mac Skype +.

Offer - AIM, Skype-like services with computer to phone calling, voice mail boxes, messaging services, and all the typical MobileMe data storage, etc. connecting iPt/iPhones to land line phones, cell phones, and computers with the software.

It would be a master stroke in this present market, and they are in place for it. The reason I began thinking of it was because of the earbud-mics they turned out recently. WHY? Who can use this? Why is this available? It makes no sense. I still suspect Jobs is waiting for some mild contractual obligations to fade from AT&T's conjoining with Apple. When those are over I wouldn't be surprised if we are shown some larger communication scheme from Apple. Why Bluetooth chips? Why the headphone-mics? Why a Bluetooth option on the pictured iPod?

The iPhone is probably more concern for AT&T, who runs a cell phone company. Apple is NOT a cell phone company. Apple is primarily, as Jobs has said repeatedly, a SOFTWARE company. He will want to sell Apps, Music, OS, and services like .Mac, MobileMe, and possibly a new communications site to work with these portable web devices.
 
Lesser Evets said:
I don't doubt it.

It's just odd that Apple said they would allow WiFi voip but no one has developed it yet. I saw a program called SoonR for the iPhone, though. Not sure if that needed a jailbreak.
Click to expand...

Actually, there is one. Search for Truphone (I would post a link but don't know how :()
 
WillisWasabi said:
Seriously, it's been 4 frigging days since Tuesday. *Someone* should have noticed this besides me. Go to 44:45 (really 45:08, but just to make sure Steve's talking about the iPod Touch go a few seconds back) in the keynote stream. Steve explicitly says the new Touch works with the new headphones with microphone.

Arn, this isn't a rumor supported by the Apple Store. This is a god damned stated fact in the keynote. Stop posting it like it's iffy. It's supported. Enough already.
Click to expand...

He said it works with the headphones that contain the microphone. He didn't say the microphone itself worked with the iPT. He might have been referring to just the headphone part.
 
Sort of off topic, but what would be a good micorphone to use this with?

I want to purchase a Nikon D90 to replace my aging camera, and to use it for video. The D90 only has an on camera mic, and no way to add an external one. I want to use the Touch to record the audio and then add it back in PP. What would be a good lapel mic to add?

Thoughts?
 
Hi,
first of all, I'm from Austria so sorry for my bad english.

I have one question for some iPodTouch 2G users:
Record the audio line-in Jack also in stereo if I the appropriate microphone uses? And do the programs store it then also in stereo?
 
chaosleadr said:
Hi,
first of all, I'm from Austria so sorry for my bad english.

I have one question for some iPodTouch 2G users:
Record the audio line-in Jack also in stereo if I the appropriate microphone uses? And do the programs store it then also in stereo?
Click to expand...

No program can do that yet for iPod Touch. :eek:
 
pismodude2 said:
You can use any headset (needs to have four rungs of metal on the jack), and the only app that works right now is called SPECTRUM :D:):D AWESOME!


Edit: Video1 (It works!) Video2 (Yes, it is a 2G iPod Touch) Video3 (Trying it with music!)
Click to expand...

Update: Spectrum is not the only app works: a free app called Palringo Instant Messenger supports sending audio clips to your friends from the iPod Touch using the same thing I used in the video (a four-rung jack headset)!
 
upsguy27 said:
Congrats! You made it to the front page of MR!
Click to expand...

Sweet :eek:! I think Palringo and Spectrum are about to get a few more downloads, don't you? Palringo especially, seeing as it is free, lets you record your voice, and then send that recording to other people.

I think it is just as good as VoIP, because even though it isn't like a regular phone call- it's FREE :D:D:D!
 
Does anyone know about the sound quality of the recordings? It would be nice to be able to use the Touch as a decent field recorder. There should be an "iPod Touch Pro".
 
i really hope there's a voip/skype app that features the microphone and bluetooth capabilities of the ipod touch 2g.

come on :apple:
 
pismodude,

Thanks for doing this so professionally! It takes a lot to prove it's real, apparently, hah.
 
pismodude2 said:
:apple: You wanted to know the quality- at the end it is playing the recording back over the speaker. :apple:
Click to expand...

hahaha, nice.. iPT speaker recorded with.. what? an iSight? Even Steve Jobs said the speaker sucked in his keynote. I was simply wondering if, in the future, an app were made to record in say... 16-bit stereo PCM? and you used a quality stereo mic? Would this even be possible with the iPT hardware?
 
branjosef said:
I apologize.. I have grotesquely large fingers that hit multiple keys at one time. your right.. every update will only cost you $20. after two years, you will have paid $1000+ dollars for the ipod Touch : )
Click to expand...

A slight exaggeration, it is unlikely there are going to be 50 updates in 2 years. Think maybe 2-3 per year, and if Apple charges for all of them that's only $120, plus they may not always charge just as they didn't this time for users who already had the 2.0 update.
 
if i'm going to buy an ipod touch, which one should i get?

8gb? is that enough? or is 16 or 32 a better option.

(especially if i'm going to use a lot of apps/games)
 
prodosIIgs said:
hahaha, nice.. iPT speaker recorded with.. what? an iSight? Even Steve Jobs said the speaker sucked in his keynote. I was simply wondering if, in the future, an app were made to record in say... 16-bit stereo PCM? and you used a quality stereo mic? Would this even be possible with the iPT hardware?
Click to expand...

It is an adapter for iPhone 3.5mm headset users to plug in 3.5mm headphones to the end. The end has a hole for regular headphones, and that it where the microphone is as well (along with a clip and a button for pause/play/skip/back controls). It is for audiophiles who need to have just the right headphones, but want to be able to use those headphones for hands free talking.

Link to a similar item: [here]
 
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pismodude2 said:
It is an adapter for iPhone 3.5mm headset users to plug in 3.5mm headphones to the end. The end has a hole for regular headphones, and that it where the microphone is as well (along with a clip and a button for pause/play/skip/back controls). It is for audiophiles who need to have just the right headphones, but want to be able to use those headphones for hands free talking.

Link to a similar item: [here]
Click to expand...


great job :) but whats the small icon next to the battery icon in your movie?

seems almost a bluetooth icon...

i can get there a PLAY icon but on your video the ipod doesnt play any music at that time... :/
 
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vanluuk said:
great job :) but whats the small icon next to the battery icon in your movie?

seems almost a bluetooth icon...

i can get there a PLAY icon but on your video the ipod doesnt play any music at that time... :/
Click to expand...

Go to your clock app and set an alarm. Yeah. :)
 
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