usb ports

This device is a totally plug-n-play way of adding sound input capability to your Mac. It plugs into a spare USB port and accepts a mini mono mic/line input. G4 Macs, among others, come with a line in audio jack, but they have no mic input and can't amplify a mic enough to make it audible. So, if you want to use an unpowered mic for direct sound-in to your mac, this is a cost-effective way to go!

The driver came installed with Jaguar, so there was no installing to do - I plugged it into the USB port and the Mac OS immediately recognized it. It shows up in the 'Sound' pane of System Preferences and is easy to select. There's a handy level meter there, so you can twiddle the amplification just right.

I've used it for a couple months to DJ my live internet radio broadcast, which goes out over the "airwaves" as a 56K internet stream. I'm using it with a cheap Radio Shack combo phones/mic headset (nine bucks), and the sound quality is totally adequate. I'd agree with the manufacturer, though, that you oughtn't expect to use this for studio-quality sound; although I can't discern any distortion or hiss from the peripheral over my cheap speakers or headphones.

This device works best when plugged into its own USB port. I had trouble when using it on USB busses that already had a lot of activity.

It fails to get 5 stars because the cable is too short - only about 18 inches - not really even long enough to make it around to the front of the computer. Also, there's an occasional (once a week) bug/problem with sound degradation after the computer's been asleep. Unplugging and re-plugging in the peripheral fixes this problem, but it'd be nice if it wasn't there at all.

In short, if you need average quality mic-level sound input into your Mac, and price is important to you, this is the peripheral you need!

I'm using it to record NPR. I used to use a PCI sound card but got annoyed at all the noise and buzz coming from the computer. The solution was move the sound card outside the computer. It records faithfully and quietly. I'm not going to say it's easy to get it working under Linux, since sound is still not trivial, but I was successful and am very happy with this product.

I currently using Redhat Linux 9, with Alsa 1.0 patches and ecasound to do the recording. One upshot of switching to usb audio was that the quality of the recording improved so much that the size of the recordings got smaller. Now I get excellent sound quality using VBR and average about 12kbps.

I would give it zero stars if I could. This product may be good for something, but it certainly does NOT do what its packaging advertises; i.e. "easily turn old records and tapes into MP3s or CDs." If you have a PC, stay far, FAR away from this bogus item. The packaging claims that it is designed for Macs AND PCs, and also claims to include a full version of Final Vinyl Recording Software. Both these statements are *technically* true... what the packaging does NOT say is that Final Vinyl does not WORK on a PC--and the only software included for PCs is 30-day trial software you will eventually need to buy for an extra ~$50. Buying such extra software (not even made by Griffin) may or may not be worth it to you--but this does not change the fact that if you did, it would be THAT ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE allowing you to convert your LPs and tapes into mp3s (together with a good RCA-to-3.5mm cable for your sound card), and NOT this product at all!! As far as converting old LPs, the only thing you can do with this product alone (using the Sound Recorder that YOU ALREADY HAVE preinstalled in Windows) is to record sound bytes NO MORE THAN 60 SECONDS LONG... now tell me how many of the songs on your old LPs and tapes are less than 60 seconds long? So without additional software, from another company, at an additional cost, this product will do absolutely nothing for you (unless you have some burning need for sound bytes under 60 seconds long).
But just to be fair, before returning this product to the store (not Amazon), I e-mailed Griffin to make sure I was not overlooking something, and got a defensive and insulting reply from someone in tech support (we'll call him Wendall), who told me, "I apologize that *you* do not have a full understanding of what our product does." To which I reply, "Well, Wendall, I understand that your product does not do what its packaging claims." Another amusing piece from Wendall was his technical(ity) argument that "Nowhere on the packaging does it say that you do not need any recording software." Is this man a lawyer or what? Okay, Wendall... this is exactly what it says on the packaging: 1) that the product works on PCs and Macs (presumably, the *whole* product--including the enclosed software?); 2) that a full version of Final Vinyl Recording Software is included; and 3) that the PURPOSE of the product is to "easily turn old records and tapes into MP3s or CDs" (for goodness' sakes!). But I guess we are just supposed to guess as to whether 'working on a PC' extends to the included software?? Wendall's take on this was that "we do not say anywhere on our packaging that [Final Vinyl] is either a Mac or PC application." (MY POINT EXACTLY!! Ya don't think that might have been a helpful thing to mention on there somewhere??)
In addition to the misleading packaging, there are next to no setup/installation instructions included (for these, you have to go online--and even then they are very brief, unclearly written, contradictory, and do not answer the questions you would think one would need to ask). One precious design gem is that you have to push the switch to the opposite side from the function you actually want to use; e.g. to enable the microphone, you push it AWAY from the mic symbol... nice, huh? My iMic (otherwise known as the headache of this past weekend) is going right back to the store for a full refund, as is the 3' RCA extension cable I had to buy to hook this useless gadget up in the first place... that is, if Radio Shack will even take it back opened (if not, that is six bucks down the drain, thanks to Griffin).
NUTSHELL: maybe this device improves sound once you have all other not-included required components in place (I wouldn't know, since I was duped into thinking it came with software that would work on my computer--and since it doesn't, I can't use it)--but it *definitely* does NOT serve alone to convert old analog music to CDs, as its packaging implies with a capital I. Consumer, beware!!!!!!