question about the line in on powerbook

my friend has a mic that has a mini plug on it i stick it in the line in on my powerbook and it doesnt pickup sound. i went to the sound in system pref and looked at the sound meter and its not seeing any sound. is there something i should do or is my powerbook broke?

if its a microphone you plugged in, then you need some sort of external power or the iMic usb adapter.
you can directly connect only when line comes from stereo/radio or other device.

make sure you also have it set from internal mic, to Line In under Sound/Input

In System Prefs, make sure you have it set to the proper input. Just went through these motions yesterday to get an external mic working in iMovie.

i went to there and selected audio line in and it doesnt even show that its picking up sound. when i click on isight or internal mic it pics up sound.

RedRAIDER4life said:

i went to there and selected audio line in and it doesnt even show that its picking up sound. when i click on isight or internal mic it pics up sound.

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I know you probley checked, but is there a on switch on the mic? What was the mic originally for, or is it actually made for a computer mic?

i made sure that the mic was switched on....the thing is is that it works on my friends PC so i dunno

microphone NEEDS TO HAVE SOME SORT OF POWE SUPLY, OR IT HAS TO BE USB. soundcard alone cennot provide enough power for it to work. its the sam for the line out, when you connect speakers they they have their own power, right? microphone is the same.

I had the same problem. Here is your answer straight from the Apple website. MAC-simus is right about the microphone.

From the Apple Support page:

PowerBook G4 audio line in port requires a powered signal
The PowerBook G4 audio line in port takes signals from audio equipment, including line-level devices such as amplified or self-powered microphones, and is specifically designed for high-level audio signal such as the signal from a powered microphone.

If you use a nonpowered microphone with the audio line in port, it will result in a very low volume signal, or possibly no signal at all.

Third-party options, such as Griffin Technology's iMic, allow the use of many mic-level sound input devices with your computer.

i'm not sure if this was exactly answered but, does using a USB mic/headphone combo work? is that considered powered? or will i be stuck having to buy griffins iMic?

I know a quote from Apple Support is supposed to end this topic, but the statement about requiring a powered input is not correct. The results of testing prove it incorrect. See my other post and please reply. http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19380