I bought a new MacBook Pro. I plan to use it to record our Speak Up storytelling shows and one or more podcasts we are preparing to launch.
Apple equips its laptops with a single audio port, which is annoying. On the old machine, this single audio port was a headphone jack that could be reversed, allowing you to input audio from a mixer board or microphone. It solved the problem, but it was still annoying. It’s nice to be able to monitor audio via headphones while also recording.
Still, it was fine. No big deal.
On the new machine, however, that dual capability of the audio port has been removed, meaning the only way to input sound is via a USB input, which many mixer boards, microphones, and other audio equipment don’t always have.
Also, it took two trips to the Apple store, 45 minutes of my time, and five “geniuses” to determine the problem. None of them were aware of the change, so eventually a search of the plain old Internet (something I could’ve done at home) identified the problem.
It was amusing to listen to the Apple employee then attempt to explain Apple’s rationale for removing the dual-capacity audio port.
“There’s a big shift to audio via UBS now, so getting rid of that reversible jack makes sense.”
Two seconds ago, the guy was trying to find the toggle to reverse the port, and now he’s explaining the company’s philosophy on the change.
To correct this problem, I was told I could purchase a USB adapter, which Apple does not make or sell.
Apple, why can you make such user-friendly software yet make the hardware side so difficult?
