Trying to make ipod work with laptop via audio jack

frivolous_fay

Everything's up to full, nothing muted. Speakers work fine when testing sounds incidentally.
There's a Realtek control panel as well, just noticed that it says the blue one is line in.

Marty_J

Is there absolutely no way you can install iTunes?

frivolous_fay

Well... it's nearly time to go home so I could load up my 17'' laptop into my rucksack and cycle home to install... but it's heavy and big and I have food shopping to do

I don't understand why this is such a tricky thing to achieve! Do I have an input socket that doesn't input?!

fwor

You've probably pushed off home by now, but...

Are you looking in the Recording Control section of the volume control? To view this, open the Volume Control panel, select Options, Properties, Recording and then Ok. This will show the input devices, most of which IIRC are muted by default.

frivolous_fay

Hallo,

Under Mixer device I have the choice of Realtek HD Audio Output, or Realtek HD Audio Input. If I set it to Input, 'Recording' is the only selectable option. Below that, Line Volume, Mic Volume and Stereo Mix are ticked. When I click OK and get the 3 sliders, all are set to max. Advanced only allows me to select Mic Boost, which I have put on.

bluboy

Is it a Dell by any chance?
I believe Dell had a number of issues with with their Realtek and other sound chips where the line-in through function was disabled on some laptops (mine included). Try googling 'Dell Realtek Line-in'.
There is a registry fix which re-enables it but, being a registry fix, I would advise against it if you're not fully confident of what you're doing. You need to back up the registry before hand and make sure you get the right fix for your model laptop, and follow the instructions carefully.
Even if you do this fix the volume from the input will be at a fixed level (i.e. not adjustable on your laptop volume control) and you will have to adjust your Ipod/mp3 player to suit.
Reg fix here

My advice would be to use a software option? Do you have Winamp or VLC on your laptop. If so you can listen through those although Winamp requires a plug-in.

frivolous_fay

It's an Acer.
Pretty sure I don't have Winamp, only WMP. Downloads aren't possible

timbim_2

You could always make the downloads to a flash drive, and take that back to work with you...

frivolous_fay

USB sticks are also blocked :rotfl:

timbim_2

So you can't install anything? Last resort might be to go along the lines of portable apps.