Date: March 21, 2015 at 11:00:19 AM CDT
From: "Toulouse, Mary T" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: #10343 New Macs without DVD drives.rtf


We replaced our Mac's this last fall and ordered 8 external DVD/CD drives for 21 computers. This seems to be a decent short term answer.

We did have a few other surprises: the USB ports aren't sufficiently tight and the USP inputs (mouse, keyboard, DVD drives) are easily dislodged without the user's knowing it. Worse, the headphone/mic input is now a one barrel port as opposed to the previous two barrel, separate input for each. We've had to order new headphones to cover this. There was an earlier LLTI listserve exchange on this topic that was very helpful. People suggested using  gaming headphones or the Califone DS-8VT. We did a lot of testing and decided on the Califone with a 5 ft cable, the sound seemed just as good as the gaming headsets,  the price was right, and there was the ugliness factor--no one wants to steal them.

We had tried to use the old headphones for a while with adapters, but ended up with an effacement of one of the channels when making videos. We had to play student work with only the right or left channel. Apparently this is a common occurrence(not just with the new Mac's). We called in a professional audio engineer who has worked in the music industry--this had even happened in a Madonna "album"; the background guitars were lost.

Everything is working now--but we keep an eye out for the loose USB ports.

Mary