A PCMCIA card that records in stereo

Silly question. Have you seen any PCMCIA sound cards that cost less than $100? Well, the only one you might find is the one you already have, which has a list price of $129, I think, but can retail for a little under $100, $99 or $94 I think.

All other PCMCIA sound cards are more expensive, and none record directly from mic to the card, except for the one you have, the Audigy ZS.

I think the card you have can record in stereo via line-in, to record from an external stereo, etc. You can also set that jack for microphone rather than line-in. I think you are saying that when one uses a microphone that input is mono.

The work-around for that would be to keep it set to line-in. But for that one would need an external pre-amp between the microphone and line-in jack. There are some small portable battery-operated pre-amps available.

The next card up in price is the Echo Indigo I/O. It sells for about twice the price, however, about $199. And--it doesn't have any provision for connecting a microphone directly to the card. Its input jack is only line-in. So , to do any microphone recording into it one needs a preamp.

Most expensive are the EMU 1616 ($400) and 1616M ($500). It comes with an external box for recording, which includes its own preamps, etc. One can use the card without the external box only for playback.

I simply cannot understand why notebook manufacturers are doing away with line-in jacks these days. Now only LG and Acer notebooks still have them. HP is the stupidest, they'd rather go for 2 headphones jacks than give you a line-in!

With line-in, one can record anything in stereo from any external source. Cool!

I bought a TV tuner cardbus with audio and video line-in only to find that my Dell 6400 doesn't even support cardbus, it supports only card-express. Shit!

I sold the darn notebook and got an Acer 5673 with line-in, cardbus and card express. That should put an end to a nightmare of multitudes of accessories and more accessories which doesn't fit. !

i think a USB/External-Soundcard is in order?

echo audio indigo IO

You could drop $80 on one of these USB Condenser mics:

Well considering the request was for a stereo recording device, the samson definitly is not an option as it is only mono. Not to mention it really isnt that good an option anyways, Blue makes a much better one I believe.

At any rate despite being an old thread, Fachiro was dead on most likely with his suggestion, and I would guess the recording is from a digital piano judging by context, so a Mic isnt needed, the stereo line in is the more important there.

Seablade