You cannot use the Apple Omnidirectional external microphone with a PowerBook 190, 500, or 5300 series computer. You need to purchase a third-party external microphone for these computers if you desire a higher quality sound input than is provided by the built-in microphone.

The PowerBook 500 series manual indicates that you can buy a "line-level" microphone from a retail store such as Radio Shack, however, no part or model number is provided. At the time we ran our tests, we were able to find two external microphones at our local Radio Shack that worked with these PowerBook computers. These microphones are line-level type devices with a pre-amplifier as part of the microphone assembly.

The two units tested were both called Tie Clip Microphones, and the Radio Shack part numbers were 33-1052 and 33-3003. These microphones may not be the only external microphones available, but they were the only ones tested.

If you want to look elsewhere for a microphone, please be sure to look for a "line-level" type device. It is also recommended that the microphone be pre-amplified. If the amplifier is not present the input volume from the microphone may be very low and unusable to most users.

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