Copyright © 1997-2008 Elizabeth Boston, The Computer Lady

Dear Computer Lady,

 

I get your computer lady newsletter and have a question.

 

When my children play a game I would like to have them hear the sound with headphones. I use a bit of educational software for homeschool.

 

If I plug headphones into the CD Rom drive jack for headphones, the game sounds still come out the speakers. If I mute the volume, then they can't hear it either. The only way the headphones work is if they are listening to a music CD.  

What do I need to do so they can play games or do educational programs with headphones.

 

Needing the quiet in Wisconsin. C.A.

 

 

Dear C.A.

 

As you may have guessed, your CD player handles music CDs differently than it does other types of CDs.

Data CDs such as games need to use the computers processing power to turn the data into sound, while Audio CDs can be processed by the CD-ROM drive itself. The headphone jack on the front of your CD-ROM drive will only work if you are playing audio CDs.

 

Since you want to use headphones for general computer sounds, you have a couple of options.

 

First, you can unplug the speakers and plug in the headphones whenever you want to use the headphones. Most speaker jacks are on the back of the computer, and headphone cords tend to be short, but you can overcome this with an extension cable from a store like Radio Shack.

 

Look on your speakers for a headphone jack. Some speakers have a jack that will mute the speakers when you plug in a headphone. If your speakers don't have one, you could visit your local computer shop and inquire about purchasing speakers with a headphone jack.

 

Your last option could be a computer headphone speaker switch from Radio Shack.  This is a small switch that you can attach to the side of your desk. Although I have not used one, it looks like it would be the perfect answer to your problem.

 

Elizabeth