Speaker Mute?

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stinkdified
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Speaker Mute?

Post by stinkdified »

yo,
so i was wondering...i like kill rock and hard rap, and i work in an office. I listen to headphones a lot, and luckily, this hasn't happened to me yet, but it did a few times at my last job...
you are listin to some killer music, moving right along with your work, totally in the grove and you move to pick up a different piece of paper or coffee or whatever and the jack comes unplugged and you expose the coworkers around you to your death metal or rape-my-girlfriend-with-a-knife rap music and are totally embarrassed.
looking for a solution, i found this stupid mac program (which is obviously worthless):
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/29113/speaker-mute
but i was wondering if there is a pc version of the same thing or somthing in windows (i dunno, regedit or a checkbox somewhere...) that I could modify to make it so the speakers are always disabled and the sound is permanently routed to the headphone jack?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

and oh yea...
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by Mellanby_equals_grit »

I have an IPOD lamp.. I rock out all day and anyone who doesn't like it can kiss my ass. 8)
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by abc789987 »

get a headphone jack extension.
...

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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by kodos »

Macs do this automatically. They have two volume settings... with headphones and without. I always have my computers on mute, but all I have to is insert a pair of headphones and it automatically raises the volume to the same place it was last time I had headphones in.

Or just use an iPod. That's what I do.
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by Mellanby_equals_grit »

kodos wrote:Macs do this automatically. They have two volume settings... with headphones and without. I always have my computers on mute, but all I have to is insert a pair of headphones and it automatically raises the volume to the same place it was last time I had headphones in.

Or just use an iPod. That's what I do.
Actually I have a splitter for my home PC.. Plug headphones and larger speakers into it.. I can crank the headphones up and mute the speakers.. If the phones got unplugged for reason (don't think it's ever happened) the sound wouldn't transfer to the speakers b/c they have their own volume control. Just sayin don't have to have a Mac.
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by hugedeal »

I only use a PC at work and it doesn't have speakers.

If you click on the speaker in the system tray, there should be a speaker mute checkbox. Not sure if that will meet your needs, or if it's still there. Like I said I don't have a machine with speakers to test with.

Good luck.
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by SteveO »

What about instead of plugging your headphone jack into your speakers, plug it directly into your audio port? You'd likely need an extension anyhow, but if it pops out, there's nothing for your lovely music to blast over.

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Re: Speaker Mute?

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Prngr44 wrote:What about instead of plugging your headphone jack into your speakers, plug it directly into your audio port? You'd likely need an extension anyhow, but if it pops out, there's nothing for your lovely music to blast over.
I wish, im on a dell D610...soon to be a 620, and they have a headphone jack and a mic jack.
hugedeal wrote:I only use a PC at work and it doesn't have speakers.
If you click on the speaker in the system tray, there should be a speaker mute checkbox. Not sure if that will meet your needs, or if it's still there. Like I said I don't have a machine with speakers to test with.
Good luck.
Yea, this mutes the system unfortenatly. i thought that was what was going to happen, but i gave it a shot anyway.
Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:
kodos wrote:Macs do this automatically. They have two volume settings... with headphones and without. I always have my computers on mute, but all I have to is insert a pair of headphones and it automatically raises the volume to the same place it was last time I had headphones in.
Or just use an iPod. That's what I do.
Actually I have a splitter for my home PC.. Plug headphones and larger speakers into it.. I can crank the headphones up and mute the speakers.. If the phones got unplugged for reason (don't think it's ever happened) the sound wouldn't transfer to the speakers b/c they have their own volume control. Just sayin don't have to have a Mac.
That might work, however what does the machine look for? It either looks for a physical plug...like a limit switch which re-routes the signal, or it looks for an electrical signal, like the completed circuit (of the headphones) and then re-routes the signal.
If its the first one, then this idea will work. If its the second one, even if you plug in a splitter, it still won't complete the circuit, so the machine wouldn't see it and still play through the speakers.
I might have to try the extension.
Man it pisses me off when my computer won't do exactly what i want it to. :evil:

Thanks for the help yall
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by big d note »

What about getting some wireless headphones? Or co-workers with better taste in music? :wink:
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by stinkdified »

big d note wrote:What about getting some wireless headphones? Or co-workers with better taste in music? :wink:
thats a lot to ask when you work with a bunch of engineers, lol

the wireless headphone thing isn't a bad idea at all, can't believe i didn't think of that, thx
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by big d note »

stinkdified wrote:thats a lot to ask when you work with a bunch of engineers, lol
Hey, I resemble that remark!

The cheapest thing to do would probably be like MEG suggested. Get one of these:
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And plug it into the audio port on the back or front of your computer. Plug your speakers into one side and turn them off or turn their volume all the way down. (I assume your speakers have their own volume control) Then get one of these:
Image

And plug it into the other side of the splitter and plug your headphones into it. Then rock out!
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Re: Speaker Mute?

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big d note wrote:Hey, I resemble that remark!
hey, so do I, coincidence that i work with a bunch of 'em?...im still sayin most of 'em dont have that great taste in music (especially when you're talking about death rock and kill-whitey rap)
thanks for the illustrations, btw
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by big d note »

Click on the pictures to get links to buy the parts if you want.

The engineers I work with have pretty good taste in music overall, but it's probably not a representative sample since we're an acoustical/AV design firm. Only 2 of us really listen to metal though. Coincidentally, we probably have the most concert-induced hearing loss of everybody here too. :(
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by ksbluesfan »

I have Sony headphones with a cord that's 5 feet long. I don't have to worry about unplugging it accidentally, and I can crank the music as loud as I want. With earbuds or cheap headphones, the music spills over too much. Sony headphone rule.

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Re: Speaker Mute?

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ksbluesfan wrote:I have Sony headphones with a cord that's 5 feet long. I don't have to worry about unplugging it accidentally, and I can crank the music as loud as I want. With earbuds or cheap headphones, the music spills over too much. Sony headphone rule.
like...for lack of a better term...the dj style headphones?, like, the ones that actually fit all the way over your ears and cover them like earmuffs? I have been thinking about investing in a really good pair as such. What would you recommend? I have never bought a pair for more than 40 bucks, so id be looking to spend a pretty penny...that level is around $120-200-250-id assume as much as you would ever want to pay? but like i said, ive never even used a pair like that and wouldn't know where to begin...i guess sony, huh?
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by SteveO »

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 580s that I bought years ago that are awesome.

I don't remember how much they usually cost, but I snagged them at a really cheap price through some "woot-like" site back in the day.

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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by Mellanby_equals_grit »

"woot-like"?
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by SteveO »

Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:"woot-like"?
Yeah.... some "deals" site. I can't remember where.

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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by big d note »

Hard to go wrong with Sennheiser. I've got an old pair of Sony on-ear (not quite over-the-ear) headphones with a 9 ft cord, which is almost too long. If I'm sitting down I end up rolling my chair over the cord. If I'm standing up, it's so long that I forget it's there, like when I walked across my dorm room and pulled my little discman off the desk and onto the floor.
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Re: Speaker Mute?

Post by ksbluesfan »

stinkdified wrote:
ksbluesfan wrote:I have Sony headphones with a cord that's 5 feet long. I don't have to worry about unplugging it accidentally, and I can crank the music as loud as I want. With earbuds or cheap headphones, the music spills over too much. Sony headphone rule.
like...for lack of a better term...the dj style headphones?, like, the ones that actually fit all the way over your ears and cover them like earmuffs? I have been thinking about investing in a really good pair as such. What would you recommend? I have never bought a pair for more than 40 bucks, so id be looking to spend a pretty penny...that level is around $120-200-250-id assume as much as you would ever want to pay? but like i said, ive never even used a pair like that and wouldn't know where to begin...i guess sony, huh?
I found out about Sony headphones when I worked in TV. These are $25 and worth every penny.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 1806135345" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

$19 from Sony (plus shipping)
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... d=11035219" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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