Apple Plain Talk Microphone

The plaintalk mike is an amplified microphone. It has an extended tip to pick up Voltage at the bottom of the socket. When powered in this fashion, the plaintalk mike produces a line-level output (like a tape player or CD player) suitable for most Macs' line-level input, often labeled (some would say incorrectly) with a microphone Icon.

If you do not intend to use the plaintalk mike in this fashion, you will probably have much less trouble (and may save money) starting over with a "regular" microphone.

But you need to be certain that the equipment you are plugging into accepts a (very low level) true "microphone" input, and not just a mis-labeled line-level input. Plugging an un-amplified standard microphone into most Macs' microphone-labeled input will produce only the tiniest of sounds.

I spent a while perusing the web and could not find an adapter. I suspect the demand for such is so low nobody makes one, just the other way around to make standard microphones work with Plaintalk inputs. Some people have tried to do what you want, but it is for those who really, really want to do it (e.g., [this site|http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/307469]).

The main issue is a matter of level input. Standard microphones have a very low level input and the jacks accepting microphones then amplify the weak signals (and the noise, hence the advantage of powered microphones). Plaintalk microphones amplify the signals to line level (like that coming out of a stereo set). So even if you could get one to fit into a standard microphone jack you would then have distortion issues because of the too-high output level.

I'm not sure about the newest Macs, but some G5s apparently came out with jacks that look like microphone jacks but are really line-in jacks. So if you want to use a microphone it has to be amplified like a Plaintalk microphone but a Plaintalk micrphone will not fit in the jack.