My Logitech speakers' control pod is malfunctioning. When I turn the volume knob I get horribly loud static in the left front speaker. I've tried several times to fix it, and have called the company twice. I even squirted compressed air and tape head cleaner inside the volume control, but I still get the popping sound whenever I adjust the volume knob.
Other than the volume knob popping, the speakers are fine. So, I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars to replace them.
Instead, the other day it dawned on me that what I needed was an easy way to adjust the volume without turning the knob. I wanted a non-software solution (since I multitask and it's hard to find the volume control quickly). I thought about buying an external mixer or USB volume knob, but that seems like overkill.
Instead, I decided to look at multimedia keyboards. These are keyboards with extra keys mapped to common multimedia functions. They range in price from $6 up. Most have volume up/down buttons. A couple have volume knobs, but they start around $25.
The one that caught my eye was an HP multimedia keyboard (sold by Amazon.com) with a volume knob. I love the placement of the volume knob: it's in the upper right corner, close to where my mouse usually is. Other keyboards put the volume controls in the center top, which is less convenient.
Anyway, it arrived today. I followed the part of the instructions that said to turn the PC off, then plug in the keyboard, and then turn the PC on. However, I didn't bother installing any drivers. Funny thing is, it worked anyway, with no driver installation. I can adjust the volume and start and stop windows media player using the keyboard. Cool.
One bad thing is they put the normal function key labels (F1 .. F12) on the front rather than the top. Weird. I guess I'll get used to it.
Anyway, this was a really boring blog entry, I know. I don't know why I keep writing these things. It's not as if anyone reads 'em.