Hasta La Gadget!

The USB-to-Dock connector that ships as part of Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit doesn’t just work with cameras. Early reports say that it will also let you hook up a USB keyboard, connect USB audio devices and also connect a regular camera card-reader.

This last is the most obvious, but also great news for photographers cameras that don’t use SD-cards (the other half of the connection kit is an SD-reader). Direct-to-camera connections are notoriously slow, and suck the camera’s battery, so this option is handy, if a little messy.

But the surprise comes with the keyboard and audio support. The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) was contacted by a reader who plugged a USB keyboard into his iPad and was able to type, and Glenn Fleishman at TidBits tried out a USB headset. It worked great, letting him make a call on Skype. “[The] quality was just terrific,” he says, although there is no indication that sound has been switched: it just works.

It appears that any microphone or headset that uses the USB Audio Class will work. These require no drivers under OS X, which is what the iPad runs. This means that, as was speculated by Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music almost two weeks ago, the iPad should accept input from USB audio devices such as mixers and high-quality microphones. This could make it into a great mobile podcasting studio.

We hope that as more kits ship, our loyal Gadget Lab readers will continue to plug things in and test them. Let us know how it goes.

iPad USB Camera Adapter Supports Audio Headsets, Too [TUAW]

Apple iPad May Support USB Audio Interfaces Via Camera Accessory Kit [Create Digital Music]

iPad USB Audio Class 1 and Update on OSX Class 2 [Apple Mailing Lists]

See Also:

• iPad Camera Connection Kit Delivered, Un-Boxed
• iPad Camera Connector Clones Five-Year-Old iPod Version
• Five Essential iPad Accessories
• ZoomIt: An SD Card-Reader for iPhone