What is a sound device?

A sound (or audio) device is a computer peripheral that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of specific programs. Typical uses of sound cards include providing the audio component for multimedia applications, such as music, but they can also be used as input devices (by voice recognition) or sophisticated audio broadcasting for large plants, voice-recognition systems for control automation, music/audio processing, surveillance systems, and, with some limitations, even as a sophisticated ADC/DAC system useful to elaborate electrical signals (as an oscilloscope can do; look at Chapter 17, Analog-to-Digital Converters - ADC for more information regarding DACs).

Data sent to a device for output or data collected from the sound device are stored in a file in several formats (as WAV, MP3, or other audio format) or sent over the network as an audio stream (music or radio streaming).

Even if it may appear as an easy task...