MacBook Air :: Why Won't IPad Connect Via Lightning Cable

I have an iPad (4th Gen, 32GB, iOS 7.11) and a MacBook Air (OS X Ver 10.9.3).  

My iPad was purchased Feb. 2013, and my MacBook was purchased June 2014. 

Here's the low-down:

I just put quite a few albums onto my MacBook that were physical (from a DiskDrive, HardDrive, CD) and in order to put them onto my iPad, I need to plug it in with the cable and sync them over. The problem, however, is that when I plug in the iPad, nothing happens. No connection sound, no iPad charging, nothing. It is as if the cable itself is nonexistent. I can then unplug the USB from my MacBook and stick into the AC Adapter and all is good. What gives? I can plug it into my desktop, too, which is a PC running Windows 7.