USB microphone for eMac?

Perils of being an early adopter

[rjohara]

I have one of the first-generation eMacs, which has a tiny built-in microphone on the monitor but does not have an audio input jack. (I understand later versions do have an audio jack, alas.)

Does anyone have any experience with microphones that can plug into a USB port? I'd like to create some spoken-word mp3 files, and need better quality that the little built-in microphone provides.

[Don_Hoagie]

Have not used, but know people who have. Only heard of them being used for speech recognition... spoken word is not too far off from that, but I would assume you would want a fuller, warmer voice for a quality recording... might be tough to get out of a USB mic. Though to be honest, I don't know that there aren't high-end recording USB mics. Seems unlikely.

Is getting a soundcard with an audio input out of the question?

[jezra]

If you are only recording voice, I would suggest using a headset mic. Telex makes some fine microphones. We use some in the office when we need to record voice-overs for CD-roms.

[icecoldsw]

[griffintechnology.com...]

Nuf' said.

[rjohara]

Many thanks for all the suggestions. This is my first foray into audio, so there's a lot I don't really understand. What I want to do is essentially create something like an audiobook.

Am I correct that the Griffin Technologies product just recommended isn't in fact a microphone, but something like a hub, and that you need another microphone (USB or not?) to plug into it?

It seems like a headset mic would be good so that you can monitor your speaking levels as you go along.

[microcars]

Am I correct that the Griffin Technologies product just recommended isn't in fact a microphone, but something like a hub, and that you need another microphone (USB or not?) to plug into it?

yes, but then you are not limited to USB microphones.
You can plug in virtually ANY microphone and headset.

Start pricing decent USB microphone/headsets, you'll find that you will pay at least $70-90 to start (unless you get a cheapo gaming headset for $30).
So with the iMic, you spend $35 and then get to pick a decent mic (if you want)

[whoisgregg]

The iMic is nice. I've used before to get the audio off of those little tape based voice recorders. Ran a mini audio out of the headphone jack on the recorder into the iMic. The recording quality was as good as the original (of course, in my case the original was poor quality, so it'd be hard for me to say if the iMic gets better.)