Sound advice?

[dionysus1999]

I want to record myself reading for Librivox.  I discovered after a little experimentation that the microphones that just plug into the front of the computer with the standard (1/8?) jack are for crap.  I suspect, from the research I've done, it's the sound card, though I don't think the microphones I have are quality, either. 

From a bit of research, I found that a USB microphone/headset has its own built in soundcard, and will produce much better recordings.    According to readers from Librivox, the USB headsets that are designed for gamers usually have decent microphones. 

I have a few audiophile friends on my list, anyone have something that's just gathering dust I could take off your hands?     I'm willing to pay a fair price for used equipment.  

Comments

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

I suspect that one of the things you get for the premium price of a Mac is a quality sound card. My PC is definitely in the budget category, even though they advertised it as a multimedia machine.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_earthshine_/]

Hrm... you may be right about that. Mac walked away from the hardcore all-in-one AV machines back in the mid-/late-90s, but i wouldn't be surprised if they recognized that their market still preferred strong capability in that department even in the off-the-shelf machines.