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Things to look for when buying a computer microphone
Author: Mantius Cazaubon
Article:
Computer microphones are a valuable addition to any PC and they
greatly increase interactivity and communication levels. You can
use a microphone for performing various tasks, both business and
fun related. For example, you can hold a conference with your
business partners, over the Internet, or you can chat with your
friends online, instead of doing that on the phone. Of course,
in order to enjoy accurate and high quality communication, you
have to choose a good PC microphone. There is a huge variety of
models on the market, ranging from microphones that you can buy
for a few dollars and going all the way to expensive, high tech
desktop microphones. So which PC microphone is right for you?
Price Vs Quality
You can pay $5 for a microphone, or you can pay $50. So where's
the difference, apart from the price? Well, cheap microphones
have low prices for some good reasons: they offer average to low
quality sound, they break down more easily and you can't use
them successfully in all applications that support a microphone.
The materials they are manufactured from have to be cheap, which
eliminates the idea of high quality, so the end product is of
lower reliability. And at this price, you can be sure bulk
manufacturing is present and quality tests are quick and far
from rigorous. Microphones that come for a higher price have, in
most cases, better sound quality and more features. Such
microphones will have noise canceling filters, which help
diminish background noise. Distortion filters and integrated
circuits also help keep voice sounds clear and accurate. The
materials used for more expensive microphones also last longer -
plastic doesn't crack so easily and if you drop it on the floor
you know that the internal components are well protected.
Choosing the right computer microphone
Determining what price range you are in and what model to
purchase depends heavily on the purpose you have in mind for the
microphone. Are you going to use it just to chat with friends
online? In that case, spending a lot of money on a professional
computer microphone is not justified. Do you plan to hold
business conferences over the Internet? Then maybe you should
get a better microphone that will allow the discussion to be
continuous and clear, without noise distortion. Giving vocal
commands to your computer or dictating to word processing
software with speech recognition capabilities is another use for
desktop microphones. Quality should be first here - speech
recognition software is very sensitive and demands a high
quality microphone and sound card. Recording your voice and
inserting it into music tracks is possible, but a high quality
microphone is absolutely essential in this case.
About the author:
Mantius Cazaubon is a successful author and publisher of
http://www.the-microphone-guide.com
http://the-microphone-guide.com, a resource for information
and tips on buying computer microphones online.
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