Blue Microphones Snowball USB Microphone Bundle

I am not a tech savvy person. This year I joined a professional group that meets in Web format - in an Interet room with capability for both audio and web cam (video). At first, I was simply typing in my responses, and not making use of audio or video. I was encouraged to get a mic, but was really in deep doo doo when I went to research them.

Then I remembered a Podcast done by someone in my field, who had just purchased this mic. They were raving about the quality and ease of use. On this basis, I made my purchase. I recently used it for the first time, and it passed with flying colors.

I highly recommend the Snowball for both its quality and ease of use. I am actually having fun with it! I should probably also mention that I am using it with a Toshiba Satellite laptop.

I recently moved into a new home where I don't have room to setup a full home studio. I was jonesing for a way to quickly record some songs without setting up mixers and amps and the like. So I bought a Snowball and plugged it into my MacBook Pro. Within seconds I was recording in Cubase and Garageband. This mic gets an A+ for ease of setup!

I am delighted with the audio quality considering this is $100 mic. My Taylor guitar sounds crisp and clean and my vocals are mostly free of unwanted color. The mic does not compare to something like a Rode NTK tube mic in warmth, nor does it provide the crystal clear sound of a Blue Bluebird, but for a fraction of the price the sound is nice.

This mic will not replace more expensive mics in the studio, but it will let you setup a quick studio wherever your laptop is. It's great for the singer/songwriter type performance with a guitar and a vocalist. As long as you have realistic expectations for $100 mic, I think you will be thrilled with the Snowball.

In the first month of having the snowball, I tested it with recording music (both vocals and guitar) on a Mac, and it performed very well. I also used it to broadcast audio for a webinar to nearly 200 people, and it worked seamlessly with the Windows/PC. Great plug-and-play usability with cool looks. The only thing you have to be careful with is when you're handling the snowball when it's off of the stand. It's heavy and can slip out of your hands if you're trying to carry other stuff. All in all, it's a very cool mic that works well with a variety of needs, and I recommend it.

This mic seems VERY hit-or-miss. Some of my machines it works great on, others not so much. Sometimes it has some annoying muted static in the background on recordings, other times it gives wonderfully rich sounding clips. I havn't nailed down a pattern to all of this. I have 2 snowballs and numerous machines running XP, OS X Tiger, and OS X leopard, so there are too many variables to keep track of, but suffice it to say it's a gamble. Blue's tech support on this model is laughable, and sad. Check the support forums and you'd almost think the company fell off the face of the Earth. Lots of questions, no answers, many unhappy users, only crickets chirping from Blue. Lot's of mentions to firmware updates that are nowhere to be found on the website. Either their web staff has been held for ransom by disgruntled users, or they have employed a lethargic chimpanzee to organize their support/downloads. Don't believe me? Just go to bluemic.com and try to find any downloads for any USB product they offer, any one, at all. It's sad because this little mic had good promise, but Blue apparently "dropped the ball" on this one. That's right. I went there.

I do radio interviews and use this mic when I edit interviews and put in my own script in my home (not at studio). Sound quality is excellent! You get clean, pure, FULL sound from your pc not that tin crappy sound from a pc mike. Use it now as a musician to record ideas to my pc. HIGHLY RECOMMED THIS MICROPHONE!