What is suitable mic for me plz?

Having solved prob of how to record any sound off the web, DRM-blocked even (see this forum), am now faced with an old friend of a problem.

My XP desktop pc uses a cheapo Sweex mic which collects dictated speech and anything from spkrs but it is a crummy animal. If there is a brief silence in speech then when the voice restarts it truncates the start of the new word (I assume this is because it is dynamic?) So I suffer.

I also have for my Dixon's taperecorder a lapel omni-directional mic which has an AA battery in circuit. This is superb for audio taping. But if plugged into pc soundcard it seems weak at the knees, no ooomph. If it needs an amplifier in circult plz say so.

Or, on limited budget (say £30 max), I could buy a better mic for puter. Uni-directional, to record both sound & music (position it either near voice source or close to pc spkr), dry-battery-power not objected to. Have scoured Maplin & Novatech sites but too much choice! Have also done homework at mic on Wikipedia but now completely baffled. Any thoughtz plz guyz? Thanx

Edited by Littleseen (Thu 16-Jun-11 10:33:05)

In regards to your previous post, instead of recording through a set of speakers into a mic then back again, I would have run a 3.5mm to 3.5mm speaker lead from the headphone out of the speakers to the line-in of your sound card. From there I would have used audacity to record the input from the line-in channel - nice and easy

In regards to your current question, I believe you would need an amp or something similar to plug your mic into before it goes into your pc.
You could try getting hold of a decent USB mic as this wouldn't need an amp

Thankyou Metalhead. I am rather dense, brain got 82 years of mileage on it.

Is this right? I take a splitter & insert it into spkr-out skt of sound card. Another splitter into mic-in of Audigy2 PCI card. I then replug spkrs & mic into appropriate splitter. I take a link cable & join one splitter to t'other this of course being easily removed/replaced as necessary.

Finally in my browser I start some music or speech going, open my sound editor, click on New>Record>Stop>Save and I should then have a new WAV sound file in the relevant storage folder?

Or will my XP desktop tower go blue & frilly at edges with the St Elmo's fire accompanied by a strong smell of frying-tonight? I do not jest, is this above correct procedure plz? +++

Edited by Littleseen (Fri 17-Jun-11 10:57:45)

This is the sort of cable you will need.
All you need to do is have the speakers setup normally, the above cable then goes from the headphone socket on the speakers into the line-in socket on your sound card. I can't remember how to set audacity up off the top of my head but it's pretty self explanatory. You need to set it with the input source set to line-in then record.

Just thinking, if you want the sound off of YouTube, there are some websites that will rip the audio to mp3 for you, again, off the top of my head I can't remember one of these sites but they are free to use.

I've got the prize --- thanks mainly to Metalhead.

On my XP tower I have Creative's Audigy2 PCI soundcard & also a £5 "Media Hub" from Plantronics. Latter is a rotary volume control, mic on/mute switch & an output skt for headphones which is very useful.

At the Media Hub I have taken a 6-inch stereo linklead from the mic input and shoved t'other end into headphone-out. I listen to summat on web & at same time open my sound editor & click on Record simultaneously hearing the stuff from my spkrs also. Job done. All easily brought into or out of operation. Brilliant result and so simple. Am wagging my tail.....

No problem, I'm glad I could help. I would recommend seeing a doctor/vet about the tail though