Roy,

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Any recommendations on relatively inexpensive USB microphones?
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There is actually no such thing as a USB microphone. All microphones are analog and that they take Sure sound waves and hence these down a cable as an electrical impulse. It is the soundcard or a USB sound pod (just an external USB soundcard) that converts the analog signal to a digital format. The problems most people have with poor sound input is that the sound chip is not well insulated or shielded and thus picks up electronic noise from within the computer enclosure

The least expensive USB microphone is the Andrea NC-7100. This microphone will work OK in a quiet environment. If you are doing light-duty dictation like e-mails and simple letters it may work perfectly fine for you in a quiet environment. If you are doing more professional work and require better accuracy, consider an Andrea ANC microphone with an Andrea USB sound pod or a VXI TalkPro microphone with a VXI USB pod. Here are some links:
http://www.emicrophones.com/microphones/prod_detai... (NC-7100)
http://www.emicrophones.com/microphones/prod_detai... (ANC 700)
http://www.emicrophones.com/microphones/prod_detai... (Andrea USB pod)
http://www.emicrophones.com/microphones/prod_detai... (VXI TalkPro Xpress)
http://www.emicrophones.com/microphones/prod_detai... (VXI USB pod)

Martin Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
See us at: http://www.eMicrophones.com/index.asp
Read, "Key Steps to High Speech Recognition Accuracy" at:
http://www.emicrophones.com/docDetails.asp?Documen...

What Marty says is true. All microphones are analog it's just their interface that may be USB. So with a USB Pod (Andrea is a good one) you can make any microphone that would plug into a sound card a USB Microphone. The ones that say USB microphone merely have only that interface option. A better way is to get a USB pod and a good microphone. It gives the best of both worlds.

I have two microphones that I use this way. One is the Andrea ANC-600. The only thing I wish it had was two headphones so I could listen to music. It has a quick disconnect which can be good and bad. Good because you can unhook quick, bad because sometimes it doesn't like to go back together very well. Once you battle it back in place then it's ok. There's a mute switch too that I keep forgetting is turned to on (and muting the microphone). It's a fairly good noise cancelling microphone.

The other is a Sennheiser ME-3. This one has no quick disconnect or mute switch. It just works and does that well. It has no earphones at all, just a microphone and fits behind the head and over the ears. It will only work on the right hand side of your head as it can't be flipped over. I think this is the most intense microphone of the two. It's not cheap, but you can be in a lot of noise and this mic just ignores it. So I'd say they have a pretty directional microphone in it. If you get this one, it has to be modified for PC use. Not sure why, but it has to be. I know Marty modifies his so you don't have to worry. You'd also want to get an extension cable with it. Then you have a quick disconnect and mute of sorts.

I have a third microphone that I bought when I first got into SR. It's an Emkay something. I never managed to get it to work very well. It requires a different voice range or bigger lungs. Never was very happy with it as it never performed well. It also is VERY sensitive to RF interference.

The other thing I have in my PC audio array is an Andrea MC-100 Multimedia Control Switch. It's a little gray box that allows me to switch between speakers and the headset(or headphones) . It makes it easy to connect/disconnect microphones/headsets/headphones and even speakers without having to wrestle around behind the computer. It has a headset volume knob and the APS-100 auxiliary power supply (never had to use this but it's there) built into it.

Roy;

Marty Markoe's site at e-computing.com provides a good selection of proven microphones. If you think the problem is your sound card you might try replacing it with a USB pod that plugs into a USB port and your microphone then plugs into it. This often solves problems with electrically noisy computers perhaps laptops. It also provides the opportunity to use a wide choice of mikes.

You don't give us any information about your present set up. If you care to do this you may get more informed replies from the group.

Tim.

As others have said, a USB pod (I'm using an Andrea, can't seem to find a model number - just says "USB Adapter") is great. I'm using a "Verbatim" headset mic (can't find a model designation), with headphones that enclose the ears. $29.95 Australian. Not particularly hi-fi phones, but the mic does a great job. Since I had the computer constructed with SR in mind, I spent a lot of money on the "soundcard" and there seems to be very little difference between USB and soundcard plugin. So essentially the "cheap" microphone with the USB pod seems to be as good as the cheap microphone into a good soundcard.

The other headset is also "Verbatim" but with rubber pads only, which I use for my "portable" recording/transcription set up. That plugs into a "VXI Translator" (Parrot) USB pod and does a sufficient job as well. The cheaper headphones were about $20 or so.

Joe