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The Snowball: Pro Quality USB Microphone
By James Grahame
The $159 Snowball is a groundbreaking little condenser microphone that's optimized for vocals. What's groundbreaking about a mic, you ask? It interfaces directly to your computer by USB, so you don't have to worry about phantom power or analog mixing -- just plug in and you're ready to record hi-fi sound.
The Snowball includes a switchable cardioid/omnidirectional pickup pattern and 40 - 18000Hz frequency response. It's powered directly from a USB port and automatically converts sound into a 16-bit 44.1kHz digital stream.
It's plug and play compatible with Mac OSX and Windows XP, so you won't have to muck around with device drivers to get things working.
To shock-mount your microphone in style, check out The Ringer (right). This spiffy combination is perfect for home recording studios and podcasters everywhere.
Snowball USB Microphone (Blue Microphone)
