Here’s Amazon’s take:

Hands Free Clip On Mini Microphone

Use with your computer, internet telephony, gaming, education lab, video conferencing, speeches, recordings, etc. Small, compact design allows you to easily clip it to your shirt, tie or pocket.

Plug Type: 3.5mm.
Impedance: 10 ohms.
Frequency response: 50-16Hz.
Sensitivity: -60dB+/-3dB.
Cord length: approx 2M.
***Note for Mac users: Apple Mac computer hardware requires a powered mic. Without a pre-amp, this mic may not work with your computer.***

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Clip On Mike
Works great with the Nikon D300s but you must set the microphone volume to its lowest setting. Also if you clip it on your collar it tends to overload the camera input; just clip it around your shirt pocket and everthing is really good.

4 Stars works like it’s supposed to
sound quality isn’t great, but you can’t expect that at this price.

i like the long cable.

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Here’s Amazon’s take:

Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone

The C01U USB Studio Condenser Mic is the first affordable studio condenser mic with a USB interface.

For the first time ever, musicians who record music on computers have a simple, affordable way to capture high-quality vocal and acoustic instrument performances.

Seamless integration was the idea, and it was obtained by creating a studio condenser microphone that can be plugged into any computer with no in/out boxes, no expensive computer pre-amps, just a USB cable.

The C01U condenser microphone is based on our wildly successful C01. It features a 19mm internal shock mounted diaphragm with a cardioid pick up pattern ensuring pristine studio quality recordings.

The C01U works perfectly on any computer, Mac or PC, and with any DAW software program. It immediately solves a huge problem for users of many laptops, many of which have no other input method for audio devices.

It’s a must for any musician on the road or in the project studio, but the C01U is going to offer solutions to more than just musicians. The mic opens up possibilities for anyone who records audio—from Podcasters, journalists, students, and business people adding audio files to websites and multimedia presentations.

Feature List

• Large Diaphragm, 19mm, Studio Condenser with USB Digital Output.
• Compatible with any computer based Digital Audio Workstation.
• The extremely detailed sound reproduction makes it ideal for recording vocals, acoustic instruments and just about any other sound source.
• High Quality AD converter with 16 Bit, 48K sampling rate.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Nice low cost mic
It took just a little playing to get the mic placement figured out, but now it produces nice sounding audio. What works well for my screencasts is to set it on the table right in front of me at about a 60 degree angle tilted away from me. So the green light on the front is pointed towards my mouth, but I talk over it. I look at the computer screen, so the main acoustic energy is flowing about 5 inches above the microphone rather than aimed straight at it. I also bought the windscreen for it to help smooth any acoustic bursts.

It works perfectly with Windows and Linux. Supposed to also work with Mac. For me, a big concern before buying a microphone was that it works with Linux. I didn’t have to do anything to get it to work with Linux. I just plugged it in and used the ALSA mixer to turn it on and used it with Audacity and RecordMyDesktop.

The graphical mixer tools work well to turn it on or off, but to make sure I get the same a good volume setting each time, I made a couple simple shell scripts after experimenting with the right volume setting.

$ cat micon

amixer -c 1 set ‘Mic’ 48 unmute cap on

$ cat micoff

amixer -c 1 set ‘Mic’ nocap mute

Then in recordMyDesktop, either specify hw:1,0 in the device box (graphical version) or from the command line, use -device hw:1,0.

Here is a sample of one of my screencasts with this mic using recordMyDeskTop in Linux. My voice is pretty deep, so that’s just me, not the mic.

[...]

Here is one where I compare it to two other mics. I did this one right after I got it, and hadn’t figured out the mic placement yet. I did this one in Windows. You can also find this recording on YouTube.

[...]

2 Stars Does Not work with Vista
“Samson C01U USB mic records low volume on Vista.

This is a known behavior with the Samson Mic and the Vista operating system and is not specific with Camtasia Studio. Be sure to turn your recording volume up and speak directly into the microphone to obtain a good recording level. ”

The above is copied from the Camtasia Web site. This is apparently a well known problem with Vista. I’m encountering it too.

5 Stars Gain problem on Mac solved
On my Mac iBook G4 running 10.5.8 there had been a problem with these Samson USB CO1U mics that first came up when I switched them between laptops. The problem was there with Audacity and SoundStudio and it may be the same issue with other apps. I am using two of these mics for stereo recording, but the fix is the same for a single mic. The source of this problem is the fact that even though these are mono mics they have two output channels, and both channels must have their gain all the way up in order to have full gain from the mic. Setting gain in the system sound preference does not seem to accomplish this.

Go to the AudioMIDI Setup Utility in the utilities folder, select the Samson mic in the “Properties For” dropdown. Under “Audio Input” you will then see the option of 1 or 2 channels. Select 2-ch, then below to the left the L & R volume sliders for both channels should be all the way to the right. You can now put the mic setting back to 1-channel without affecting overall gain.

If you use two mics for stereo recording just set each mic like this individually, go to the Aggregate Device Editor under “Audio” on the menu bar, aggregate the two mics, and you’re done. If you need to balance the gain on them afterward you can do so by selecting them individually to make any changes. Make sure “Default Input” remains “Aggregate Device” (which BTW you can rename by going back to the “Aggregate Device Editor” and double clicking.) Unfortunately, on some Macs this resetting of mic gain has to be redone every time they are unplugged and plugged back in, but it’s quick and easy once you’ve done it. Hope this helps!

5 Stars Great mic at a great price
I was looking for a good high-quality condensor microphone. This is it. USB connected for digital no-noise signal. Standard size fit my stand and vibration mount. The sound is clean and perfect for voice applications. Highly recommended!

5 Stars Received right away and works great!
This was sent out fast and we were very happy with the promptness and condition of the product.

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Here’s Amazon’s take:

Samson G Track USB Microphone and Audio Interface

The G-Track is a total solution capable of taking you from your musical inspiration to your finished tracks. It is the world’s first USB condenser microphone with a built-in audio interface and mixer, allowing simultaneous input of vocals and guitar, bass, or keyboard while also providing monitoring through an on board headphone output. Record vocals like a standard USB microphone or two mono instruments through the line/instrument input or a mix of one mono instrument and vocal. Now you can directly record vocals and instruments easily with one device, making the G-Track a must have for any songwriter’s home studio. Its ease of use and portability allows you to take it anywhere inspiration may strike you. The G-Track includes a desktop microphone stand, swivel stand mount, USB cable and all the cables needed to connect any musical instrument with a standard 1/4-inch or RCA output. Cakewalk’s Sonar LE is also included while the G-Track works brilliantly with Apple’s GarageBand.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars GREAT for laptop recording solution
This will be a nice semi-quick review with a little more technical perspective than a lot of the previous ones. I’m a big home recording nut, who’s been on the road a lot the last year, mostly recording with my laptop, this mic, and a full version of Sonar.

First off, the audio quality:

Pretty decent. No noticeable glitches while using. Does sound a little tinny at times, but it’s definitely on par with most of my other $100+ mikes (my most expensive one is a $200 Rode). Very usable for recording vocals (singing), but I haven’t tried it with an acoustic guitar or other acoustic instruments. VERY-usable-plus for recording spoken words. Frequency range seems decent, but again, I haven’t really ran the thing through a full range of applications.

Build quality:

Nice and solid. Almost too heavy though for easy lugging on small trips…but I keep it in the manufacturer’s box and slide it in my suitcase, and so far it has made every trip just fine.

Ease of use:

Big plus here, despite a stable Windows OS possibly being as much responsible for the super simple use of the thing as the mic itself. Plug it in via USB, and you’re ready to go. No special driver install or software required to get it working.

Extras:

- Line in and headphone out are constructed directly on the mic…this lets you use the mic as a line-in for recording an electronic keyboard or electric guitar directly into your recording software. And then you can use the microphone part of it to record vocals or any acoustic instruments. Nice double-feature to have in the same piece of hardware

- Comes with a very usable desk mic stand

- Comes with all the necessary cables to use right away

- Comes with some scaled-down Cakewalk recording software for your computer

I expected the sound quality would be usable and it is, but I admit the all-in-one extras and the acceptable price were what ultimately snagged me and prompted the one-click order.

Final thoughts:

If you’re only doing podcasting (no music or instrument input required), you might consider a lower priced USB mic without the extras. BUT, if you’re doing music with the thing, the line-in and line-out features and easy direct monitoring are way nice and worth the price.

5 Stars Awesome for me and my band
I got this for our band practice so we can review our parts. We play mostly rock & hard core so it can get pretty loud. The mic handled everything pretty well after setting the levels. Granted it wasn’t crystal clear as in a recording studio, but for practices and hashing out sections, it’s served us perfectly. I use Audacity to record. I think my next purchase would be the shockmount.

4 Stars Samson G Track USB Mic
The Samson G Track USB Mic is a well built mic that offers many options. The mic offers the ability to record vocally or through line inputs. It also offers a nice headphone input. Each input offers individual volume controls. It sounds great and works flawlessly with Mac products and Garageband. The software that comes with the mic is not usable by the Mac society. Overall, I think this is an excellent purchase for someone interested in podcasting and demo recording. It is certainly not the highest quality mic, however you end up getting a pretty decent mic for the money.

4 Stars Great microphone
I bought this to improve the quality of the audio voice-overs I do for eLearning classes. It does the job very well and produces professional sounding audio.

4 Stars Good Quality… Bad Software
The microphone has great record sound quality. The line in feature is great for recording my Taylor and my friends Fender, picking up every sound and showing how awful we really are at playing. The mics profile is good, picking up all sounds in front of the mic and none to the side, something like a super cancoid profile. We were able to record both of us playing in space, even picking up the birds chirping.

The problem I have with the package is the included software. It comes with Sonar 6 LE. I could not get this software to work properly, even after installing the ASIO drivers that the forums suggested on my HP laptop. I did not go to the manufacturer to solve my problem but I did go to the forums. What resulted from that was several unhelpful posts and one user bragging about his tutorial over other Samson mics. So using those forums, nothing was solved. I did however find a program that worked out of box for the mic named Acuostica Mixcraft. The program is very similar to Garage Band. Its easy to use and did not require any fumbling around to get started. The interface is simple and not cluttered feeling, which is how Sonar 6 LE feels, even as a LE version. Mixcraft will set you back 65 dollars to purchase but I think it is well worth it.

All in all the Samson G-Track is a great buy for someone who does not want to mess with the complexities of buying a separate sound card and several microphones. I recommend it.

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Here’s Amazon’s take:

Sony Stereo Type Mic for Digital Recording

This compact, portable microphone is for advanced amateur use and is ideal for instrumental recording, thanks to Sony’s sensitive Electret condenser microphone. The one-point stereo design–a single mic for stereo recording–is like having two microphones in one. This mic is ideal for portable DAT or MD digital recorders, with a frequency response of up to 18,000 Hz and a 90 dB dynamic range, and is a great complement to digital recording systems. The mid/side (MS) capsules create a natural stereo panorama; the mid capsule picks up monophonic sound while the side capsule picks up left/right difference sound. Subtracting and adding the two capsule signals yields separate left and right channels and permits electronic adjustment of the pickup angle. The mid/side (MS) switch also selects pickup angle between the left and right channels. Choose 90 degrees for a single voice or instrument, or 120 degrees to pick up many voices and instruments arranged across the stage. The rotating mid capsule adjusts the stereo-pickup pattern for a wide range of recording situations. A Cannon XLR connector from the microphone body to the supplied cable provides a secure, reliable, low-noise connection, while the oxygen-free copper Litz cord ensures superlative conductivity, minimum loss, and minimum noise. The L-shaped stereo miniplug fits most portable recorders. Supplied accessories include a detachable cable, stand, holder, windscreen, and carrying case.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great Mic For Concerts
I’m far from an expert on cammies and mics, but this is definately a great buy. I film concerts w/ a cammie that has an external mic output. This microphone has given me excellent results. Very, very clear sound. Have never gotten any hissing or cackling. Does a very good job at filtering out excess noise (i.e. people around you), and picks up the sounds of a concert well. You can also adjust how the mic picks up the audio. You can choose 90 degrees, which is basically straight ahead, or 180 degrees, which will pick up sounds from the side as well as straight ahead. A very good microphone, I highly recommend this item.

4 Stars affordable, compact
Bought this after it was recommended to me on the Soundslides board. I use it with my Edirol R-09 HR to record audio for photo slideshows. The Sony mic is compact, I didn’t need an adapter for it to fit the Edirol and comes with a few accessories. The sound quality is excellent, it fits in my camera bag, it has a long cord, and I am not going to cry too much if I drop it as it wasn’t that pricey. My biggest complaints are that if you aren’t conscious of what you are doing, you can get alot of mic handling noise – the build of the mic handle seems to really accentuate it. Also it has an on/off/90 degree and 360 degree switch and I often forget to turn it off and it drains the battery. Still, it’s an excellent mic for the price and for someone starting out doing simple interviews and so on. To hear a sample of it, click on the slideshow here. [...] Recorded on an Edirol R-09 HR with the Sony mic on a large aircraft carrier, handheld by me.

4 Stars Useful mic priced lower than ever, but here are a few tips.
This proven mic has come down in price, while the one below it–the Sony DS70–has remained pretty much the same. For the extra 15 bucks, the Sony MS907 is easily worth the upgrade. The only advantage of the DS70 is not having to worry about having a fresh battery installed. The MS907 sounds fuller and richer, but frankly I did not judge it to be superior to the overall effect of the 4-point microphone that comes with the popular Zoom H-2. Whether or not you choose to use it in place of the onboard mic of a high-end personal audio recorder really comes down to a matter of personal taste. On the other hand, if you’ve picked up the new Zoom H-4n, this Sony stereo mic would be an excellent choice for complementing the onboard ones since the new Zoom allows for use of onboard and external mics simultaneously.

As for recording to a software audio program on an iMac, that particular computer has an audio input that will accommodate the 3.5mm plug (but be aware that many computers do not have such an input–in that case, look at a USB mic such as those from Blue). Even with the right fit and a fresh battery, I found the MS907 to be somewhat underpowered for optimal results. It wasn’t until I plugged it into an Onkyo preamp that I was satisfied. Again, I suspect that a mic with a USB connector would permit better gain levels with most computers.

There are adequate mic amps on Amazon for $20-$40, capable of boosting your signal by 48 volts, or 60 dbs. A Mac user willing to spend a bit more should look at the MXL Signal Booster Amp for Mac Computers, which costs a bit more but saves you the bother of USB conversion. Finally, if you’re trying to make professional announcements for radio use, etc., you’ll soon discover that, unless you’re incapable of puckering (which means you’re not much of a kisser), the plosives (”p” sounds) will run away with everything you try to say. The only solutions I’ve found are to write scripts that are devoid of plosives (the “voiced” “b” phoneme is almost as much of an offender as the voiceless “p” phoneme) or to pick up a “pop filter.” The latter are little more than 6″ circles of cheese cloth costing $20-$30 each, but I’m about to give in and order one from Amazon.

The last advice I’ll offer is not to indulge in candy or a sweet soda while broadcasting. It’ll thicken your saliva and make you sound like someone attempting to communicate with his dentist after being shot up with novocaine (or is it lidocaine, these days?)–in any case, it’s sugar cane, and fuctose syrup, that will muck up your elocution, making your gums talk louder than your words.

5 Stars best $69 ever spent!
This mike not only is a major improvement over the little electret mike that comes with Sony MD recorders, but I also use it in a cheap little Olympus WS 310 recorder, and get amazing clarity and warmth.It makes all the difference. I was about to buy a new bigger better recorder and tried this mike, was astounded at the clarity even on low end recording devices. The battery seems to last forever too…. if you remember to shut it off!

5 Stars Excellent microphone
I purchased this microphone to use with our canon video camera. We have used it to record several music recitals and band concerts and have been pleased with the audio quality.

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