Here are three condenser microphones I’ve used and liked for recording podcasts. Any of them will give you great sound, but none of them are perfect. A Blue Snowball ($60) (http://amzn.to/1qFwlce) is an excellent low-cost choice. (Beware: there’s $40 “Blue Snowball iCE” model that looks the same but I have read reports that it has quality issues and should be avoided.) The Snowball has a 3-position switch, which is unhelpfully marked 1, 2, and 3. I always need to go to bluemic.com to look up what switch setting I should use (position 1 is for podcasting, 2 is for live music and loud sound sources, and 3 is for conferences, interviews, and environmental recordings). I stopped using the Snowball when its USB jack broke. (I eventually repaired it just to have a backup microphone). The next step up is Blue’s Yeti ($100) (http://amzn.to/1qmPFxf). The great thing about the Yeti is its built-in amplified headphone jack that lets you hear your own voice along with the voices of your remote guests. It also has a gain knob to adjust the sensitivity, as well as a mute button (which is nice to have when your guest is speaking and you need to cough or hide the drone of an airplane flying over your house). I used a Yeti for about two years and was very pleased with the sound of my recorded voice, but I stopped using it because it has three problem: First problem: the padded mount is not good at damping external vibrations. If I set a coffee cup on my desk, the Yeti will pick it up. It even picks up my computer’s spinning hard drive. I finally solved the problem by placing a rubbery iPhone case between the Yeti’s base and my desktop. (Blue sells a shock mount for $60 that is supposed to solve this problem but reviewers on Amazon say it’s awful). Second problem: the gain knob is on the back of the microphone, making it hard to reach, and hard to adjust, because you have to turn the know in the opposite direction you are used to turning a knob (like when you need to remove a screw from panel that’s facing 180 degrees from you). Third reason: Sometimes the mic simply doesn’t work and I have to whack it with the heel of my palm (like Han Solo did with the instrument panel on the Millennium Falcon) to get it to work. I have an Amazon credit card, and when I noticed I had accumulated a few hundred bucks in earned Amazon credit, I picked up the Audio-Technica AT2020 ($130) (http://amzn.to/1wXtTRd). I’ve been using it since the end of March 2014, and have had great luck with it so far. The sound quality is as good as the Yeti (but not better, in my opinion). It feels very heavy and sturdy, and it doesn’t seem to pick up vibrations like the Yeti. The AT2020 has no switches or knobs. You simply plug it into your computer and use your computer’s built-in gain control. It also doesn’t have a built-on headphone jack like the Yeti does, which is too bad. (I like hearing my amplified voice when I record, because it keeps me from shouting into the microphone.) The other negative thing about the AT2020 is the tiny tripod it comes with. I had to put in on a stack if books to elevate it to mouth level until I got smart and bought a $13 adjustable desk microphone stand (http://amzn.to/1lDbtl9).