The price for a PC microphone can vary wildly. You can pick up a cheap microphone for less than $10 or you could easily spend several hundred dollars on a high quality microphone.
The two main factors that will determine how much you pay for your PC microphone are your budget and what you want to use the microphone for.
There are countless uses for a PC microphone and some applications will require a higher quality mic than others. If you will be using your microphone for chatting with people on Skype or for gaming and communicating with your competitors there’s no need to drop a ton of money on a super high quality mic. For other applications quality is very important. If you are using voice recognition software to do any kind of dictation a higher quality microphone will increase the accuracy of your voice recognition program.
There are several different types of microphones to choose from today. There are wireless microphones, Bluetooth headsets, USB mics, and analog mics that plug into the microphone jack in your computer. A Bluetooth microphone is a great option for someone that wants to have the freedom to move around while they are recording audio or dictation because it is small and wireless. A USB microphone is an easy to use option. Oftentimes you can simply plug the microphone into the USB port on your computer and the microphone will be ready to use immediately. If you are looking for professional quality audio a USB mic is not for you but they are inexpensive and a great option for many computer users.
For best results and the highest quality audio possible you will need a wired microphone and a good quality sound card for your computer. The best microphone in the world cannot fully compensate for an inferior sound card. I would also recommend a headset microphone over a freestanding microphone because a headset microphone can be positioned properly and they can stay in position even as you move around. A headset microphone is a uni-directional microphone and many will also have built-in noise cancellation features that will block out background noise, making them very good for use with voice recognition software or when chatting with people via your PC.
There is an almost endless number of choices when it comes to selecting a PC microphone. Once you know what you’re going to be using your microphone for and how much you’re willing to spend on it, it is a good idea to do some comparison shopping and to read reviews so that you can make sure you’re getting a good quality PC microphone at the best possible price.