Product Description

Alesis USB-Mic Podcasting Kit Professional-sounding podcasting for your Mac or PC has never been simpler and more affordable than with Alesis' USB-Mic Podcasting Kit. Just plug the high-quality USB microphone into your computer (with no complicated drivers to install) and use the included Audacity software to record your voice, music, and any other external sounds you wish to include for your final product. The USB-Mic provides 16 bit / 44.1–48kHz audio straight to your computer, and the Kit includes high-quality headphones for monitoring your session. The Alesis USB-Mic Podcasting Kit also comes with 30 days of free podcast hosting on www.alesispodcast.com. This provides the novice, as well as professional, podcaster an easy-to-use solution for hosting and promoting podcasts. During your 30 day free trail you can post up to 500Mb of Podcast episodes with unlimited bandwidth! The Alesis Podcasting Center also makes it easy to upload and promote your podcasts. No tricky third party software to embed your XML files. Just register and upload your MP3's. As the file uploads to the server it will automatically aggregate the file out to the web (iTunes, Podcast Alley, web search engines, etc.) so everyone will know about your new show. 16 bit / 44.1-48Khz audio recording direct to your computerUSB microphone (including USB cable) Desktop microphone standEasy plug-and-play support in Windows and Mac OS XHigh-quality headphones for monitoring your recordingsBundled with Audacity software for recording and editing your sessionsFree hosting of your podcasts - 30 day subscription to alesispodcast.comHassle-free uploading of your podcasts with automatic rss file embeddingAutomatic notification of your podcast episodes to iTunes, Podcast Alley and other podcast groups, as well as numerous web search engines 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #511 in Musical Instruments
• Brand: Alesis
• Model: USB Mic Podcast Kit
• Dimensions: 14.96" h x 4.53" w x 3.00" l, 10.63 pounds

Features

• Create podcasts on your Mac or PC
• Simple and affordable

Customer Reviews

Great starter kit
Cons:
Huge box! And you sort of expect more because of that. Comes with Audacity which is available on the web anyway.

Pros:
Good quality microphone. Doesn't pick up too much background noise and is perfect for the voice. You don't seem to need a pop-filter with it which is great. Headphones fit snuggly and you can hear exactly what you have recorded.

Definitely recommend buying it as a starter kit.

A good place to start with podcasting
This kit includes a decent enough mic for purpose; it's convenience of setup more than making up for any lack of sonic quality.
The software supplied is poor if you are used to professional applications however again it will probably suffice for most users (and in any case Audacity seems to be supplied with most podcast kits). Good value, my only recommendation is to purchase a pop-shield as the mic sounds better the closer you get. Headphones are OK and have a nice long lead.
Recommended, especially if you have to carry your podcasting kit around with you.

Good All-Round Package
I bought this microphone primarily to broadcast internet radio for my website and all in all it is an excellent package. I have had the product for about 10 months now and I use the headphones for at least 2 hours a day and the quality is still crystal clear. As for the microphone it is fine for any speech such as podcasts, radio or "vlogging". Although it is NOT a recording mic I have also found it quite useful for recording various songs on if it is set up correctly.

For's:

> Great sound for a cheap price.
> Top quality headphones included.
> Looks the part but not too intrusive.
> Very low background noise.

Against:

> Quality does not match a lot of the similar XLR mics.
> Cannot be plugged into a camcorder (it's USB only).
> Due to the fact that it is USB there seems to be a bug for me which is quite annoying but can be fixed easily; when the mic is plugged in the sound stops working forcing me to mess around with the audio codec. (It has done this twice.)

To sum up the whole package is great quality for the price and for what it says in the description - a stable podcasting microphone and headphone kit. If you're looking to record songs it will work but you would be better off with an XLR. The software is mediocre to say the least but very easy to use if you're just getting started (I have Adobe Audition so this takes a back seat). I'd say this kit is at an amateur level and if you're looking to do more than that try something else.