MXL.006 USB/Cardioid Condenser Mic Looks Like it Means Business

The MXL.006 USB is a pretty fancy-looking microphone, but it keeps things simple by plugging into the USB port of a Mac or PC. Usually if you want to use a cardioid condenser microphone, you'll need to hook it up to all sorts of sophisticated electronics, preamps and such, but nothing doing with this baby. Cardiod? That's right, it has that heart-shaped pickup pattern so coveted by pro audio recording studios.

This microphone looks like the perfect tool for budding podcasters, as well as for budding musicians that want to start recording, without having to have a mixer and have to fuddle with all that, though I do have a mixer and microphone, so I can have a more custom setup for using skype and other conferenceing software.