Genius MIC 01A Microphone

Author's product rating:   

Reliability	Excellent
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Quality	Excellent
Durability	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	COMMUNICATION ONLINE .
Disadvantages:	NONE .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When making a choice of microphone when I first started with having internet communication, I was presented with a huge microphone, a little like those used by singers. It came with the Dell PC and although the sound quality was rather good, the microphone was totally impractical, in that it was huge, had to be hand held, and the stand was not at all compatible with all the other rubbish I keep on my desk.

I decided to give up the ghost on the expensive microphone and try and find one that was more suitable for my purposes and that was neat enough to fit into my desk arrangement, rather than compromising. Perhaps I am a little selfish with this area of my life in that it has to be right, and I enjoy very much having everything at hand, but nothing that gets in the way and is ugly.

Chosing a new microphone was simple as the choice available on the market was quite limited. There were plastic ones that stood in their own stand, there were headsets with a built in microphone, but what I wanted was a hands free/head free device that I could use without fumbling around untangling wires.

Some microphones that I saw were tiny black ones that were just square, and having used one of these at my friends house, I actually found that it was so low on the desk that I had to do acrobatic things with my head to be heard, almost leaning my chin on the keyboard in order to be heard.

This microphone is a very adaptable one. It is in a stand, but what I liked is that it isn't a rigid one, where there is little movement, or where you have to move the stand around the desk in order to have the microphone at the correct level to speak into.

The stand is solid, and the microphone itself is white and sleek looking, and what I particularly liked about this one as opposed to others was that you can place the stand in a convenient spot, and then swivel the head to the place where reception is the best. It's not a fixed thing. It can be moved around on its stand with no difficulty at all.

There is a colour coded plug, and this is easily plugged in, and I tested the microphone on all kinds of messengers, i.e. MSN messenger where sounds travelled from here in France to Australia with no distortion, Yahoo Messenger, which gave me very little problem again to Australia, the United Kingdom and to parts of France, and I found that the microphone was easy to use and exactly right for my desk layout.

For those who do not know where to plug in, this is different in different computers and is a pretty obvious hole. You can either plug into a jack plug or get an adaptor for the green PS2 plug at the back of the computer. Some points are on monitors, so it really depends upon your computer, though is pretty easy to find.

Installing it was simply a matter of plugging it in, which couldn't be easier, and it was great fun talking to people that I had met online who had no concept of what my voice was like, even though I had known them as online friends for a long time.

Reliability is 100 per cent with this microphone. I have never had problems and have used it on several computers with ease. The quality of the product is also unquestionably good for the money, and for less than six pounds, I found that I began to use the microphone a lot more than other mikes that I have tried, simply because it is a part of my desk arrangement, and was chosen as such, the rigid plastic being a lot stronger than some of the mikes i have tried in the past that do not stay in their stands.

I think that this microphone has enhanced my online experience. Messenger are never quite the same as telephone conversations, although they come close to it and I know that since buying the mike, I have kept in touch with people that were otherwise just words on a screen and have recommended members of my family to buy the same one, which they have done without regret.

Would I recommend it ?

Yes. It's simple, it's clear, the quality of sound is apparently good and I did ask this of all people I talk to with it from as far off as Australia and they all gave me the resounding thumbs up. Both voice and music can be shared with friends and family with a microphone that needs very little adjustment at all.

Now, all I have to do is learn to sing !!

Rachel.