In the same way corporations will give away a free thousand or ten to the upteenth customer, you should, upon hitting 3 million, give all your most loyal readers either homebaked cupcakes, a weeks blog ad, or a link on your roll. Run some kind of contest or something.
Hmmm. Off the top of my head (in addition to way seconding the champagne suggestion):
1) Buy yourself a new microphone for your podcasts? (I don't have a problem with what you're doing now, but you've mentioned not being sure it's the best thing.)
2) Contact that star registry place and naming a star after your blog?
3) Be especially generous to your sworn enemies for a day and sponsor an open house for your neighborhood squirrels and bats?
4) Reveal the identify of the perfect Althouse man?
Or you could just set a new goal and keep on keepin' on ...
Congrats, Ann--should we all just keep going away and coming back over and over and over and over and over and over to push you over the top?
I recently offered to send a prize (a print of a photo or a print of one of my pastel paintings) to the 50,000th visitor as marked by sitemeter. The person was from South Windham, Maine and I said "if that's you, email me for your prize". I thought it was a huge stroke of luck that it was a small town. If it had been some big city, there'd be no way to tell who it was. I can see that that person has been back several times but he/she has elected not to come forward. [shrug]
Assuming you want something easy that you can just plug into a USB port and go, I recommend the Samson C01U which you can buy here. It's the only (I believe) USB condenser mic on the market, it works well with GarageBand and has a smooth, flat frequency response. You'll also need a stand and the shockmount for this mic, to eliminate microphone sounds.
I think this will be adequate for you, and is a good choice if you don't want to fuss with preamps and phantom power and such that come with the next step up in the mic range. Since you do long-form podcasts, I think this will be a wise investment, as it will improve your sound quality and give a much nicer presentation of your unique voice than the ViaVoice mic you've been using.
Ann--dear musician/electrical engineer/technology architect husband is just off to a gig.
But he suggested that if you wanted a mic that would be easy to use and was a good compromise between the Samson CO1u (which is fine) and a true studio mike (which would require a special audio interface), you might want to check out the Blue Microphones Snowball Microphone available through The Apple Store.
I would just give you the link but the URL is custom for my account. However, here's a snippet from their blurb (note reference to podcasts):
Blue Microphones Snowball Microphone
The world's first professional USB mic, Snowball is not only easy to use, but sounds as good on your desktop as it does in a professional recording studio. Price: $149.00
Estimated Ship: 10-15 business day Free Shipping
Image Image Image
Whether you're recording a guitar at your kitchen table or a complete band in the studio, the Snowball can capture it with detail unheard of before in a USB mic.
The Snowball is a direct plug and play mic that connects to either a Mac or PC--no additional software is needed. With its dual capsule design and unique three-pattern switch (cardioid, cardioid with -10dB pad, and omni), the Snowball can handle everything from soft vocals to the loudest garage band--and it's ideal for podcasting. Check it out and you'll see why it's the coolest mic in town.
Drat! I was going to mention that in an aside in my last comment last night -- 3,000,000 coming soon.
Well, seeing as how my last suggestion, for a Christmas sketch by your fair little hands, was meant with Queen Victoria-like disdain, I'd like to go along with Ron.
A party at home for a special occaison isn't enough, howabout a weekend in Vegas (plus cheap airfares and hotels from anywhere).
(nothing says party like ersatz pyramids, eiffel towers, statue of liberties or venetian canals, oh, and gambling, plus there's Heidi's Stud Farm (pending approval of her license))
Choose and fly to an appealing city of 3 million. Or if you can't fly there, post pictures of it on the blog and brag, "I've had as many visits as there are people in ______________."
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How about a poll for 'Favorite Althouse thread'?
In the same way corporations will give away a free thousand or ten to the upteenth customer, you should, upon hitting 3 million, give all your most loyal readers either homebaked cupcakes, a weeks blog ad, or a link on your roll. Run some kind of contest or something.
Mmmm. Cupcakes.
Whatever way you choose to celebrate, please please please don't let it have anything to do with bodily fluids.
All Althoustians shall do a rum jello shot in honor of the 3,000,000 post. Recipe here:
http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink586.html
Chocolate is always appropriate for an occasion like this.
Champagne for everyone! Might I suggest Krug 1988?
A healthy serving of Wisconsin Beer Cheese soup with polish sausage.
Hmmm. Off the top of my head (in addition to way seconding the champagne suggestion):
1) Buy yourself a new microphone for your podcasts? (I don't have a problem with what you're doing now, but you've mentioned not being sure it's the best thing.)
2) Contact that star registry place and naming a star after your blog?
3) Be especially generous to your sworn enemies for a day and sponsor an open house for your neighborhood squirrels and bats?
4) Reveal the identify of the perfect Althouse man?
Or you could just set a new goal and keep on keepin' on ...
Congrats, Ann--should we all just keep going away and coming back over and over and over and over and over and over to push you over the top?
How about a "cheezy" prize (they have them in Wisconsin?) for that 3 millionth visitor who innocently rambles over to Che Althouse?
Iam: I do want to get a new microphone for my podcasts, but I don't know what to get. Can someone just tell me?
I recently offered to send a prize (a print of a photo or a print of one of my pastel paintings) to the 50,000th visitor as marked by sitemeter. The person was from South Windham, Maine and I said "if that's you, email me for your prize". I thought it was a huge stroke of luck that it was a small town. If it had been some big city, there'd be no way to tell who it was. I can see that that person has been back several times but he/she has elected not to come forward. [shrug]
Ann,
Assuming you want something easy that you can just plug into a USB port and go, I recommend the Samson C01U which you can buy here. It's the only (I believe) USB condenser mic on the market, it works well with GarageBand and has a smooth, flat frequency response. You'll also need a stand and the shockmount for this mic, to eliminate microphone sounds.
I think this will be adequate for you, and is a good choice if you don't want to fuss with preamps and phantom power and such that come with the next step up in the mic range. Since you do long-form podcasts, I think this will be a wise investment, as it will improve your sound quality and give a much nicer presentation of your unique voice than the ViaVoice mic you've been using.
Ann--dear musician/electrical engineer/technology architect husband is just off to a gig.
But he suggested that if you wanted a mic that would be easy to use and was a good compromise between the Samson CO1u (which is fine) and a true studio mike (which would require a special audio interface), you might want to check out the Blue Microphones Snowball Microphone available through The Apple Store.
I would just give you the link but the URL is custom for my account. However, here's a snippet from their blurb (note reference to podcasts):
Blue Microphones Snowball Microphone
The world's first professional USB mic, Snowball is not only easy to use, but sounds as good on your desktop as it does in a professional recording studio.
Price: $149.00
Estimated Ship:
10-15 business day
Free Shipping
Image
Image
Image
Whether you're recording a guitar at your kitchen table or a complete band in the studio, the Snowball can capture it with detail unheard of before in a USB mic.
The Snowball is a direct plug and play mic that connects to either a Mac or PC--no additional software is needed. With its dual capsule design and unique three-pattern switch (cardioid, cardioid with -10dB pad, and omni), the Snowball can handle everything from soft vocals to the loudest garage band--and it's ideal for podcasting. Check it out and you'll see why it's the coolest mic in town.
Free cup cakes for all!!!
Drat! I was going to mention that in an aside in my last comment last night -- 3,000,000 coming soon.
Well, seeing as how my last suggestion, for a Christmas sketch by your fair little hands, was meant with Queen Victoria-like disdain, I'd like to go along with Ron.
"Favourite Althouse Thread" sounds a treat.
Cheers,
Victoria
You should throw a wild blogger party/con in Madison. It's relatively central.
And you should pay my way for thinking of it. I'll even do a keynote speech for you, your choice of topics.
A party at home for a special occaison isn't enough, howabout a weekend in Vegas (plus cheap airfares and hotels from anywhere).
(nothing says party like ersatz pyramids, eiffel towers, statue of liberties or venetian canals, oh, and gambling, plus there's Heidi's Stud Farm (pending approval of her license))
Choose and fly to an appealing city of 3 million. Or if you can't fly there, post pictures of it on the blog and brag, "I've had as many visits as there are people in ______________."
Put up golden arches over the banner.
Put up golden arches over the banner.
Super-Size me!
Cheers,
Victoria
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