I have a couple of clients who want to record some VO material themselves on their office computers. They both are willing to buy their own mics, which is good as I don't want to have to leave my Sennheisers with them.

Basically I need a mic that they can just plug into the PC's sound card jack and record with software. I felt that buying $500 mics was overkill for this task, but then again I don't want to be cheap either. Are there decent mics in the $100-$200 range (or less) that would work here?

A USB mic is great for this task, because it bypasses the computer's sound card, which on most PCs is a piece of junk just adequate for playback.

I've had good success with the Samson CO1U, less than $150.

Our very canny forum member Ty Ford recommends the Rode Podcaster (abt. $230), because it has a built-in headphone jack, handy for monitoring with headphones while you're recording. This is a good thing because there is built-in delay (latency) that occurs when laying down trax with a usb mic and monitoring through the PC's soundcard.

I hear good things about the Blue Snowball. If anything, it's got the coolness factor.

Blue | Snowball USB Microphone Podcasting Kit | B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/444539-REG/Blue__Snowball_USB_Microphone_Podcasting.html)

Also...

Blue | Snowball - USB Microphone with | SNOWBALL BUNDLE | B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/413696-REG/Blue_SNOWBALL_BUNDLE_Snowball_USB_Microphone.html)

This also looks interesting.

Blue | Snowflake Compact USB Microphone | SNOWFLAKE | B&H Photo (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/525051-REG/Blue_SNOWFLAKE_Snowflake_Compact_USB_Microphone.html)

Costco got it beat.

Costco - Blue Microphones Snowball Professional USB Microphone (http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11281522&search=blue%20snowball&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=blue%20snowball&Ntt=blue%20snowball&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1)