Cheap dynamic mics work much better than cheap condensers, but I'll leave that to your judgment. To answer your question, yes you will need some sort of interface. If you decide to go the route of condenser, this interface must be able to supply phantom power. The interface you get will largely depend upon your budget, and what program you intend on using it with.

What do you think about this kind of mic: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/C-1.aspx

OMG, don't even get me started on Behringer. I've personally owned three of their products which all mysteriously stopped working after a few months. The best part, the company wanted nothing to do with it. Don't do it man.

Here is a breath of fresh air.
http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WiredMicrophones/us_pro_SM58-CN_content

So that's a pretty good mic? Let's say I decided to budget up to $120 for a mic. For basic podcasting would I find that much of a better mic at that price then this one you suggested? Also, is this externally powered or not?

Okay forget everything I said so far. What do you think about the Sennheiser MD 431 II?

If all you want to do is podcast and are doing something simple you might consider a USB mic. These are not high quality mics by any means but should suffice for the quality of sound that is available in this format.
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Blue-Snowball-USB-Microphone?sku=279015

Okay forget low-budget for a moment. I just want to know if that Sennheiser mic is any good, because I already own it. I currently use it for voice recognition purposes.

The Sennheiser is a good mic. The Shure 58 is a good mic. Both are industry standards for live music. You will still need an interface of some sort to get it into the computer properly.

Yes it is a very good mic.

What kind of interface would you suggest?

dmehling wrote: What kind of interface would you suggest?

How much money are you willing to spend?

I'm on a tight budget and I'm just an amateur at podcasting so maybe not more than $120. But I'd like to be significantly under that amount if possible. It depends on what is out there.

I can't vouch for any of these intefaces myself as I haven't used them but at your budget, there isn't much difference between products.

[="http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Lexicon-Alpha-USB-Audio-Interface?sku=245507"]Lexicon Alpha[/]="http://pro-audio.mu…"]Lexicon Alpha[/]-comes with Cubase LE

[[url=http://="http://pro-audio.mu…"]Tapco Link Firewire[/]="http://pro-audio.mu…"]Tapco Link Firewire[/]-comes with Tracktion. This is the only one of these three with +48v Phantom Power.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://pro-audio.mu…"]Emu 0404[/]="http://pro-audio.mu…"]Emu 0404[/]-comes with Sonar LE. Some speak highly of the 0404.

Any of these will do and to be honest at this price point, just pick one. Read the manual and you should be good to go.

Do I need +48V phantom power for my particular microphone? I like the second option you gave me but I don't have FireWire. I would have to use USB. What's a good USB interface that has +48V phantom power?

Dynamic mics don't need phantom power. Most budget condensers aren't worth the hassle so I wouldn't worry too much about phantom power.

You don't need P48 for the Sennheiser 431. You always want to plan for expansion though so you don't find yourself hitting brick walls.