Advanced Recording Hardware.
Serious home musicians and podcasters might want to look into more complex recording systems,
which can cost a little bit more but deliver a much better sound and more flexibility.
Recording interfaces mainly vary by their power and the number of microphone inputs that they have. Interfaces like TASCAM's US1641* are serious pro gear and can handle up to a dozen microphones at the same time. Smaller interfaces are often cheaper but can still record two or three microphones at the same time, so for instance a musician could mic his guitar and his voice separately for a better sound.
While these advanced recording solutions can be extremely cool and useful, most people will do just fine with a $20-50 microphone and a computer with a decent processor--provided that they've got the right recording software, of course.
