I am very new to the world of computer microphones.  I was wondering if you could recommend models for the following applications:

1.  Speech recognition with headphone playback capability plugged DIRECTLY into a laptop or desktop.  The microphone should work well in noisy conditions, to include wind, as it may be used outdoors.  Also, it is highly desirable that there be a push to talk capability, or at least a mute switch.  An added feature might be passive or active noise canceling in the earphones, although this would just be a nice to have.

2.  The next application is similar.  That is, speech recognition application interfaced with a computer with push to talk capability.  This device must not have playback capability, and can be a standard desk microphone with high recognition quality.  Although, this device will be used indoors, it might still be in a crowded/noisy room, thus it should not be sensitive to the UNINTENDED inputs.

USB Microphones are desired, but if a great microphone does not come with a USB connection, perhaps you can also recommend a whatever(3.5mm/XLR/etc)-to-USB adapter.

Any suggestions will be appreciated?  Also, I am trying to keep the price below $150-200 per device.

Thank you in advance.Why does it have to be USB?soybean,

If you have a different suggestion, I am all ears.

I had read on another site that speech recognition programs perform better if you feed the input through the USB port as opposed to directly through the sound CARD because unless one has a really great sound card it can be susceptible to electronic noise from other components reducing the recognition accuracy.

Thanks for your help.I've never used speech recognition programs, so you may be right about USB having an advantage in this case.  My use of a mic with my computer has been limited to USING my computer to make phone calls. 

Still, I'm wondering about your statement about USB being better.  I Googled hardware requirements for computer speech recognition and I'm not seeing references supporting your claim.  One article, Speech Recognition HOWTO, is rather dated but may still be valid; see the comments there about microphones and sound cards.  And, you may want to browse some of the other references in the Google search results.Thanks for the links.  They are helping out.

Here is where I read about sound card problems with speech recognition.
http://www.emicrophones.com/docdetails.asp?documentid=38I didn't take time to fully digest the info on that website, which, BTW, SEEMS like a comprehensive reference on the subject, but I gather that there may be an advantage to getting a USB Sound Pod.  And, any mic that would normally be connected to a sound card can be connected to the USB Sound Pod, as I understand it. 

So, it seems that you could try using your speech recognition software by connecting a mic to your sound card and, if that does work to your satisfaction, you could get USB Sound Pod and connect the same mic to it. 

This is a different situation than what I understood from your original post, which was to use a "USB mic".