I am new to recording and I have some questions:

[Caprice]

I use a Powerbook G4 12 inch with OS 10.4, I'll be using Garage Band for my recording as of now.
I want to record my guitar and vocals through a better microphone than whats built in the Powerbook.
I bought a cheap microphone from Radioshack to mess around, brought it home and plugged it into the "mic in" hole on my Powerbook but could not pick up any sound to record.
I researched some on the internet and found that I need a preamp to plug the microphone into to boost the signal so my computer can record it.
I just can't decide which preamp to get. There is so much information out there that I'm a bit overwhelmed when all I want is some simple answers.

Do I plug the preamp into my "mic in" hole when I get it?

I have seen some preamps have USB slots so one can plug the preamp into the computer via USB, but are these really worth it?

I am not looking to spend more than $100.


Thanks for any input,

Caprice

[King of Snake]

well I'd suggest to buy a simple external USB or firewire audio interface with a mic input. This will just function as your soundcard instead of the built-in one. M-Audio are a popular brand for cheap but decent interfaces, but of course there are many others to choose from. Probably Behringer will have something in that price range as well.

*edit*
Maybe something like this would be a good choice
http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=610&subcategory=611&product=15186
$99 and has a mic input.

[Future Proof]

KoS's recommendation looks to be rock-solid for you at this stage. It sounds like you're just kind of feeling around at the moment and that Emu will probably prop you up until you either lose interest, or you get the recording bug like many do and absolutely have to have hi-quality gear for hi-quality productions. At first I was kind of put off that the Emu doesn't have phantom power but on the flip-side, there are some fantastic mics out there that don't need phantom power at all. The Shure SM57/58s are amazing mics (and only $100) and you can get quite a few good condensor mics that have their own transformers. The Rode K2 is an example of such a mic, and it's an amazing piece of equipment.

Good luck there Caprice, let us know how it goes.