Funny Story: My new Blue Yeti Microphone (which is blue)

I had some audio issues with my 5 year old Blue Yeti recently. It started as occasional small crackles when listening via the headphone output, some of which ended up on recordings as well. It was so occasional that I could edit it out, so I never thought much of it. For the last couple of weeks though, the crackles are now audible during my daily Stardew streams. Again they’re subtle, but I thought perhaps replacing the USB cable might do the trick.

Sadly it did not. Something else must be amiss, so much so that I lost audio completely during the stream today. I replaced the cable again, and it held up for the remainder of the stream, but it looks like I’m in the market for a new Blue Yeti microphone.

And this is where the story begins.

After the stream, as I always do, I have a quick chat with Julia and tell her how it went. There are usually sunny stories to tell about things that happened in the game, and about things we’ve discussed. If she’s not working, she usually joins in and watches what we’re all getting up to. These daily streams have become such a wonderful pastime for social connections, and although exhausting and time consuming for me, they bring a great energy to the rest of my day.

I told Julia about the microphone troubles, and the wonderful Super Chat donations Sam and Brian made despite the technical issues. Combined with all the other Stardew donations on Mixer and YouTube over the last 3 months since I started the streams, it probably pays for a new Blue Yeti!

Julia grabbed her iPhone and had a look for a replacement Blue Yeti mic on Amazon right away. The cheapest choice of colour was the Midnight Blue for $126, a lot cheaper than the asking price of around $200. There were apparently 18 left in stock, and I thought that’ll give me enough time to order one “later today”.

I settled in on my desk to take a closer look at the other colour choices. I currently have the silver one, and I’m hoping it’s somehow repairable. If it’s only a connection thing, I’m sure I can bring it back to life. It’s not my first Blue Yeti either. I used to own a Champagne coloured one when I started making iOS tutorials, but due to the small size of my desk I sold just before I got cancer. I missed it and bought this new silver one in 2016, in preparation for more YouTube work.

I always liked the blue finish though, and looking at it on my larger monitor, I couldn’t help but notice that there were now only 13 left in stock. Odd, I thought. Didn’t Julia just say there were 18 available, only what feels like seconds ago?

I checked with her and she confirmed. Less than 5 minutes had passed, and 5 more mics had already been sold. Looks like that Blue Yeti is a hot seller. I best get on with placing my order!
While I was playing with delivery and payment options, discussing world matters with my wife (such as that the Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta just became a billionaire), I’ve noticed that the stock levels of my new microphone had now gone down to THREE. I couldn’t quite believe it!

Without further delay I pressed the order button, just to make sure I’d get one. If I had made a mistake, I could always change the options later. Being the curious fellow that I am, I returned to the original listing. To my surprise, the item was now no longer available and would take a few days to get back into stock. Wow! The whole process didn’t take longer than perhaps 15 minutes.

I’ve seen this before on good deals. I remember trying to order an iPad last year, which had seemingly disappeared within less than an hour. Same thing happened a few weeks ago, when I discovered a similarly good deal on another iPad that I thought would be a great replacement for Julia’s current iPad. All I did was check if she wanted one, and when she agreed, they had all sold out.

Lucky for me, stock came back a few weeks later, but it means I had to check in every so often. We went ahead with the order, but we haven’t been in the the right frame of mind to set it up yet.

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to share with you: I got a new Blue Yeti coming, all thanks to in-stream donations, and it should be here on Friday. Until that time I hope the current version will hold up. Who would have thought these thing wear out and possibly oxidise over time? Perhaps a bit of contact cleaner will do the trick, and if not I may have to get my soldering iron out.

Huge thanks to everyone who donated during the streams over the last few weeks. I just ran the numbers, and ever since I started the daily Stardew streams in April have indeed paid in full for the new Blue Yeti. THANK YOU ?