Why do you say the Blue Snowball costs a lot? It's a little less than $50 on amazon.

It's a fair bit more expensive on Amazon.uk, sadly.

I, too, dealt with cheap mics for years, and often ran into problems with them breaking. I finally broke down and bought the Blue Snowball in early 2013, and am still using it since. (Though, I almost wish I had gone even further, and had purchased the Blue Yeti... something I may do in the near future)

However, no matter what mic you get, there are some extras that are almost as important, if not more important than the actual mic itself...

No matter which brand you buy, or how expensive it is, you should look into either getting a pop filter (or splatter screen, as I grossly refer to it as). A pop filter will not only lower the "p"s "t"s and "s"s that can ruin otherwise perfect recordings, but, it also prevents saliva to come into contact with the mic - something that can usually contribute to a mic's short usage. These can be bought online, or, can be made at home, usually with similar (but not the same) effects. It'll surely make your mic last a lot longer.

Also, I'd suggest recording into Audacity, or some other really good audio editing program (though, Audacity is free). With some simple noise removal, and maybe some bass and treble adjustments, you can make nearly any mic sound good...

So, though I would suggest going with the Blue Snowball (or Yeti, if you're willing to pay a bit more), you can really choose just about any mic as long as you have some sort of pop filter, and you use Audacity to strengthen your recordings' sound.