the Spark is a really good starter mic, especially considering you'll be doing acoustic and vocals. It's not an amazing option for electric guitar, but it'd be good enough to start out with. Eventually you'll probably want to pick up a dynamic mic for recording amps, like a Shure sm57, which...
Just curious of what you mean by saying you've "failed" at this twice in the past. What seemed to be the biggest hurdle?
There's tons of really smart people who have lots of recording experience here, so ask away with any questions dude.
Further: I don't believe there is a limit (that I could find) on the number of devices connected to a single Google Drive account, so you could basically have all of the iPads connected to the same Drive account, and each group of students could have their own folder in the Drive so project...
Yup, another +1 for cloud storage. Would something like Google Drive work? It's how I share needed files between my iPad and PC/laptop. You just get the Google Drive app and save whatever you need into it, and it autosyncs to all devices. Google Drive is pretty nice, because it rarely gives...
buying a used usb 2.0 interface is always a pretty good idea if it's in good shape. You get a lot more bang for the buck usually. Do some research on the quality of different make/model's built-in preamps, because they can vary quite a bit at the entry level.
Hmmm I would guess its some part of your dj controller, maybe just the RCA outputs. Or possibly the RCA cables themselves. You tried swapping those out yet? Also try out other usb ports if you've got them. Since you connected the monitors straight to the laptop and they played (I assume) then...
I got the m179 as one of my first mics. Came in a huge-ass case with a shockmount! Really great mic for the price. The pattern options are really nice as well, especially omni mode.
I've got the For Dummies book (a nice summary) and "Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio" (nice book but gets really in-depth at points).
I'm personally a fan of the Guerilla Home Recording book. Here's an Amazon link