I'm a relative newbie to audio and am confused by the options. I've done some research and cannot find the perfect one solution. Any comments/suggestions welcome. Thank you in advance...
WHAT I WANT: very portable recorder to attach (lav) microphone to and "strap on" to subject who can walk around with it. Will use it to sync to video, so needs to be accurate in timing at least. Would like to use as portable music player as well. May also use sometimes to take feed in from soundboard or with other microphones not attached to persons. Most options seem to have 60-80 minute record length limitation which I can live with.
OPTIONS:
a) wireless into cam - OK but 1) wireless is sometimes faulty 2) expensive ($450+) 3) I don't get the advantage of using it as a portable music player 4) mini-dv consumer cam audio quality, even with direct feed external mic, is not excellent
b) iriver ihp120/140 - recording glitch problems via mic (what's the real audio quality and timing impact?)
c) archos gmini - same recording glitches as iriver, plus no mic-input (need preamp - is there one very small & light?)
d) njb3 - too big, plus no mic input?
e) minidisc - the new Hi-MD's are promising, but there is no software yet to take the recorded files and transfer them digitally to the pc and create wav's, i think. also delayed release to may (in US) i have heard. also I prefer hard drive models over removable media