1) It's going to take me a while to get used to the display, after years of a Rockboxed iRiver. I missed Rockbox's logarithmic metering — when I first started recording and the crowd noise didn't even show on the meter, I briefly panicked that I wasn't getting a signal at all — and not having a time counter constantly counting up to show me that the recording is running was unnerving as well, though of course there's the red recording light (and yellow pause light) for that.
Press the "Display" button. It toggles through three or four options, one of which is elapsed time...
Also, you should consider taping the switches down with little pieces of gaffer's tape. Low-cost insurance against accidentally moving one.
Exactly the 2 points I was just going to make. I know the M10 has the time display option, I think mine is set to count down from the total time it calculates you have left recording at the current settings to the current memory. Definitely helpful if you are getting close to running out of memory (which I never really am with a 32 Gb card). But you can definitely see that the time is either incrementing or decrementing based on your display selection. There is also a "REC" indicator on the display, pretty sure it the upper left corner. It will show the symbol for paused "II' (close as I can come on a keyboard) if you are not. And the red REC LED light should be the only light you see below the display if you are recording (if you see the amber pause light lit, you guessed it, you are paused).
And if you are putting it in your pockets, a bag, etc., etc. (not open recording), I would highly recommend putting tape over those switches as suggested, I used gaffers tape as well. Mine's been that way since day 1, I don't even remember what the switches do, but you rarely, if ever, will want to use them if you are recording line-in with external mics.
Other helpful things you can do, especially if you are using it not so openly is to turn the display backlight and the LED's on and off via the menus. You can set the backlight to come on for a few different settings, anywhere from always on to always off or settings like 15 sec, 30 sec, 60 sec. I usually don't even bother to do that, there are so many people with their phones and other electronic devices, there is almost no way security would be able to single you out. An exception would be shows where they prohibit electronic devices and / or militant about no phones, pictures, recording, etc. In those cases, it can be helpful not to draw attention to yourself.
Other than that, congratulations on your maiden voyage, sounds like it went well. I know a few people have had a bad experience with the recording level knob moving, but I've used my M10 for probably well over 100 shows, including shoving it in pockets, bags, under seats, you name it and I don't think I've ever had it move on me on it's own. Especially if you're cognizant of it and put your hand over it when pull it in / out of your pockets, etc.
