Hey John...
Long Time No See and all that...
Looks like you already have your eyes on an MR-1.
I'm currently using 2 of them at shows, so I'm probably your best consumer advocate.
I wish the battery issue weren't an issue, but it is. My firs MR-1 holds a charge for about 20 mins now. That's it. So you can get ready, get set, then dig around for that adapter from the battery pack and make sure the switch is on-- taped on, if its in your pocket. I can't really get more than 2.5 hours out of it now before I have to power down, switch battery packs and power up again. I can do this in about 1 minute, but still, it is a pain. I'd love for Korg to sell me about 6 batteries so I can replace them myself, but Korg doesn't even want to believe that MR-1 exists now.
That said, I still love it, even if i have to have proprietary adapters made for the inputs.
The other thing that's a pain is that invariably, I record DSDIFF, which is huge. A 2-hour show can no longer be archived to a DVD. The files are just that big.
So while they are great, especially if you can get one with a 2 hr+ battery life, you will spend the money saved pretty fast on hard drives & storage for your giant files.
Oh!
And the cord to plug them in? HUGE and inconvenient. Taking 2 of those to NYC tomorrow and that is 1/2 of my audio gear bag.
But like I said, if you can get one for about $200 with a decent charge left in the battery, grab a few extra battery packs with solid batteries in them and you have a great unit. I love the interface and I can work that thing in the dark or in my pocket with no problem.
If I didn't already have one, I would not have just gotten another, and now that I have 2, if I could get one more, I would.
But since you are starting from scratch, I'd say go a different route. Korg discontinued these for a reason.
Right now the only unit I'm looking at to compete with the M10 is a Tascam DR-2D.
I don't think it really competes, but the price is the same.
I really want a PMD620. for $200, but that doesn't seem to exist.
Let us know what you decide!
jb