I can't seem to find the thread about it, but I've heard replacing the battery on the iRiver is not particularly complicated.
I think most people would agree that its probably just best to get a new handheld recorder. Sony M10 is a very popular favorite. Roland R-05. Tascam DR-05 is pretty cheap. Tascam DR-2d does 4 channels.
Thats not really much help for what you looking for, but thought it might be something to think about.
Thanks. Yes, I swapped out the harddrive some years back to a 60g drive, my 40g was getting noisy at the time, and I was having trouble finding 40giggers...... What worries me most, is that the charge jack is getting wonky, and though I'm competent with a soldering iron, the board is all "surface mount" components, and so I'm nervous about applying heat. Perhaps I should just back up my data and go for it. It's just too bad they didn't charge thru the USB port, then we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Other things -
I've always been satisfied with recordings for the most part, but it only records up to 16/44 PCM.
I LOVE ROCKBOX! In case you're not aware, rockbox is an open source OS for music players. It is superior to the stock UIs that came with players from the mid-2000s. At that time, there wasn't really any affordable portable recorders that had any appreciable storage, and that's when the Iriver became a star....
So I've become addicted to the features that rockbox offers for recording - I've got the pre-record set at an OUTRAGEOUS 30 seconds, so if I'm taping and I'm at the bar or set up on a balcony or something, I have plenty of time to get to my rig if the band happens to start up unexpectedly. And the recording level "safeties" are great for automatically reducing level in a subtle way if it gets loud without warning.
Not seeing that in other recorders, they should definitely all check it out - probably have.....
I've looked at the Sony, that does look really nice. I'm guessing the ability to customize that interface is not there..... But could be the way to move forward.