Hi all,
I'm looking to buy a pocket digital recorder and am coming to this forum to share my research and ask for the opinions of the experienced folks here.
I intend to use this recorder for a number of related applications:
First, I'm a writer and need the functionality of a pocket voice recorder to capture notes and ideas on the go, and make quick interviews -- so portability and ease of getting right into record mode is important.
But while sometimes these are just the rough "voice notes" that I'll later transcribe, there are occasions when my spoken word is something that I'll want to later share. So I always record in the highest mode available and I never delete my audio recordings. Audio quality is important -- the recordings might end up on a podcast or as part of some professional release, such as an audio track on an album.
I also plan to use this recorder for occasional field recordings -- readings and spoken-word performances, concerts, field recordings of parties and other social situations as well as out "in nature" where I'll be capturing spoken word and other ambient sounds. I'm not looking for absolute studio quality, but it should be capable of making a decent field recording that one would enjoy listening to.
Finally, I use linux, so unfortunately HiMD is out.
I'm thinking that the Zoom H2 might be good, but I'm concerned about the negative reviews and complaints. On the lowest end, the Olympus DS-40 seemed fantastic as a voice recorder (even though it records in WMA), but you can't use removable memory and I question its worth as an occasional field recorder.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.