I am trying to find a digital recorder which, equipped with a decent
microphone, provides sound quality equal or superior to that of a good
portable cassette recorder (for instance, any of the high end Sony
portable tape recorders).  I'm referring to a machine that uses
regular cassettes, not microcassettes.  I am interested in taping
CD-quality interviews in person and also over the phone.  So far I
have used the Olympus DM-1 and found its sound disappointingly tinny
and distorted.  I'm not sure if this is because of the software,  the
KBS rate, or other factors.  Plus, this Olympus only records to a
proprietary DSS format, which is another problem.  Ideally, I would
like to record directly to MP3 format.  I recently read a PC Magazine
review stating that the iRiver iHP 120 -- which apparently does record
to MP3 -- is a "superb" voice recorder. But, since they don't define
what they mean by superb, I don't know what this means.  Is it, or any
other digital recorder, as good as a first-rate cassette recorder?  Is
the iRiver now the best of the digitals?  Is there any way to find a
first-hand source on this?

Why do you not want to use a MD recoder ?
I use a rather cheap Sharp MD recorder for recording voice and music
at really excellent quality.
You can get a link to some sound samples (interviews in german
however) online if you´re interested in.

till-ga

Timsee --
A couple of months ago, I, too, was looking for a top of the line
digital recorder.  I asked professional journalist friends what they
use, including a radio interviewer who does celebrity interviews, and
needs a broadcast quality portable recorder.

He swears by the MARANTZ PMD 670.  It records in stereo or mono and
you can choose to record in PCM, MP3 and MP2.  File format can be
.wav, .bwf.,mpg. or .mp3.
A 1 gigibyte compact flash card will let you record up to 17 hours.

I bought the thing and it does seem pretty amazing, but I'm a newbie
at the technical side of audio, so have had to get help in
understanding the manual!

Here's the website for it -- unfortunately, the downside is it's
REALLY expensive.  Particularly once you start buying compact flash
cards and extra batteries, etc.    The PMD670 is really popular and is
often on back order on assorted websites.  My radio friend recommended
I get mine from Sol Mineroff on Long Island (there's a website), and
in fact, they were selling it for more than $100 less than anybody
else.

here's a link to the PMD670 on Marant'z site.  They also have more
inexpensive digital recorders there, too.

http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=1582&CatID=19&SubCatID=180

I'd agree with the other poster who mentioned Minidisc (MD) as an
option. I have a couple older models I picked up for next to nothing
(one I got for nothing actually) and I have been recording live bands
with a compact condensor mic (rather pricy one though @ $80) and the
quality is quite good, for voice I'd assume it's excellent. I bought
an external volume control for the mic since adjusting it on the MD
recorder is sort of a pain (can't do it on the fly, not intuitive,
have to be in a certain "mode", etc).

A hot contender to the Marantz and iRiver models is Creative Nomad Jukebox 3.
Definitely CD quality recording, and easy transfer to the PC (.Wav or MP3).
Like iRiver, this records straight to HDD. Creative are selling then
for $200 refurbished on eBay.

Many MD users are already leaving that format for hard disc recording
like these mentioned above. As others said, MD is still cheaper
though, if you pick up a recorder 2nd hand.