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So, I went to office depot to get a digital voice recorder and was talking to the store guy about them. Basically with all the bells and whistles not being uniform across brands or up the design tree from basic to fully loaded I was inquiring as to which one would be best for recording jam sessions of a few musicians. I was instructed that the recorders while fine for conference rooms, wouldnt record music with very good quality. Has anyone come accross this before? Apparently the digital algorythm that cuts out the ambient background noise cant handle varying pitches, modes or timbers from multiple instruments without considering some of them "background noise". ha ha, aint that the truth! The option is to add a plug in condenser mic but I was hoping for a simple solution. The guy actually said I should just use the camcorder option on my cellphone, that the quality would be the same.
Soooooo,. all you big time recording guys anyone got a good solution? $100 bucks is probably my limit for this.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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I bet Daniel will have a very in-depth extreamly loooong reply on this one!
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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You went to the wrong kind of store Picklefish. You should go to a music store like Guitar Center. I have try the Zoom H1 and H2 that are in your budget but my camcorder records better than those to me.
Here's some around your budget but if I was you I would go to a music store and get their opinions on what exactly you want to do with it. The Guitar Center by me has demos and a sound room where they let you try them out.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com.....-recorders
I have this and love it > http://www.musiciansfriend.com.....l-recorder
But as Dennis said, I'm sure Daniel will write an everything you need to know comment 
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Well, while it might be possible to find a good deal on a recorder at Office Depot, if they just happened to have one where you researched the specs and etc.. Mostly those are intended for use more as a voice notepad or for recording conferences. Noise reduction like they have is for eliminating handling noise and air currents mostly and with the limited audio bandwidth that is specialized for voice just isn't going to be what you want for sound quality. It's going to butcher sound pretty bad, so far as getting nice transparent audio recording.
In your price range, Pf, and having some idea what you're likely to want for sound quality.. Think about a used laptop.
That is a project I am working in right now, since I was given one recently. I want a nice little portable studio that can go on location anywhere and where I don't have to deal with too many compromises so far as capability.
It is probably bigger than you want to consider, since it wouldn't be "pocket sized sexy" tech. But even an older laptop is going to have more horsepower and a bigger screen for things like editing and maybe some multitrack.
Myself, if I can keep it down to a briefcase and the laptop case, that will be portable enough. I can fit in an 8 channel mixer, a couple half-rack units (compressor limiter and multi-fx), a tube pre-amp for my studio mic, my studio mic, and a rechargeable battery pack to run the small studio gear if AC power isn't available. With a nice full function recording utility like Audacity or a DAW like Darkwave Studio, I can do a lot with that. I don't want much, yknow? LOL
For on-the-spot quick catches of impromptu jams and etc, some cell phones aren't so bad these days. It will always be some trade-off, but if you carry a cell anyway, you may as well make the thing work for a living.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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I think the Zoom h1 is the way I will go. But first I am gonna try my cell phone, if it works well enough I will hold off. I need a new computer anyways since mine is 10 years old and dragging. I can build a laptop from components reasonably cheap, cheaper than buying a premade one at least. Thanks for the advice yall.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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OK, now for my 2cents worth of info.
In your price range a simple hand held device like this would be perfect.
http://www.wwbw.com/TASCAM-DR-.....src=tascam
http://www.wwbw.com/Zoom-H1-Ha.....+recorders
http://www.wwbw.com/TASCAM-DR-.....+recorders
If you wanted to double that budget they also have a lot of other devices that would be p[erfect and they are actually made for recording music.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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