[Geoff]

P wrote:
I use an iRiver H320 with a small Sony stereo mic for such jobs. Auto
record level can be defeated (though I often don't).

It's interesting you mention iRiver, as a friend showed me his just
last weekend. My misgivings were much the same as I've previously
expressed - ability to handle high volume - but also its versatility
or otherwise in setting the bitrate for recordings, and available
recording capacity, in minutes.

As before - it's not the recorder (so much) or the medium that is affected
by volume, but the microphone. Unless the input circuitry is for some
reason inferior then 'sound level' does not come into the equation wrt
recording media.

DAT has several drawbacks, including fragility, short record time, high
battery drain, linear access only, and limited recording formats

geoff