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Hi all,
I'm looking to acquire a new recording device as a Christmas gift to
myself. I have a Nagra IV sitting in a drawer, and numerous cassette
portable recorders. I suppose it's time to join the digital ranks and
I'd like to have a good digital recorder for multiple purposes:
- capturing nature sounds
- capturing musical events (concerts, musical jams with friends)
- capturing conversations, family interviews

The Zoom H2 is appealing to me: cheap, easy to use, reasonably good
sound, self-contained, very portable.

However I might like to get something a little better, and thought of
the Fostex FR-2LE. This may be overkill for what I'm trying to do,
and I would need to use some good external mics (I assume the built-in
mics aren't of the same quality as the H2?), but I feel the Fostex may
provide a more durable and long-lived solution than the H2. I suppose
in a similar price range to the Fostex would be the smaller footprint
Sony PCM-D-50 and Marantz PMD620.

Thoughts, suggestions? Thanks!