"Erik" wrote in message
I'm a student about to enter a conservatory next year for classical
performance, and I'm looking at options for recording concerts, master
classes and other important events.

I just sold my D7 and bought a Nomad Jukebox 3. Haven't really gotten into
it yet, but I think it will be a great replacement. Limitations of a DAT:

Tapes. Switching tapes every 60 minutes is a pain if the concert lasts
longer than an hour and has no good place to take the time to switch.
Real-time transfer. With the Jukebox I can transfer via USB or Firewire,
much faster than real time.
Availability of tapes. There's nowhere in my town that stocks DAT tapes.
No major electronics stores carry them either. I bought the last of the
stock in BestBuy once. You can order them through mail order, but you'd
better make sure you have plenty on hand at all times.

The Jukebox will record in WAV format, so no worry about compression. A 20
gig hard drive is enough to store at least a concert, and that's all I ever
need. There are several others such as the iRiver, CoreSound, and I think
SoundProfessionals has one either out or on the way. I found the Jukebox to
be the most cost-effective.