For field recording, HiMD isn't a bad way to go. The discs are cheap
compared to flash memory, and the HiMD unit itself is cheaper than a (high
capacity) HD based unit with a decent recording capability. On top of that,
your field recordings can be transferred back to your PC through USB.

Are you sure of that? I'd heard there was no way to transfer back the
recordings except through the analog port. What is the transfer speed?
Note also that if you transfer in ATRAC form, you're left with the
proprietary ATRAC format. Is there a fast way to convert ATRAC to MP3?

I recently gnashed over this question for a while and ended up buying
a Marantz mp3 recorder that's nice for music recording, but is way more
cumbersome and expensive than a minidisc recorder, just to get around
the stupid ATRAC stuff.