Lee Wadsworth wrote:

I may still need a minidisc or something like that - the kids play at
Disneyland and Knotts each year and I don't know how they would react to the
laptop setup.


Might check out http://www.nomadworld.com/products/Jukebox3/

About $250 for 30 hours of uncompressed 16/44.1 recording. So-so A/D
converters but it has a digital input so you can upgrade to an external
unit later. No preamp.