Advice on Portable Recorder

Posted by Giacomo (A) on February 16, 2006 at 11:47:26

I apologize if this is off-topic: perhaps due to being a little old-fashioned I still associate portable recorders with tape. On the other hand, I've searched the Archives and hardly anything has come out ... So, as usual, thanks in advance for any advice, including referrals to a more proper place to ask this question if it is inappropriate here. And after the disclaimer, the question.

I am looking for an affordable portable recorder to record myself playing the piano and some chamber music with friends.
Portability is not very important: I just need to move it from one place to another, but not to operate it on the fly, moving, on batteries, etc.
Affordability is very important: since I am very much an amateur, I cannot justify spending "professional money". Anything above $250 would have to be justified by stellar improvements in performance, and frankly I'd rather spend less.
However, I do have a basic requirement for recording quality, since the whole point is being able to listen to ourselves ex post and discuss where we could sound better: if we hit wrong notes we know already, so we are interested in finer nuances, though of course we don't expect studio quality or anything.

I was thinking of cassettes by default, because I am not familiar with any other medium.
Also, I've seen that good tape recorders seem to have become cheap enough for me. Are those good deals, or is the catch that they need to be re-tuned and the service costs big money?
Should I aim for one of the once-famous "broadcast quality" recorders such as Sony TC-D5 or Marantz PMD-430? Or am I better off buying something less fancy but that is less likely to have been stressed by professional use? Is there a conventional wisdom on which models are worth having?
Or am I mistaken in looking at tape to begin with?
Last but not least, how should I think of splitting the budget between recorder and microphone, and where do I learn anything on microphone choice?

Again, thank you very much!

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Topic - Advice on Portable Recorder - Giacomo 11:47:26 02/16/06 (27)

Go cheap and simple first - ironbut 18:24:57 02/20/06 (1)

Thanks for the advice - Giacomo 23:03:59 02/20/06 (0)

Re: Advice on Portable Recorder - dadbar 09:17:05 02/19/06 (0)

Re: Advice on Portable Recorder - benshapiro 01:17:09 02/17/06 (3)

Depending? - Giacomo 01:45:16 02/17/06 (2)

Re: Depending? - benshapiro 08:17:53 02/17/06 (1)

Thanks - Giacomo 10:36:38 02/17/06 (0)

Re: Advice on Portable Recorder - Bersani 18:59:56 02/16/06 (12)

Is MiniDisc the answer? - Giacomo 02:06:00 02/17/06 (11)

heck yeah, go with the laptop - Bersani 10:27:33 02/17/06 (7)

Yes, I'm sold on this solution - Giacomo 11:05:55 02/17/06 (6)

Re: Yes, I'm sold on this solution - TurboSwami 00:27:28 03/16/06 (1)

Thanks! I'm almost there, actually - Giacomo 10:36:41 03/16/06 (0)

Re: Yes, I'm sold on this solution - Bersani 14:37:12 02/17/06 (3)

OK, I'll move to the PC Audio forum, but ... - Giacomo 15:21:24 02/17/06 (2)

here's a solution - Bersani 20:23:11 02/17/06 (1)

Interesting! - Giacomo 00:26:31 02/18/06 (0)

That TASCAM interface should do the job nicely - soundnut 08:44:11 02/17/06 (2)

A PC interface is the way to go, I see - Giacomo 11:08:47 02/17/06 (1)

Here's what I'd do - soundnut 17:07:02 02/17/06 (0)

A couple of ideas - soundnut 16:26:55 02/16/06 (2)

I notice a pattern - Giacomo 16:41:53 02/16/06 (1)

Re: I notice a pattern - soundnut 08:14:51 02/17/06 (0)

Re: Advice on Portable Recorder - proaudio5@hotmail.com 12:24:40 02/16/06 (3)

Advice on Portable Recorder (further reflection) - proaudio5@hotmail.com 12:40:44 02/16/06 (2)

Re: Advice on Portable Recorder (further reflection) - Giacomo 16:35:08 02/16/06 (1)

Re: Advice on Portable Recorder (further reflection) - proaudio5@hotmail.com 07:47:41 02/17/06 (0)

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