In music recording circles I often see this portable recorder recorder from Sony, retailing in the USA for just under US$600. To quote from the brochure...
The PCM-D50 is a 96 kHz/24-bit recorder fitted with two-position (X-Y or Wide) stereo microphones, 4 GB of internal flash memory and a Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo™ slot (for additional storage). The body of the D50 is constructed of lightweight metal (aluminum) and it's built rugged to withstand the demands of pro applications, plus it offers long battery life using conventional AA alkaline batteries. The recorder includes a USB high-speed port for simple uploading/downloading its native .WAV format files to/from Windows® PC or Macintosh® computers. Other unique PCM-D50 features include digital pitch control, dual digital limiter (inherited from the PCM-D1), low-cut filter, Super Bit Mapping®, A-B repeat and MP3 playback capability. To complement the D50 recorder, new optional accessories include a remote commander, tripod stand, and microphone windscreen. Additionally, the D50 offers compadible mounting and use with the recently introduced XLR-1 wide-bandwidth balanced XLR microphone adapter. There is also a 5 second pre-recording buffer
Not quite the PCM-D1 , but then it less than one third of the price. This development, along with the new Marantz are putting some competition back in the market. I believe this can only benefit the consumer. Note the 4 GB of internal memory. I was really disappointed that HHB in the UK just milked their Flashmic design dry and did nothing to follow suite.
