It looks like I may be able to convince the powers that be where I work that I need to get a flash recorder. The archives wants to start recording lectures and presentations to preserve them and to make them available on our website. (Their initial test, which they conducted before consulting me, was to stick a handheld consumer brand MP3 recorder on the lecturer's podium. "It sounds just fine to me!" one person said. Sure, and while we're at it, let's take some pictures on a camera phone to accompany this high quality web content... Hi, I'm in snark mode...) I think I've made them see that in order to make things suitable for web delivery, we need to start with the highest quality possible since the quality will inevitably suffer once it's compressed down to streaming content or MP3 or the like.
Anyway, I've never bought a flash recorder and was hoping for recommendations, particularly brands and models to look for and to avoid. (Ditto for dealers of the equipment, too.) What we get doesn't have to be top of the line, and right now we're only at the stage where my supervisor is asking me to find quotes, preferably cheap ones. But I'm well aware that you get what you pay for, so I don't want to get something worthless. I'd also like this recorder to be able to interface with the archives auditorium's existing PA system, assuming that there are the right ins and outs on both, so to speak.
Comments and questions welcome here or off-list. Thanks!
Trey Bunn Folklife Archivist Alabama Department of Archives and History Montgomery, AL