I too have a Zoom which I think ou can buy in the US for about $159 from many outlets according to Froogle etc - mine in the UK cost me £138 I think

It is easy to use - you turn it on. Press the big button in the middle and a flashing red light comes on. You press it again and it records. You press it again it stops.

You would need to experiment a bit as it has a LOW MIDDLE HIGH setting - if it's loud choose LOW if it's (say) singing at home or in a pub probably MIDDLE if it's very quiet choose HIGH. You'll soon get the hang of it.

You can choose to record at WAV CD quality or various levels of mp3 - I usually choose 320kbps Mp3 as it is small and reasonable quality. The one thing that you need to experiemnt a bit with is the level you record at - you can make things louder (normalize them) on a computer with something like Audacity or Reaper or similar but if you record them and they clip (distort when they are loudest) then you can't make them better

To copy it to a computer you need a cable (supplied) which goes from USB on computer to the Zoom. Once it's in the computer you can make it louder and then burn it to a cd or do what you want with it. i reckon now after a gig or practice etc I can download and make something reasonable within 10 or 15 minutes.

No effects or anything used

Here are some examples from several different places:

The first is from two live gigs - one a jazz band my son plays in recorded at a wedding recently. The little recorder sat on the floor on the stage so you can hear feet now and again! Also in that folder is an outdoor beer festival we played at the other week - again I turned it on and left it on the front of the stage -

Jazz and outdoor gigs

The next are some things we recorded at home just practicing when a friend came. I just turned it on and put it on the table in the living room

Living room

The last is from a gig where I put it at the back of the hall and just left it on

Living room