I have the Zoom H4 (not available anymore, they've replaced it with the H4N) and I've heard very good things about the Zoom H2 and the Zoom H1. My model doesn't have very intuitive controls, but to make a basic recording isn't difficult. I've heard that they've improved the user interface on the newer models. One thing to keep in mind is that you probably want something that records MP3's. I had a small digital recorder, an Olympus, I think, but it recorded on some special format that would have had to be converted to MP3 in order to send it to others so that they could listen.