Thanks for the reply Evan! What's my budget huh? Well with exchange rates and all it's probably easiest to equate it to the cost of(really good) cups of coffee. So , something in the equivalent range of 100 cups would suit me fine. I'm happy to buy a separate "mike", and thought about some small speakers to enhance usability when I'm away from home.( I imagined purchasing those when I had recovered both fiscally and from caffeine withdrawal-a 12 step programme would not go astray here!) Recording time? I'm pretty open on that- I Know there have been some pretty major improvements, so 20 hour playback++. As I said, nothing too fancy is required here.Th