Used portable analog tape recorders for decades. Switched to MD in 2000. Would NEVER go back. Same story for all the people I know who do field recordings. The thing I miss LEAST about analog recordings is the variations in recording speeds caused by draining batteries.

What I would like next is a TRULY portable device that records WAV (not MP3) files directly to CD or DVD. It would be the same size as the smallest portable CD player and battery powered. I want WAV because I don't want a compressed or proprietary format. I want it to use CDs or DVDs because that's where everything ends up anyway.