"The cheapest basic sound-recording devices are generally designed and intended for recording the speaking voice, as for dictation and phone messages, etc. Tonal fidelity, noise reduction, etc., are not at issue.

Equipment capable of recording music in a satisfactory manner is a separate category."

it all depends what you want the recordings for. What the OP requires is something to record tunes and songs for sharing and learning, and a small digital voice recorder is fine for this. If you were making recordings for eventual distribution on CD, you'd obviously want something much better. But why spend a fortune on high-spec kit that you don't really need? I'm reminded of my ex-husband who had to buy a Mac G4 at £1500, when all he ever used was Word the internet.

I have used my digital voice recorder to interview people, record tunes in sessions and record singing in pubs. It's been fine for my purposes, and would be even better with a good external mic lined in. No need to spend hundreds of pounds, IMHO, for stuff like this.