I have a sony ICD UX200 AND I love it..it is very small...recording quality to my not demanding ears is very good..especially good from farther away..gets static etc. close up...but I have some great recordings from camps etc. It makes MP3s without having to convert, and it is easy enough for me to figure out and use, which is a bonus. No, a requirement. Sine qua non. I had some sort of discount..think regular price from Amazon is about $65 US. mg