Bonnie, I'm saving up for a Mini-Disc recorder myself. A friend of mine, who is actually a performer, and has a small studio at home has been using one of the Sony's and swears by it. I believe, he paid about $500-$600 Cdn for the recorder and mic. (roughly 50/50)

Depending on what you are going to do with the recordings dictates what sort of money you spend on the microphone. If you want good QUALITY recordings, don't skimp on it.