I bought an old ghetto blaster with built-in stereo mikes for £5 in a garage-sale a few months back, and it seems to do the job pretty well.

If I was trying to get something with a number of instruments, maybe something more sophisticated would be worth it, a better mike for example - but when you think about the kind of recordings that were made before the modern equipment was invented, it seems to indicate it isn't really needed for our kinds of music.

The great thing with a CD is you can skip over the tracks that embarass you...