The key thing is, what do you need it for, what type of enviroment will you be using it in, and what kind of enviroment will you be playing back the audio in?

I may be of help.

I'm the IT director for my high school's performence arts center (big words for a theater).

I can help you out here to get professional audio.

So lets begin.

Mini-Discs: Use these. They are much better unless you want to use DVD-audio (which is much better than MD's). Our theater, (and most professional theaters/sound labs) use MD for recording live performences. This is practically the standard, though there are better, like DVD-audio. BTW, that mini-dics player you are selecting isn't going to cut it, that things meant for the average joe ripping crap off of kazaa. You need a pro-solution like a denon DN-1100R.

http://www.maya.cz/minidisc/minidisc/part_Denon_DN-1100R.html

Dictaphones: This for use by business men, not meant for recording high-quality audio. I suggest using a lavalier for recording audio from people. A shotgun microphone and a omni-directional microphone is also recommended. If you plan on recording music/singing, then a vocal and instrument mic are also needed for the best quality. A percussion mic is also a good idea for things like kick-drums. The particular types of mic to use gets tricky, so unless you are serious, I won't go into it too much as its quite a bit to type.

You'll need a computer, a good one for encoding audio. Preferably a single-core intel or dual-core AMD and lots of memory. You'll also need a good sound-card, a pro solution, so not an audigy, but more like a E-MU, also from creative.

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=237&subcategory=239&product...

You'll also need a mixing board, a effects processor like a lexicon PCM91 series (for things like reverb).

http://www.lexiconpro.com/pcm91/index.asp

You also need a software and hardware MIDI controller. Adobe Audition is pretty sweet for software.
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html
Make sure all the hardware you buy has a/d converters and XLR support.

BTW, many of things you buy will be rackmount, meaning it will be mounted on a rack.

This is of course just scratching the surface. If you are still interested in producing top notch sound, I will walk you through all the different things you need to know and buy.

Hi Ben, if your recording a Lecture, you do need a high quality one. Autopilot knows what he is on about so i shall leave the ins and outs to him, but i have had a couple, and recording in large rooms has resulted in very poor playback.

Ok, sorry about my above post, I misread your post cause you said you need high-quality sound and recording and I took that a step too far.

What you want to be able to do, you won't be able to do with one machine.

For recording univercity lectures, well, this a tricky situation, especially if the lecture is in a big room like I know many are (with 300+ people inside). Well, when they tape lectures for lectures on tape or documentaries, you'll notice the audio is crisp sharp and above all, very audible. Well, this is because of either two reasons. The professor is wearing a lavalier (a mic connected to a wireless transmitter) or there is a shotgun mic right above him or a combination of the two. You of course will not be able to do this unless you have a very very nice professor. I would get a dicaphone (like the one you mentioned) and plug an external mic into it. the clarity of the lecture will depend on how ar away you are. You'll also pick up noise like backgound noise (doors closing, outside stuff). You'll also pickup noise that occurs between you and the professor. Meaning, if someone sneezes between you and the professors, that person will be heard louder and more clearly than the professor. In addition, lecture halls aren't made for recording sound and often echo adding more junk.
My advice: Get a close seat and use an external mic. DOn't expect stellar sound though.

For singing, an MD recorder (like the one you selected) is best and the quality is pretty good. Simply plug it in to your karaoke machine (karaoke machine's headphone jack to MD recorder's mic jack).

If you don't have a karoke machine or don't use one, well, you can use an external mic, but recording will be so-so at best.

Keep in mind, the devices you chosen aren't exactly the best for producing top notch sound. A dictaphone is really meant for use in small room like a conference room or allowing  person to make audio notes to himself. Its not meant for signing or anything like that. An MD player, will offer better performence here and be more useful. I guess in summary, buy the MD player over the dictaphone, but none are really what I would call ideal solutions.

The ones that would be ideal cost a bundle more.

BTW,
Quote:


Both record digitally. Its just the recording medium is different. The dictaphone uses a built-in internal flash drive thats not easily removable. This means when you run out of space, you'll have to delete whats on the drive to make room or offload whats already on there to a computer via USB and then delete it.

The MD player uses MD (duh). So when you run out of space, just insert another MD and your ready to go. MD's aren't expensive btw.

Actually, like computers and cars, they are not all the same.

For you, I highly recommend this sony MD recorder:
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_Display...

Its pretty decent.