Having "killed" more cheap tape recorders than I care to count, I would strongly recomment that you "up" your budget slightly, and seek out a used Sony TCD-5M (Stereo) - which was the standard cassette precursor to the Sony TCD-D7 and D8 DAT recorders. I've seen the TCD-5M advertised used for as little as $30. Another good alternative - particularly if you don't care about stereo - would be one of the Marantz series of mono and stereo these are professional-quality portable systems used a lot by interviewers, court reporters, and bird song recorders - the Marantz systems tend to be less expensive than the top of the line Sony TCM-5000 Mono recorder favoured by a lot of bird song enthusiasts.
I would also highly recommend you purchase a decent microphone instead of relying on the built-in mike in the recorder. I "splurged" on a "top of the low end" Peavy PVM22, which I paid $100 for about 3 years ago. I've been very happy with it, even when I've used it with el-cheapo tape recorders. The quality of your microphone is really much more significant than the quality of the recorder itself, I think, when it comes to recording vocal music well.
Karen Mercedes http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html *************************************** What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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