I'm just wondering what people's preferred recording devices are now. My mini disc recorder is finally on its last legs (it works, but the display no longer comes on), so i need to replace it soon with a digital one. What do y'all think works best for excerpts, recitals, & what sounds best for pro-cd quality? I've fiddled around w/ a Zoom, but i'm not sure what else is out there that's recommended for musicians.

My Mrs. uses an Edirol R-09, which is excellent. Easy to use, one-touch recording, excellent sound from the built-in mics. I use an Olympus LS-10. The Olympus gets slightly less desireable sound -- I think the mics lose the low end a bit compared to the Edirol -- but it has some good relative features: aluminum body, built in memory as well as card memory, easier to read screen for me and such. Both have 1/8 in. mic jacks for if we want to record from a good external mic.

A laptop, interface and software is by far the most powerful tool out there. If you don't want to go that route, this is the best prosumer machine out there: Korg MR1000. If you dont want to spend that kind of money, it's baby brother is half the price: Korg MR1

Neither has a built-in mic. Both of those units use 1 bit technology, which is used for the SACD format.

You would still need a computer to get the sound OUT of the unit and on a disc at some point.

I wasn't sure and got the computer (a dedicated laptop) a firewire audio interface, Protools is what I got for software but it was DIFFICULT TO LEARN THE BASICS AND DOES NOT COME WITH EASY TO INTERPRET INSTRUCTIONS (and I have advanced degrees!)so it took a LONG time for me to figure it out on my own...I know a lot of people use some version of CakeWalk; then good mics...that was hard to figure out...i am still experimenting on that because the moderate professional level room type I got did not get the result I wanted. Now I am trying attached close mics. I am TOLD that studios use a combo of that and room mics of high quality and there is a way to place them. You also need decent room accoustics. Close mics negate this a little which is another reason I had to go that way. THEN with the software, there is a learning curve to get the master to sound correctly even if you are NOT editing the playing at all. Then you have to figure out how to set the gain. I have found the process of digital recording very complex to learn having been used to just setting up a mic and recording in the past. Note that home recording on computers has only been decently available since about 2005 so it is a new market. The tech support is also almost nil. SO...if you are going CD quality that is what you will end up doing. I am still learning it, and each thing I try improves the result. Someone will surely say now that all of this is not necessary, I will argee for just auditions. BUT if you really want CD quality it is. I figured I was going to spend some bucks so why not be able to make my own CD's as well as auditions. ALSO, I have found playing through that system and listening with earphones invaluable to get more of an idea of how I sound to others and in catching errors. I just set it up to record while I am practicing so that I can critic myself as I hear it and also as I listen back to it; usually deleting these as practice files of course. It has taught me how to "place" notes and shape them as well as to hear how I phrase. It also allows me to try different concepts and listen back to see which one I like at the time, or in the future. I have found that sound engineering, however, is an art unto itself, that naturally most of the sound engineers have just gained their expertise through trial and error just like playing an instrument and they cannot describe exactly HOW they do what they do except generally so you have to experiment a lot, that the post production takes longer than the performance part of it, that it is NOT EASY and I admire their expertise and see why they charge for the time now. As an aside, I now can hear in even profession CD's where things were inadequately done whereas before the CD's sounded weak but I didn't know why. For example, I heard one the other day for a vocalist; she did fine; however whoever did it had her mic-ed too close and the level on the piano was way too low. She could have sounded better. My challange now is to get a "natural" sound which is more difficult than one might imagine. I have learned this is an accoustical challange for woodwinds. Easier to record brass instruments, percussion, guitars, keyboard, midi instruments, even strings and get a good sound right away. Woodwinds have sound coming from the end, the tone holes; and to make it worse cross fingerings cause other issues. ANYONE in the field says that and will say that. So it is VERY difficult to get an evenly distributied sound. If the lows are picked up well, the highs will be deficient for example. Again, I have learned through lots of questioning; if one has the right software and interface; it comes down to microphone type and quality and placement. The other oddity in digital recording, to me, vs old tape recording. The recorder is PROCESSING the sound in some way into digets/numbers; so the sound is PROCESSED and that is why it doesn't necessarily come out "natural". The straight recording didn't process the sound. So THAT is the tough part getting that processed sound to represent the true sound. It is just NOT easy. Now, realize I started this process last May, I had to read a 900 page book before I could begin to use the software...that took a while...I had to learn lots of new terminology that wasn't always defined in the book...I had to look through and see what applied to me...I had to figure out what things didn't really fit...then as I attempted my first recording I made all kinds of errors I could only learn after I tried it; like not setting Gain right for example. But I had to learn what RIGHT was in my situation. THEN I had to figure out the mic situation. At first it was sounding like instrument in a box. Then I am still learning the final mastering. I haven't gotten far on that part. Then there is transferring and saving the files and getting it on the disc! I have spent hours and hours on it; as one recording engineer said to me, you were lucky you were ignorant of the process or you would have never attempted it! It is true! BUTTTT I will say this, it is adding a new creative extension to my instrument. It is like learning an instrument to learn how to do it well.

Having said this, I don't know what others are doing, but I started out like you; what do I get if I want a pro level CD?

At this point, it is a project that I am into way too deep to stop! However, with the emphasis on recording over performance for people that just enjoy listening...it is probably what the musicians of the future will be. The nice thing once I get it all figured out is that when I do perform, it is a product that is permanent. Someone living in another part of the world can hear how I play, so it extends my reach beyond just the local.
There are sites to market your product. So, GOOOOODDDD LUCKKKKK...but if you go the proCD level route...this is the way it is...YES, to everyone that says they don't do all of that....you can do it with a disc recorder...but you stated you wanted pro level...and that is going to be something like this. By the way, the software I use, IS a type used for many CD's out in the market.

Macbook + Garage Band + Snowball microphone = simple, portable, professional recordings.