I would recommend the Olympus WS-852 Digital Recorder on the affordable side and the ZOOM H4 on the premium side. I use both depending on the type of interview and/or location. Nowadays, you can really use your phone or computer to record your interviews, but I would play it safe and go with the most reliable way. I hope this helps.

Thank you Angel. I’m going to be in a less than perfect room so need to focus on finding a device that has a strong microphine. Would you advise an external microphone?

If you have a large group an external omnidirectional mic is a big advantage. However, I have been surprised by my

SONY ICD PX333 Digital Voice Recorder, which has served me very well while in my pocket and interviewing people at a loud construction site. I would not use a phone, I have had issues with that in the past and usually only use it as a secondary recording source Hope that helps, best wishes.

Thank you Ben. Does your device take an external mic? Much appreciate your input.

I have found Olympus audio recorders to give very good performance. When it is an individual interview, I use an external microphone (the one's I use are very inexpensive, bought at stores like Radio Shack) on the person's lapel.

I try always to have one extra audio recorder for each interviewer, or at least 2-3 extra (total) if working in a team, and extra batteries (rechargable if possible). One problem with using one's phone is that if it is full of other data or stuff on the phone, there may not be enough room for the audio-recording. Just something to keep in mind.

Thank you Betania. Much appreciated.

Well I have to report back and say how fantastic the SONY ICD-PX333 was. A big thank you to all your suggestions and to Ben for nailing the decision for me. It is light, discrete, economic on power, whilst powerful and above all reliable. It took me a little while to learn how to use the folders and sub folders, but only a few minutes practice. I used a tie mic during interviews, but to be perfectly honest, the recorder without the external mic was just as good. I also dabbled with my Mac, an external mic and the software audacity for focus groups - it was way too complicated and my little trusty SONY saved the day.

Best of luck anyone on this mission!

Kisane Prutton Do the Sony recorders use regular file types now (e.g. MP3) or are they still in a proprietary format? That was why I switched to Olympus from Sony in the past.

Hi Christina, I’m pretty sure they were MP3 files. I’ve certainly been able to import them into Express Scribe, for transcription.

Olympus WS-852 Digital Recorder

Very simple. Go to Lazda or Alibaba or Amazon.