good portable digital audio recorders?

Hi Everyone,

I'm interested in doing outdoor environmental recordings (ocean surf,
storms, rustling leaves, singing birds) with a portable digital audio
recorder and a couple of microphones. I am also on a limited budget, so
let's say I have less than $1,000 to spend on everything. I'm thinking of
getting a portable (battery-operated) digital audio recorder by Marantz that
can sample at cd-quality frequencies and write direclty to a flash-ram card.
Later, I'll transfer the flash-ram data onto my pc and create audio cd's for
myself and my friends. I'd also need a couple of omnidirectional
microphones, probably with wind-screens if I'm planning on recording
outdoors on a windy day.

moskowit...

You'll find a comparison of digital audio recorders here:

You might also have a look at one of our Binaural (miniature
omnidirectional) microphones. You'll find 30+ pages of user comments on
our Web page.

If I was asked to recommend a good recording system for you based on
what you've told us here, I'd recommend an M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 and
a pair of our mid-range Core Sound Binaural microphones. The two of
them come in well under your $1000 budget.

Here are the Web pages for them:

Feel free to ask more questions.

One thing I'm wondering about is this talk about "phantom mic power" on the
digital recorder. Does this mean that I have to supply external power to
the mics? I'd rather just plug in the microphones and record on battery
power.

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on how good a job these small digital
recorders do (the Marantz unit sells for around $500). I'd rather stay away
from tape-based recorders, and the Marantz unit is pretty small and
lightweight, making it easy to carry around, with a minimum of equipment,
cables, etc.

Thanks for any thoughts,

Scott Speck