After testing, we strongly preferred Olympus DM voice recorders to iPhone even with the external mike. Olympus comes with apps that make it more optimal, such as not recording silences (assuming you're an ethnomethodologist). You can buy a quite cheap Olympus or spend a bit more money. IF you have the money, do it for clarity, apps. If it is your diss or major project, this is NOT where I would save money. I got talked out of using external mikes this time, and feel it was a mistake. Mike would have helped clarity. Clarity is really important for speed of transcription -- the real killer -- and for keeping whoever is transcribing (including yourself) happy. For transcribing, you can buy footpedals or you can install freeware which provides short cut keys. (Please don't ask me for brand names because a collaborator installed all this.) Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________