Zoom currently offers two products of this nature, the other being the H4 (£225) which has a different set of features. We picked the H2 to review for two reasons: first, it is the cheapest such product currently available, and second, it offers surround sound capability thanks to the inclusion of four internal microphones.

Tascam is a brand name exclusively associated with studio and pro equipment, though it’s actually the same company as TEAC. It specialises in the value end of the recording market and has plenty of experience with recording devices including CDiR, MiniDisc (yes, still!) and solid-state.

Alongside the familiar home electronics, Marantz does a nifty line of professional and semi-pro recording and replay kit, including several solid-state recorders, of which this is the smallest.

A year or so ago, we reviewed Edirol’s R-09, one of the first of these semi-pro, solid-state recorders. We liked it a lot, finding its combination of quality and convenience extremely handy.

Not many of the digital audio players on the market record, and most that do have pretty limited quality and/or require an add-on adapter. This nifty gadget is principally a recorder, although it does also play

Options for high quality portable sound recording devices that offer flexible recording formats and quick editing are relatively few, but here's one option - the Edirol R-09.

It's not always convenient to type ideas or notes on your laptop. Recording thoughts into a Dictaphone has long been the preferred solution. Sanyo's ICR-1000 (£229 inc. VAT) is a digital Dictaphone