Gadgeteers, activate!

[Trieste]

Okay, so I would like a digital recorder for classes. I have spent hours poring through Amazon et al., but I'm not finding what I want. I am beginning to wonder if what I want even exists. What I want is pretty specific:

I would prefer not to have to buy a USB cord thingie, so would like the recorder to plug into USB.

Would prefer that it records in .mp3, since I don't really want to fiddle with a converter.

Would prefer that it had enough storage to record about 8 hours, but if worse comes to worse I can dump my lectures after classes every day.

Since it's for lectures, it HAS to have good pickup. I usually sit in the front of the class, but I do get stuck in back sometimes.

Would prefer something around $40-$60, although if I find the right thing, I have as much as $100 earmarked for it. The only reason I can afford this is financial aid, so I'd prefer something of good quality that will not break before the end of the semester. If this means spending a bit more money at the outset to avoid having to replace the thing once or twice a year, so be it.

I actually thought this little thing was cool (would loooove an mp3 player) but it doesn't really have to be as complicated as all that (and that device is really darn cheap, difficult to use, and just crappy according to the reviews)... just needs to record lectures, at the base of it.

... any suggestions would be wonderfully welcome.

(Edit: Moved to Help forum instead of Off Topic because it just seemed more appropriate.)

[Krysia]

See if this is to your liking.

I had to do something like what you're doing only it was recording my Chinese class. I broke down and got one of the digital voice recorders and just transferred the waves to my laptop.

[Trieste]

Oh... that looks pretty awesome. Is this the one you use?

And yeah, I'm willing to settle for something that records in another format; I'd just prefer not to. I think the main complaint about those kind of multifunctional doodads is that they're cheap and break easily - however, I only ever see them for like 20 or 30 dollars. I've been looking around for a higher quality one that might last longer and no dice... It's so strange.

[Krysia]

I use one like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-VN3100-Digital-Voice-Recorder/dp/B000I3AGWQ/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255835175&sr=8-34

It's pretty good I have 72 hours of record time on it. I haven't seen an issue with it. Though you can go into Radio Shack and talk to them about it.

There is also this one on Radio Shack's web site. If you're willing to transfer stuff to a portable hd or even a laptop you don't have to go top of the line. Just make sure it has enough playback time for what you need to do your speeches and move the stuff. That way you won't accidentally tape over something you need. I did that to an entire Chinese class and ended up forgetting half of what we learned.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3826372