Best Audio Recorders

Looking for a dictation recorder?  Here is a detailed breakdown of the important features to look for:

• Sound Quality - Transcriptionists have a very difficult job.  Don't make it more difficult by getting a recorder with poor sound quality.  Look for one with High Quality mode (sometimes known as HQ) or better.  For the tech-savvy, that would be 44.1 kHz sampling rate and around 128 kbps bitrate or higher.
• Onboard Editing - This means that the recorder lets you rewind and record over the last words you said.  Even better, it's one that also lets you optionally insert into the middle of a recording instead of overwriting.  Why is this important?  If you make a mistake during a dictation, saying "Scratch that" or "back up" can be very ambiguous.  How will the transcriptionist know exactly how far to back up?  Get a voice recorder with onboard editing capability, so you avoid risking your transcriptionist including something that shouldn't be there.

Also, check out the Buyer's Guide for Voice Recorders for general recommendations and qualities to look for, regardless of the recording purpose.