Best Audio Recorders

Looking for an audio recorder for Live Sound?  Here is a detailed breakdown of the important features to look for:

• Sound Quality - People won't listen to your Live Sound recordings if it sounds like the presenter was under water!  Get an audio recorder 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.  It is most preferable if the recorder is capable of uncompressed WAV audio at 16 bits or higher.
• Audio Input Connections - Built-in microphones usually pick up too much background noise to provide sufficient quality for Live Sound, so be sure to get a recorder with an audio input jack.  If you only plan to record monologue-style presentations (i.e. featuring a single person only throughout the entire recording), and you plan to place the recorder on the presenter him/herself, a microphone (a.k.a. Mic) input jack is all that you will need here.  But if you will ever want to connect your recorder to the PA System, such as when the presentation contains multiple presenters or other audio sources, you'll need a Line input jack (a.k.a. Line-in) instead.
  

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