Zoom H5 4-Track Digital Audio Recorder (ZOOM -ZH5)

This is AWESOME!!! You will need to refer to the manual unless u are a professional producer of music. HOWEVER, it is in simple easy to understand language & pretty straight forward. A great thing to do is to get your grandparents, parents etc to read 1 or more books into it! Maybe they know what your favorite book was when you were little & you pick a second book you like as an adult! That way you can find out stuff about yourself as a kid & someday your kids can hear distant (either by miles or health issues or unfortunate circumstances that they are not here with you anymore. Just remember to download the expandable memory of 32gig on a usb 2.0 reader & a 2.0 usb comp. plug.

Thus far, I can't say enough good things about the H5, which I use for voiceover work. It's hefty and easy to handle, produces great audio and is easy to warm up to. It requires a bit of a learning curve (I thought the manual could have been more instructional), but the more time you spend with it, the more its good features come to light and become intuitive (oh, I get it). My first impression upon seeing it promoted in an online blog was something akin to "no, I need the real deal, not a gadget." But the H5 has earned its spurs with me. I truly enjoy working with it.

Zoom is known for producing great quality recorders among other types of gear for musicians. I had previously owned a Zoom H2, but was not quite satisifed with the low pre-amps. So, I recently purchased this H5, and it sounds amazing. The quality is close to my recordings with my condenser microphones. The item feels and looks great. Adjusting the input volume involves using actual knobs, which gives a nice, tactile feel. Navigating through the menu is easy, but a little strange with the button that is provided. Overall, the Zoom H5 is a fantastic product.

This is hands down the best portable microphone for under 300 bucks. It hooks up with a Mac or PC so you can use it as an audio interface, has XLR so you can hook up multiple mics, and the interchangable mics are great as is. If you're just getting into recording audio (sound design, making samples, etc) the default mic is more than enough to get your feet wet and when you want to step it up you can grab some XLR mics and the shotgun mic attachment for the ultimate on the go sound setup.

I couldn't be happier with my zoom mic. After purchasing a camcorder that didn't include XLR jacks I was looking for a mic that would compare to the required sound. This zoom mic did the job. It has the ability to record 4 separate tracks 2 from the included mic head L/R and two XLR jacks for an external mic or instrument. There was an xd card included to save recordings. There's a multitude of professional recording options and would be a great addition to any setup.