It's hard talking about moving into the future when you realize your blog platform lacks the capability of posting a poll. So. About those promises about letting you all vote on my digital recorder. I am sorry.

But let me tell you about the results.

Many people recommended that I try purchasing a microphone for my iPod and recording interviews through that. I decided to eschew that route because of two reason: it seems like it involves more setup than I care to endure, and also, I simply don't trust iPods. I am convinced that if I chose this method my iPod would decide to die during minute one of the conversation. So that's a no go.

Other than that, the recorders that were most recommended that did not cost over $200 were the Sony ICD-SX25, Sony ICD-P28, Olympus DS-2 and Olympus WS-100.

The model that received the most nominations was the DS-2. As one fellow writer gushed, "I just bought the Olympus DS-2 and I LOVE it. It is my new best friend!"

I did an informal comparison between these different models on Amazon and the reviews on the DS-2 seem to reflect this attitude. People liked the WS-100 as well, but it seems, just not as much. Same with the Sony ICD-P28--it seemed fine, but it had mixed reviews. I was tempted by the ICD-SX25, just because it's the sexiest looking of the toys, but I'm not going to be wearing my recorder. It came down to the ICD-SX25 and the WS-100 but I had to go with the Olympus simply due to the fact that so many real-life writers recommended it.

So thank you to everyone who weighed in with their opinions. I have my big phone interview in a little over a week, so I will return with my evaluation of the recorder.