New Edirol Portable Digital Recorder

One of my favourite gadget blogs, Engadget, points to the release of a new portable digital recorder from Edirol — the R-09 (product page). The specs look pretty nice:

• 24-bit/48kHz (or 44.1kHz) uncompressed recording
• Up to 320kbps MP3 playback and recording
• Records to SD card (64MB card included)
• High-grade stereo condenser microphone built in
• Mic and Line audio inputs; USB I/O
• Easy operation, user-friendly graphic display
• Ultra portable, half the size of the R-1
• Long battery life

I considered Edirol’s R-1 for a while, but eventually settled on an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96. I always throught the R-1 was kind of clunky, so the R-09 should be nice. I especially like the built-in mics, and that it runs on AA batteries.