digital recorders and oral histories

We are about to begin an oral history project with an elderly gentleman, and so I'm shopping for recorders.  I had planned on using traditional microcassettes which we would then transcribe.  But in shopping, I came across the digital recorders, especially the Sony Memory Stick, which works much like a digital camera, with removable memory cards that you then download to your PC. 

I'm beginning to think this might be a much better way to go.  We'd be able to save the sound files to cd-rom and they'd be much more permanent and accessible to others down the road than a microcassette.  And the Memory Stick comes with software that will do the transcription for you, always a bonus, especially when time is of the essence, as it is in this case.

Have any of you ever used a digital recorder for an oral history project?  I would appreciate some advice, especially since the Memory Stick is much pricier than a standard microcassette recorder.

Thanks!

Sandra Smith

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Sandra Smith

Collections Manager

Stewardship of Historic Sites

National Trust for Historic Preservation

202-588-6154 voice

202-588-6232 fax

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