Hi Mandy, Olympus DM5 is what you may be looking for, it has speech for menus and settings, conference facility for recording (or you could purchase an external microphone, tells you battery state etc etc. From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mandy Sent: 28 March 2012 15:42 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Recording Equipment. Hi All. I am wondering what any of you would recommend as a good stereo recorder for recording events in ones life - grandchildren, just different happenings. I already have a reasonably decent stereo microphone which I used with my pocket plextalk until that went wrong and policy is the manufacturers do not repair after it is out of guarantee so now I need something to record with, I do have the Zoom H2but I cannot tell when the batteries are going and really I want something I can conceal in a handbag or pocket and just keep the microphone visible rather than having to walk around holding in my hand to get a decent recording. Ideally I want something totally accessible - the Olympus recorder has been mentioned to me are there different models I should look at before buying? Mandy.