Hi; Thanks for all the ideas. When I enable the internal microphone the level of hiss goes up significantly but that is about the extent of it. I have tried changing the level while recording as well as saving my settings with no luck. Is there a simple external microphone that you can plug into the unit? Something that is all one peace rather than a microphone on a long wire would be good. I have used the audio recorder very little so if it is indeed a microphone problem I kind of hate to send it back. Richard