An excellent digital recorder at a fairly affordable price

But the recorder is very functional and does a great job with high-quality field audio, and the price is quite reasonable for the features/quality.

For a great all around handheld recorder with excellent sound quality, lots of features, and a reasonable price, the Zoom unit is going to be very hard to beat.

You can not go wrong with this and the price is reasonable

Overall good, useful, feature laden tool at a reasonable price musicians should not be without.

The big one, with all the weird blades and tools you'll probably never need

the H4n is a great tool to record almost anything you need to record

I was more then surprised: I got the best recording tool in years

So, if you are looking for a good solid recording tool this is for you.

Get to know the manual and you will really master this very powerful recording tool

I don't recommend this product to anyone who does anything fast paced such as weddings or events

I recommend this product and you can buy my Zoom H1 if you like lolol

Zoom has some great product, but this one stands on top!

The MAIN ting that sold me on the H4n over the cheaper but equally awesome zoom products is the XLR inputs that are phantom powered if you need it for condenser or other high-end microphones

My product never worked properly when I received it!!!!

If you need a digital recorder, and aren't looking for a cheap, low sound quality model, this is the recorder you want.

I am a pianist and bought this to record myself playng with good quality sound and minimal background noise.

It has an exellent sound quality and is very easy to use

When I plug it into my computer with the USB cable the audio quality is garbage

The sound quality is great, the onboard mics sound fantastic

but I was so worried the sound would be terrible-- it was really coming down

And great versatility to record voice, plus instrumental sound

It has an exellent sound quality and is very easy to use

Next I would recommend my favorite sound editing software, Audacity.

Great audio recorder if you need portable quality sound.

i right?])Some things I would buy along with this ZOOM H4n- Dead Kitten Windmuff (good for outdoor shooting.

i borrowed the Zoom H4n from a friend and loved how this thing just works

Zoom knocks it out of the park with this one, and it's affordable too

The MAIN ting that sold me on the H4n over the cheaper but equally awesome zoom products is the XLR inputs that are phantom powered if you need it for condenser or other high-end microphones

A whirring noise in the internal right MIC, reported also in internet by other users and so far with no solution reported, has made my newly bought Zoom H4N almost useless

With full 24 bit recording and great mics, it is a delight in sound quality

This is great for ensuring your mics won't be easily damaged - but the device still suffers some handling noise; yet the noise seems to be much improved.

The XLR ports work great and are as clean as your mics allow

You can use the built in mics or connect external mics to it as well

Now, one mic is way hotter than the other, making good stereo recordings with the built-in mics impossible

But I was quite surprised that the QTCs did not put this device to shame as I suspected they would.

Best recording device you can obtain at this price level.

This device has blown me away with build and sound quality

Sound quality is superb and the device is very easy to use!

Handy recording device for lectures and presentations (which is what I use it for).

Just lost yet another concert recording, as the battery operation did not work on this either (was it really a new one?).

The top knobs rattle while recording but not if the recorder is stationary

The H4N is the perfect portable stereo recording device!

Pro got a new physical makeover, and under-the-hood, it now has an improved pre-amp as the H5 and H6 models, capable and suitable of recording loud concerts up to 140db and low "noise floor" for cleaner sound

I am very pleased with the recording quality, and flexibility!

The built-in mics are actually half decent, but to my ear they suffer from the same strange EQ issue as the headphone

The built-in microphones are worthless, but no one buying this would ever actually use them, except in emergency, so is a non-factor.

It allows for the input of external microphones, but also has great built in mics too

For this type of session, I use the built-in stereo mics to capture un-mic'd sounds from the stage (drums, tambourine, misc noises from the props from on stage) as well as the sound of the auditorium

The built in mics are very useful, and the variety of input and recording options are great.

I have used other field recorders for ambient nature, and the h4n is definitely a great portable unit.

I thought it was a defective unit until I did some more research.

(At this point, because I was still having problems with the software installation, I didn't know whether it was a software problem; whether the card was defective; or whether the unit itself was defective.)

I don't know if this means my unit was defective, or this will happen to all Zoom H4N's, but this is not acceptable, and poor audio quality, as far as I'm concerned.

I contacted Zoom's tech support about the H2 and was told that I likely had a defective unit.

If your environment is clean from noise your recordings will be as clear and perfect as you could ever dream

I highly recommend it for pros as well as for common audiophiles.

I miss my dead-cat but still managed to do fine without it

This item is used extensively in a DSLR video shooting function, as well as for ambient field recording

For serious use, or if recording outdoors, you'll need a proper wind muff ("dead cat" style).

so 3 stars is fair (personally because of the flaws I hate

But because I am such a nice and cool guy, I am subtracting another half a star only

I want to be moderate and I subtract half a star at this time

If your environment is clean from noise your recordings will be as clear and perfect as you could ever dream

I knocked a star off, being nit picky about the off axis boom these mics can present

I highly recommend it for pros as well as for common audiophiles.

Built in mic has good pickup but seems to record a lot of ambient noise also

I've recorded varied things like outdoor ambient noise, my kids singing at home, direct input guitar, tuba and euphonium, a euphonium quartet, and the band that I play in.(30 piece concert band

Not only will the quality be far better, but you will not have to worry about any ambient noises while you are transcribing the music (phones ringing, people talking, dogs barking, ambulances sirening...).

If your environment is clean from noise your recordings will be as clear and perfect as you could ever dream

This item is used extensively in a DSLR video shooting function, as well as for ambient field recording

This thing is packed with features and I think there's going to be a pretty steep learning curve as I figure out what all it can do and how best to utilize it.

I highly recommend it for pros as well as for common audiophiles.

I just don't like the learning

Still a relatively stiff learning curve as it will do a great many things that I don't need.

If your environment is clean from noise your recordings will be as clear and perfect as you could ever dream

The manual is clear and very thorough, and this recorder has more capabilities than most people will ever need

The manual is critical for understanding all that this great little mic can do

It was a little confusing figuring out the manual, but once I did, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the H4n was to use

The manual just confuses you by slapping everything together

The collective documentation promptly moves you toward the software's installation, omitting the fact that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO INSTALL Cubebase IN ORDER TO OPERATE THE UNIT.

However, the English documentation is awful.- The language is barely understandable (obviously written by a non-native English speaker, maybe even using a translation

I highly recommend it for pros as well as for common audiophiles.

This item is used extensively in a DSLR video shooting function, as well as for ambient field recording

If your environment is clean from noise your recordings will be as clear and perfect as you could ever dream

Inflexible file hierarchySpeaking of files.. the system uses an impersonal file system that cannot be renamed or made more human-friendly.

Some users online have reportedly been able to recover the files, but I was unable to do

Here's the bad part:When the H4n dies while recording, it will corrupt the files on the SD card

This unit records pristine, clear wav files and is a super solid build.

Whether its freesing while turning on, or delivering useless corrupt files.

I saw that quite a few of the less than stellar reviews stated that the only real problem was a lack of Windows 7 64-bit drivers.

I highly recommend it for pros as well as for common audiophiles.

This item is used extensively in a DSLR video shooting function, as well as for ambient field recording

As the title says...excuse the lack of proper english usage and punctuation, etc

If your environment is clean from noise your recordings will be as clear and perfect as you could ever dream

Don't expect to carry it around and get clear sounding recordings, as stated above, it will pick up handling noise terribly

I wish there wasn't so much handling noise when using the onboard mics, but the sound quality from them is otherwise very good.

I highly recommend it for pros as well as for common audiophiles.

This item is used extensively in a DSLR video shooting function, as well as for ambient field recording

This is great for ensuring your mics won't be easily damaged - but the device still suffers some handling noise; yet the noise seems to be much improved.

It sounds like it lacks electricity and is not fully plugged in when in reality, it is and it sounds like my voice is electronic every time I speak into the thing

I have used this recorder many times, its as good as they say it is

I was totally blown away by the sound quality this time

I had a terrible time figuring out how to get files into the thing, and how to get them into the multi-track mode and then how to start adding tracks

The little hook broke off the first time I closed the thing

My only complaint is that is shipped with a defective memory card.

My frustration in getting the unit working was further compounded by a lack of documentation for the accompanying "smart" card.

BUT after 3 or 4 emails with Zoom Customer support, we had solved the problem (turned off the wireless card) and audio quality over the USB connection is excellent

We did run into a catastrophic situation with audio failure that we have now attributed to the use of an incompatible SDHC card

I really like this digital recorder, writes directly to SD card and so easy to download and listen/copy/record on the computer.

If your environment is clean from noise your recordings will be as clear and perfect as you could ever dream

it's the background noise that kills the recording quality

I work in media, so interviewing people and getting clear sound, especially in a cramped room where there's a lot of background noise, can be a challenge

This item is used extensively in a DSLR video shooting function, as well as for ambient field recording

I highly recommend it for pros as well as for common audiophiles.

if you're going to use it outside, the one included doesn't do anything outdoors for wind noise

I bought the wind sock for it and wind noise is totally eliminated

I would definitely buy a RedHead windscreen for this unit to cut any wind noise, as the attached mics are super sensitive.

now know what LO CUT is and now use it to reduce wind noise in my field recordings

I never once stopped to consider how sensitive it is to wind noise

hard drive for audio by itself cost $1,000!My late 90's audiobook, "Exploring Music & Sound on Your PC" was hailed as one of the most complete introductions to digital audio ever found in one title

It IS possible to copy files via copy and paste using the cable to get them on your hard drive.

I'm a professional classical musician, and the zoom h4n is an excellent piece of equipment for self recording and transfers easily to hard drive for making audition CDs.

I saved it on the hard drive but Windows is unable to play it