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

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

With my 32GB 90 Mb/s SD card, I get startup times in the range of 30 seconds, and when I use a slower card, I’ve had startup take over five minutes

The SD card itself is not the issue, it's the

Thankfully, I quickly realized that this would only destroy the larger card and ceased the activity, even then, failing to note the tiny, non-descript slot on the edge of the larger card.

There is a list of tested and approved SD/SDHC cards within that blog, however it is sorely outdated (2009)

SD cards are cheap, so record WAV files and convert to MP3 later if needed

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

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

So now I have two useless SD cards

Watch out for SD Card read failure

It just keeps displaying an error about the Card Read Error, like I've read from many of the reviews now (after the fact)...

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

It supports up to 64 Gig SD cards so the sky's the limit

However, with the card properly inserted (there is only one way to insert it), the recorder showed "no card" and would not work.

Maybe the card is dead

(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.)

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.

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