Recommend me a voice recorder/dictaphone

I need a digital voice recorder for when attending lecturers. I have tried to look for reviews but either there are vey few around or I just don't know how to search; most that I foud are concentrating on someone who is using to dictate notes in person or who works at close range, (e.g. interviews) where cheaper models would do an adequate job.

1) I'm looking for one with excellent recording/playback quality first of all: I'm slightly dyslexic and English isn't my first language so I cannot rely on guessing the meaning from hearing only half the word. The fact that the recorder isn't right near the speaker creates an extra demand on quality

2) A good battery life - it's going to be on practically all day - is a must and the device would ideally take a swabbable memory card. Pause button might become handy, too.

3) Often there is a little space to put my kit down, so preferably a device that works without external microphone - but has the potential to ad one when I need it...

As nice as voice activation and software recognition would be, the quality of sound and battery life are more important - I'm happy if it'll take rechargable batteries. I'm sure there are superb dictaphones but I'm a student, not a high salaried businessman or a reporter who can the purchase against tax, so money is an issue as always.

 

Do you own an Ipod? there are accessories for this.

 

I'm afraid not - but I could buy one if I knew the quality is as good as with dedicated dictacom. Then I could use it as a normal mp3 player if I didn't need voice recorder any more. It would be also easier to transfer stuff to computer if it was already standard mp3 - or would iPod record it as it's own format?

I might also use the dictacom to record sounds outside too, e.g. animal noices in zoos, kennels, safari parks etc - I don't know yet.