i wanted a recorder without the fuss. im still searching but came across the Olympus ws-210s. it has most of the functions i was after but i feel its not a -pure- hi-fi recorder. its good enough to capture most speech that would otherwise be lost. overall its pretty amazing. this model has stereo capture on both the internal and external mics .. but dont get too excited by connecting external mics as you may be dissapointed.
the recorder as it stands is good enough. personally the Lower Quality settings are just too awfull to make use of ... but even with 512m of memory at HQ or XHQ the recording times are fine.
you just have to be amazed at the tiny size. its smaller than my phone and although the buttons may look fragile .. they are not. they have a very soldi feel and are actually easy to use.
ive recorded both from the internal mics and from the radio using a special lead and have to say its very good.