recording to CDs and DVDs

There are but they are expensive.

Thisis about the only one I have found.

I know my Ipod has a voice record capability but I haven't looked into it yet.

Expensive is the word! I wonder what the quality of reproduction is.

We record our shows on CD but for the spoken word...it's not worth the high price for the difference in quality.IMO

One thing that really bothers me is the way everyone seems to be abandoning tape. Libraries get CDs, but not tapes of new books, and classical music isn't being put on tape as much anymore. The selection of Walkman-types of players has shrunk, too.

It's really a nuisance convenience-wise, as well, because you can't comfortably listen to a portable CD/DVD player while exercising, if you're using machinery that requires both hands - they don't make CD players with belt loops, so you have to hold onto them with one hand.

I don't really see myself as a Luddite; I'm at home with my computer, digital camera, and so on. But I do find tapes easier and more satisfactory than CDs.

That's my rant for the night.

Why not just record mp3s? This is a link to where you can buy a dictation recorder (in the interests of full disclosure, my company licenses some of these): http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=dictation+machine&hl=en&lr=lang_en&sa=N&tab=ff&oi=froogler

You can then put the mp3s on your desktop and burn them to CD, if you wish.

At this point the people for whom I record my lectures are more tape-oriented, so that's where I am. However, one of these days I'll have to get a new computer (mine is old and doesn't have CD-burning capacity). The other option is an external CD burner, but that brings up a space problem.

What is the sound quality of these dictation gadgets?

Life is a complicated thing...

It's okay, I used the, er, I think it was a Phillips portable but it's been a while and I can't recall. We use them as a part of our voice recognition work, so the quality has to be pretty good, otherwise million could come out as millipede (not that it never does, but that tends to be less the fault of sound quality than of things like background noise, poor dictation habits or people not enunciating).

I realize that's not a terribly definitive answer but I test a lot of things around here but not equipment -- I test and refine software.