Yesterday, at Podcast Academy 6 in Ontario, Canada, Marantz revealed its new portable recorder the PMD620.

I was immediately excited when I read the headline as I’ve been looking for the perfect recorder for my portable podcasting tool bag. Unfortunately, for me, this is not it.

From the Podcast Academy blog:

The PMD 620 sports a pocket size form factor, easy to use menu interface buttons, internal mics, and a convenient built in speaker. It is designed to be used in many markets, including podcasting and broadcasting.The top of the PMD620 houses a pair of high quality omnidirectional condenser mics for convenient recording. This device also provides an 1/8″ input for external plugin mono or stereo microphones, with +5v phantom power for electret condensers. The PMD620 can record 16 or 24bit resolution audio [mono or stereo] direct to SD flash memory in the WAV or MP3 file formats.

Ugh…no TRS/XLR inputs!

Basically, it sounds like Marantz’s own version of the Edirol R-09 or the Zoom H2.

Won’t somebody please make a device for under $400 that has the combo TRS/XLR inputs AND a 1/8th jack! Is it really that difficult? The flexibility of that unit would be amazing.

I could even settle for paying slightly more than $400 for a hardware with those specs. That’s why I’m still torn between Samson’s Zoom H2 and Zoom H4.

*sigh* The search continues…