When it comes to recording things like band practice, lectures, and interviews the plain digital recorders often are lacking when it comes to getting quality recordings. Zoom has offered its H2 recorder already and it is one of the more popular handheld recorders out there.

Zoom has now announced its latest handheld recorder called the Zoom H1 Handy Recorder. The device uses the same mics in an X/Y pattern as the larger H2 uses. It can record in 24-bit 96 kHz stereo quality.

The Zoom Q3 camcorder landed here in the US back in October with a price tag of $249. The camera was most known for high quality sound recording capability.

The Q3 can record sound in stereo with 24-bit/48 kHz quality. The camera is mostly aimed at the YouTube fan wanting to upload video with quality audio as well. The camera has a video resolution of 640 x 480.

There’s a million digital recorders out there on the market but the H2 Handy Recorder by Zoom is trying to capture the disposable income of those that need to record sounds coming from a variety of directions.

Unlike other recorders the H2 has three microphones, one in the center and two on either side, allowing for stereo imaging of the sound. You can also record from the front or rear of the H2 at 90° or 120° or in full 360° depending on what format you like your file to be (WAV, MP3 or Surround 5.1).

It comes with a 512 MB SD card but the makers suggest getting a 4 GB one to record up to two hours at 96kHz, six hours at 44.1kHz, or a whopping 138 hours in MP3 format. The controls are pretty easy to figure out and get going …