Zoom H4N

A high-quality sound recorder with two XLR ins and two built-in mics (I haven’t really used them much) that records sound on SD cards, runs on AA batteries and is a classic in the budget filming community. I have been happy with it except that you have to reset its clock every time it does not have power for more than three minutes, which drives me nuts.

Price ~270$

Edirol R44

A high-quality sound recorder with four XLR ins that runs on AA batteries and records on SD cards. This is really a luxury and not a typical low-budget piece of equipment. I bought it used on ebay not so much for dramatic film work but for things like theater recordings etc. where you easily have more than two microphones.

Price ~1000$