Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this recorder in December 2011, but only used it a few times. I had recorded less than five hours. In March 2012, in the middle of a recording, I noticed that the screen had gone blank. Thinking maybe the batteries had died I replaced them, but no good. It's pretty much a brick. It doesn't work even when plugged in to my computer or to mains electricity via the mini USB port. The Sony warranty does cover replacement for up to a year, but there are two hitches. 1) it costs $29 + tax to participate. 2) the replacement is likely to be a refurbished model. There's also the matter of my data. I recorded it on the internal memory, and now it's inaccessible. All but one of my recordings had been transferred to my computer, so that's good at least. The remaining one, which I was recording when the device kicked the bucket, is still there and I have absolutely no way of retrieving it. Sony customer service referred me to a data recovery service; they told me that since it's on the internal memory I am SOL. I'm sure there probably is a way of doing it, but that it would cost far more than what this thing is worth. Anyway, the thing quit on me and I've lost my data in the process. If you choose to go with this one anyway (I bought it because it had the best reviews for the price point), get yourself a micro SD card and record exclusively on that. Then when it dies at least you'll still be able to get at your data.