Thanks Sweet, the H4n comes with a power supply so the battery chewing is good to know. I'll ask Bill directly about use. When you recorded directly into your computer how did you deal with computer noise (i.e. hard drive running, etc)? I've also heard very mixed reviews about using usb as a mic connection, some folks seem to think that a significant amount of sound is lost for a variety of reasons (low quality usb port, etc.) I suppose this is computer dependent. Not sure that I'll be using the mic for special effects but who knows. cheers, g2