If a price around $150 is in your range, I can recommend the Zoom H2. It's a lot more than a dictation machine, though. http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h2/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VBH2IG It can record directly to MP3 on SD cards. We never tried plugging its USB port into Linux, though. -- jmcg