portable audio recorders are overpriced, the market is ripe for disruption by someone like anker.
the fucking zoom hX series are like $200-300 and use mini-usb (yes, mini, not micro, the one from 10 years ago you had on your RAZR) to charge.
even the tascam dr-100 is like $300.
there's no reason these things are >$100 other than tradition
@surfingalot phones aren't good audio recorders because they have a whole-ass OS, but yes, that is an example of it being too expensive.