Feature:
Like most Zoom gear, the PS04 was stuffed with a bunch of quirky little extras. Obviously the effects section is nice, varied, and really excellent sounding, with insert effects for gtar. bass, keys, line-in, etc. Very nice sounding stuff but that should be assumed for a company who's primary focus is effects. There's a guitar tuner, an extremely nice sounding built-in mic, there is a drum machine that is difficult to program unless you have a lot of time since there are no touch sensitive pads. The drum sounds are good, but hard to work with due to the restricted interface of such a small console. Real-Time drum programming is more or less futile except for very basic beats, but they do have the step-programming function for those with attention spans longer than mine. Also there is a bass program with a few different generic bass sounds...'slap','synth','picked','finger', and 'accoustic'. Once again, nice sounds, if you have the time you could make it sound good, but I often just use these extras as a metronome. Remember that it is firstly a recorder, not a sequencer. As a recorder it has all the effects and mastering and reverb send and chopping and pasting edit functions you could possibly need, the Drum machine is a bit of an afterthought. But it is a nice touch for the guys at Zoom that they stuffed ANOTHER quirky toy into the multitasking little game-boy looking thing that it is. Kind of annoying that it doesn't include an adapter and the mem card is too small to do more than a couple of projects at a time... but adapters are easy enough to get, as are larger mem cards

Quality:
I have had no breakdowns on mine and I have owned it for almost 2 years and brought it all over the world when touring. I wouldn't suggest throwing it into a busy street, but it is durable enough to live in a guitar bag for months and sit atop amps in dingy smokey clubs and never protest. It is plastic, so don't run over it with a truck or anything, but it is hard plastic and it is well sealed so the occasional beer splash or smokey room abuse doesn't faze it. (so far)

Value:
I have noodled around with the Korg Pandora palm studio and the Tascam palmtop, both of which are slightly pricier, but the Zoom is definitely my preferred portable. The Tascam has the advantage of being computer-link ready, and can convert to an MP3, but the Zoom can do that do with the right software and an audio cable, and for a couple hundred dollars less, and Zoom box has better effects. The Korg has a bunch of preset MIDI files but nothing programmable, and once again, Zoom was just more user friendly and had better effect sounds.

Desirability:
It looks like a gameboy, no points for aesthetics, but it has this sort of "I can take my entire studio with me in my pocket!" appeal... you get a mic, a programmable drum and bass, 4 tracks, more tracks after bouncing, and on and on... the idea being that if you use it right, all you need is your guitar and this box, and you can have a full on studio album (if you like synth bass at least)

Sound:
sound is extremely good in HiFi mode, and the internal mic actually sounds better than most of my 'real' mics... good sound, especially the 'mastering' effects presets, but when using high gain guitar effects, over the top distortion, etc you do get a bit of a line buzz. Those with enough tech savvy can edit that stuff out of a recording, but chopping and pasteing takes some time and is not as intuitive a process as the rest of the machine's operation. Most of the guitar effect presets are nice and convincing - the beatle amp and the rectifier being my favorites.

Support:
Never needed them, but they have a website, so if I were to need them, I would look there first. I can assume that they have some level of customer support, but since most of their products are low price and fairly durable, I doubt if their help-line sees much action.

Overall:
I will definitely keep my little 'magic box' but ultimately, I will want some kind of bigger console recorder to use as well. They both have the same general purpose - recording music - but the PS04 is designed with a 'take-it-anywhere' kind of philosophy, which makes it more difficult to do heavy editing with. A big knob and slider console recorder is definitely on the horizon, but not at the expense of my Magic Box, just as a different tool for a different setting. If it were lost I would buy another of the same type. It helps musical goals by being easy and portable and readily available for inspiration moments but also techie enough to make proffesional sounding recordings with, I have actually sat at a table in my basement studio and worked the editing programs on this thing for hours at a time. I looked really silly in headphones with my gameboy thingy and probably would have looked more convincing as a sound engineer had I been in front of a huge mixing board, but I was accomplishing the same thing. It is the swiss-army-knife of music gear for a home recordist. I think one should be given to every kid in a grade school music class or every grown up kid in a post-college rock band.

Feature:
Again, for the price this thing is very much worth it. I has so many different features and things that I can't even figure them all out.

Quality:
I've dropped this thing from about 4-5 feet off the ground and nothing happened so I'm pretty pleased with its structure, and it seems pretty damn tough.

Value:
This has great value, as I said before, and is worth every cent I paid for it.

Desirability:
The reason I got it was because I needed a 4 track recorder and this one looked sweet. I got a hell of a lot more than just a 4 track.

Sound:
This thing really sounds great for its price if you use it right. When I first got it I kept on putting the gain up way too high on it then figured out that I needed to lower it and it sounded a lot better.

Ease of Use:
It takes a little practice to get to know how to use this thing if you're not familiar with it. The manual explains everything fairly well, but it's still pretty difficult to understand the device entirely.

Overall:
This is exactly what I need right now. I would highly recommend this product.

Feature:
This thing is amazing for its size and price! First and foremost is the fact that you can download the CardManager software from zoom so you can read, write and convert files to and from you PC via the smart media card. My roland doesn't even give you that ability (they are jerks about protecting their file formats). it has insert AND send/return effects built in. granted this effects are pretty primitive and not the greatest quality but you have to be impressed that they are even there. Really easy to use to. Another thing that amazes me is that it has 10 virtual tracks per actual track. that means you could have 40 tracks in total (only 4 playing at a time). i don't even use that many on my vs-880ex. The built in mic and the fact you could record 2 tracks at a time is also simply amazing. I can't go on enought about this little box. If i ever became homeless all i would need is this, an acoustic guitar, some headphones, and maybe a decent mic to keep productive. really, its amazing how liberating that concept is to me.

Quality:
this thing is light without the batteries and is made of plastic. i would be afraid to drop it and wish somebody made case for it.

Value:
if it where lost i'd buy another one if i had the cash. you can find 'em pretty cheap. if you live in an apartment and want to use it to record, or if you are in a band and want to use it as a writing/scratch and maybe even production tool then go for it.

Desirability:
this is just a fun liberating product. you would need other gear like preamps and compressors if you wanted to get a much better recording out of it.

Sound:
the sound on this is good for scratch and demo material. i have a roland vs-880ex, a computer running cubase and scads of preamps i use to record our actual production level stuff. then again i haven't really run this through its paces in terms as creating full fledge tunes. my main use for this is to record songs in the rehearsal room and then work record scratch vocals on it later or even just in the next room while they practice. for that purpose it is perfect. i went as far as hooking this thing up to my radio in my car so i could work on scratch vocals to the tracks while i drove :) when you drive 1hr total everyday for work it makes for very productive use of your time!

Support:
the only issue i've had is one 128 meg smart media card i bought for it didn't work but another did. probably a bad card as i can't see why it wouldn't be compatible. since then no issues and no need to call support.

Overall:
this product will keep me happy for years and years. i will probably always look at it and smile and think of it as a rare gem i've found.