Great for meetings.

I have been the Secretary of a nonprofit organization for the past year. Since I tend to get involved in the meeting, I take poor notes. I purchased the ICD BM1 to use as a crutch instead of trying to take detail notes.
The results have been terrific. I am able to distinguish even the softest spoken contributions at the meeting. The background noises seem to be minimized. I used the device at the highest resolution and therefore had to purchase an additional 128 MB memory card. I use the Sony software when I am transcribing the recording to the written minutes. It is easy to speed up to 150% of the recorded speed and understand the speaker's words. I found this to be much easier than using the recorder for the playback. Pushing the record switch accidentally during playback can have devastating results. Perhaps a lockout feature on the record button would be useful.
I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred for the transcription. (I'm using it now) I have had only one case where a board member indicated that they did not make a particular motion that I had recorded in the minutes. I said I will be glad to play back the recording for you and it had no further questions about the contents of the minutes.
For me, this recorder has been a lifesaver.