If most of your dictating will be done from your desk, then a standard cassette transcriber may be sufficient for you needs.

In the old days before micro and mini cassette recorders were popular (or now digital), they did make portable dictation devices that used standard sized cassettes, however I haven’t seen one of those in years.   I had an old Dictaphone in my office for a while, but it was so big and bulky that it wasn’t going to go in my pocket.

If you’re going to be doing professional transcription, then you’ll probably want to keep a transcriber that will take standard cassettes even though most of your work will probably be done using micro cassettes and digital.

A good one for light duty work is the Panasonic RR-830.  It’s reasonably priced, but if you’re to be working with cassettes on a regular basis, something like a Sony BM-77T or a Dictaphone 2752 will serve you much better.

Dictaphone is going to be the most expensive of the bunch, but it’s also hands down the best.

One thing I really recommend avoiding is trying to transcribe from a tape player.  If it’s an emergency and that’s all you’ve got, ok, but otherwise get something with a foot pedal and a comfortable headset.

The foot pedal will allow you to keep your hands on the keyboard so you can type and the headset will allow you to hear words more accurately.