I went to Italy this past summer for 2 months and still kept up my weekly podcasts. How? Using the built-in recoring application on my iPhone. I did bring my laptop and USB microphone, but I was not always in the best location to setup a laptop and beleive it or not, the quality of the iPhone recording was so much better. It can easily be used as a semi-professional field recording device. The only reason I say "semi" is because I am sure there are those out there that can tell the difference between an iPhone recording and a $1000+ portable recording device.

Here are a few tips for using the iPhone to record your podcasts:

• You MUST have the iPhone 3G or 3Gs (or later version if you are reading this post from the future). The earlier version has a crappy mono mic that is only good for voice memos
• Do NOT use headphones when recording. The mic on the phone itself is superior to the headphone mic
• Keep the iPhone away from noise when recording (given)
• Turn the iPhone on airplane mode so your recording does not get interrupted.
• Use your iPhone recorder as a backup! Never know when something will go wrong with your primary recording device in the middle of a podcast.

Give it a try!