Looks like Edirol came out with a hardware update to the R-09 when I wasn't looking: http://www.edirol.net/products/en/R-09HR/
What's new, I can't really tell but it looks like it has better internal mics, a wireless remote (no more keypress fumbling sounds), 96 khz resolution on the top end, and a preview speaker.
Oh, here's a comparison of the two on Roland's page: http://www.roland.com/faq/en/R-09HR/R-09HR_Comparison.htm
Battery life appears to be the same which is a letdown. Surely they could've fixed that! All in all, important fixes for someone looking to buy a new flash recorder but not enough to entice be to replace my current one.
See my previous notes on the Edirol here: http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/archives/2006/06/fieldnotes-edir.html
ooh, i have no idea what this entry is about.
LA