I'd like recommendations on a high-quality but not-too-expensive microphone that is good at picking up background noise. Basically I want to be able to sit down with a mic in a public space and record people walking by, traffic, etc. Most things I've seen try to cancel out background noise, but I want to pick up every little detail except the wind. This is for potential use as a background loop for a computer game I'm developing.

Also, I'd like the mic and the recording equipment to be inconspicuous. The duration of the recording will be long and I don't want someone coming up to me and asking me a question into the mic else I may have to start recording the loop all over again.

I'd also like any recommendations on recording equipment that will store in lossless format with lots (> 5 hours) of storage.

Thanks much!

For a little under 2 grand you could get a sony pcm-d1

or for a few hundred bucks you might invest in a mini-disc recorder with built-in mic. (ie, a sony mzm-200 hi-md recorder)

I'm not advertising products here; try and google 'field recorders' and see if anything looks like what you need