In search of an MP3 recorder

I’ve asked this before but I’ll bet things have changed since. I need recommendations for an MP3 recorder that will record in the MP3 format and not require reformatting, that allows me to monitor levels and to use two mics for portable podcasting. As I remember, the Sony minidisk recorders don’t do their voodoo in MP3. An iPod will record in MP3 but (a) you can’t check levels and (b) I have a mini and it doesn’t work there. Oh, and I need it to be very portable and small. Recommendations?