After several weeks of research I have finally made a decision and purchased a Sony PCM-D50 digital recorder (without the fancy leather carrying case) to replace my mostly broken Sony PCM-M1 portable DAT.
During my research I came across some excellent resources that helped me make up my mind. I found some of the most thorough information on O’Reilly Digital Media. Their comparison chart was invaluable along with the extensive reviews of all the devices listed there. I consulted other in-depth reviews and another great comparison chart at Transom.org. I also read many of Brad Linder’s reviews including his review of the PCM-D50 and Create Digital Music pointed me to more reviews of just about everything I looked into.
This is by no means a complete list. I read lots of other articles and websites along the way, but these sites certainly helped the process along. I have yet to receive my new toy, but as soon as I do I’ll be posting some first impressions and sample recordings.
Over processing usually leaves you with audio that lacks it original luster, or perhaps it starts to sound like the processor itself. However, sometimes you might end up with something interesting as a result of pushing the processing beyond the normal boundaries. While listening to the 
I top and tailed this clip of ambiance from a popular lunch spot in downtown Minneapolis, applying quick fades in the beginning and end of the twenty four second example. I also applied normalization to boost the levels. 
A couple of weeks ago, while working in the studio with Nils Westdal, we decided to experiment with an old amplifier that has a built in spring reverb. We plugged the direct out into a firewire interface and hit the record button in the software. Nothing was plugged into the amp, but by turning up the reverb knob all the way and the volume most of the way up, the spring reverb became very sensitive to vibrations. All that was left to do was to bang the amp around a bit while capturing the output. 