A lot of the newer camcorders record sound in stereo, which is decent, but definitely not even close to CD quality. If you make a home movie, or videotape a concert, you will be able to play it back on your TV and if you have an amp/receiver with surround sound it will sound fine, and appropriate for a home movie, but it will lack quality and won't sound good if you want to make a recording of a concert.

A bunch of the newer camcorders actually come with a port that you could plug in an external mic. The sound quality is definately better, but still not like CD quality.

My advice...just go out and buy the CD...you will be much more happy and that will save you the cost of purchasing a $500-1000 camcorder.

However, if you mean recording concerts like your kids are putting on at school, then any camcorder will be just fine for that. Panasonic makes great camcorders that have stereo sound and you can even zoom the sound in. So if you aren't in the front row, don't worry about it.

Check out the Panasonic PV-GS300, PV-GS320, or the PV-GS500.

www.jr.com has great prices and they are a very reliable site to purchase from. If you have more questions, contact their customer support...they are great!

Also, take a look at www.camcorderinfo.com for a number of camcorder reviews. Most concert venues will NOT let you videotape or otherwise record. None. All consumer camcorders are equipped with omnidirectional microphones, meaning that they record sound from all directions of it, usually only near it as well.

You will mostly only hear the cheering of those around you, and small, noisy bits of the actual performance. You can't record a concert - it is illegal. It will sound icky.

Maybe if you were closer to the front and near the speakers it might work, but those mics are not good for more than about 15 feet.

Roger F