Blimey! You guys are all living in the 21st century! Unfortunately, my dept is not. When i asked for a recorder, they plonked down this 1970's enormous brown thing (remember, with great big buttons, about the size of an armchair?).
Anyhoo, I managed to borrow a digital recorder from a friend, which makes life easier, but I think asking for a pedal-thingy would be like asking for the moon on a stick.
Dan'B', I do have to transcribe them myself, partly cos of confidentiality, as I promised my participants I would, but also because my supervisors said I should so that i am fully 'immersed' in the data. But I'm so immersed I'm drowning!