Hello Paul: You are correct in that the case does cause some muffling of the internal microphone. Normally when I record with the MPower, I have it on the table near me while talking with others at the table. I don't normally walk around with my keys hanging out especially in an uncontrolled atmosphere like a party or while walking around on the street. If I were going to record while moving about, I'd probably use the external microphone connection and that way only that external microphone would be exposed. You could then start and stop recording with the side record button. Using this same side button, you can start and stop recording even with the unit turned off so extraneous key presses shouldn't be a problem.
hth Jeff
