People don't really use tape recorders nowadays. :P

I don't think it matters too much. A voice recording device is definitely easier for most people if you have it, since you can record in the dark without having to get up and turn on the light (which can disturb recall of dreams) and many people are better at recording in that manner.

However, its main disadvantage to me is that it is more difficult to go back and compare dreams when you have an audio recording compared to written. With a written journal it is easy to go back and see certain repetitive symbols and see other links between the dreams, like sometimes a dream might "continue" onward a week later etc, but it is hard to realize that without the recording. And that is all useful later on if you want to get into lucid dreaming.

So really, up to you. I'd say it is easier and faster in the night to record with a 'tape recorder', but you may have to make up that time later if you are trying to find repeating symbols in dreams, or how they link up.

You could of course voice record if you wake up in the night and then later on transcribe them. There are programs out there which can transcribe and some find them perfectly effective which could save you some time but let you have the "best of both worlds". Personally I have never found one that was so great I didn't have to touch it up a fair bit, but then I have a non-typical accent from growing up over the place lol. So you may have more luck with those programs :)