Telephone recording equipment?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I do many phone interviews, and while I take good notes, I would like to be able to use direct quotes from the people I talk to. Can anyone recommend (or advise against) a device or equipment that would allow me to record conversations with my subjects? I am aware of the legalities of this, so I am simply looking for technical advice.

A. There is a Radio Shack thingy that I use. DON"T use the suction cup mikes as I have never known anyone who liked them. They are real prone to picking up hums. I use a PhoneMate Answering Machine that can record conversations onto tape. The tape can be removed and put into my transcriber. Like other things, PhoneMate has gone digital, but reconditioned units are available. Go to Radio Shack. You can buy this thingy that plugs into the phone jack and into a tape recorder. Costs about fifteen bucks I think. You can use the plug-in thing from Radio Shack that other people mentioned. In a pinch, if you use a hand-held tape recorder you can just hold it up to the earpiece of your phone. Every small recorder I have used will pick up voice from the earpiece. Exactly right. Another way is to hold the microphone that comes with inexpensive 'shoebox' cassette recorders close to the telephone earpiece - if you can hear it, the microphone can hear it. If you're in the UK, you can buy an adaptor that plugs into your telephone handset line from Maplin Electronics. The other end plugs into a tape recorder. I'm sure you'll be aware that any equipment connected into a BT line should have the 'approved' sticker and that legally, you should inform the person you are speaking to on the telephone that you are recording the conversation. I always inform interviewees on the phone that I'm recording them, and never have a problem. But I also sometimes record important conversations with organisations such as customer services (Electricity, Gas, Bank, Credit Companies etc), and it freaks them out when I tell them. I do this because I was once deemed to have entered into a 'verbal contract' with a gas supplier when in fact I hadn't. They claimed they had the recording to prove it, but had to back down when they said they couldn't find it. So if they can - then so can I!

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