COMPUTER MAKES FOR ULTIMATE RECORDER

Chances are your computer came with a microphone and that you already have some kind of software that lets you record sounds and save them to your hard drive. For many, the computer's microphone is a peripheral that's seldom used. Most will try it but the novelty quickly wears off and the microphone usually collects dust. Speech recognition uses the mike but until the technology gets a lot better, stick to using the keyboard. One useful mike application is placing inexpensive or even free long distance phone calls via the Internet. Just speak into the mike and the party at the other end hears what you have to say. But if you find that your computer stays on most of the day and it's located near your telephone, I'd like to suggest another really useful audio input telephony application and this one doesn't even use the microphone.

Since your computer really does make for a wonderful, state-of-the-art digital recorder, did you know that with the proper connection, you can use it to record all of your telephone calls? Wait a minute. Isn't that illegal in some states? Let me say before I go any further that if you do plan to record any phone conversations, check with an attorney to make sure you comply with any state or federal regulations that may be necessary. Some scenarios may require you to send an audible beep tone or first inform the other party you are about to record a conversation. In some instances it just may be flat out illegal so be careful. That said, let me tell you how easy recording can be done with what you already have and what else you're going to need.

As I said, you already have the recording software and some sort of sound input ability if your computer came with a microphone. What you don't have is the interface between the phone and the computer. Sometimes called a telephone recording patch, the small device usually goes between the telephone handset and the phone. Just unplug the handset and plug it into the patch which plugs into the handset jack. From the patch a small plug identical to your microphone's plug is available. Just unplug your microphone from the computer and plug in the patch's plug and you're all set. Other patches are available that go between the phone's line to the wall jack.

Since the sound from the caller and your speaking into the phone may not be at the same level, see if your recording software offers Auto Gain Control (AGC) and if it does, make sure it's selected. With AGC turned on, you will get a more balanced volume level between you and the caller. As for where to get the telephone patch, check out the offerings from DynaMetric. They offer a wide range of telephone patches and other devices such as the beeping tone generators that will help you to comply with any legal requirements. They also offer CallSaver software designed to record sound just in case your computer didn't come with any sound recording software. Specifically designed for recording phone calls, CallSaver automatically time and date stamps the recorded files, lets you add memos such as who called and what was discussed and lets you search for any of your recordings by time, date or memo field. The patch I used was their basic model the TLP-102. Other models such as the TMP-636 lets you record and then play back the recording so that the caller can hear the recorded conversation right over the phone.

Once you set things up, you'll find that using a computer to record is far more efficient than using an ordinary tape recorder in that you can organize your recording most efficiently. The computer's ability to file, categorize, search and retrieve files makes storing your conversations on your computer's hard drive a natural. And because high quality really isn't necessary for voice recordings, you'll find that you can literally store hundreds of hours of conversations in a relatively small amount of disk space.

DynaMetric's phone patches start at around $50 and up depending on what extra features you may require. The company will even design custom patches for special applications.