Phone answering machine messages to PC

[kozikowski]

Yes, local power, but I don't think any of us seriously thinks that's causing most of your troubles. I think you have a defective product or a product with a defective shield.

Even in an electrically benign environment, you can cause all kinds of noise by having a broken shield or other bad connection. Did you try plugging and unplugging the connection and/or cleaning the plug? I have one computer whose Line-In is ratty and take a bit of managing before I get a good, quiet connection.

Any luck with the Radio Shack search?

http://www.radioshack.com/home/index.jsp

Koz

[kozikowski]

This one?

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index. ... ickup&sr=1

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2103876

There is one other possibility. The hum maybe the "right level" and the signal may be way too weak.

<<<from my phone answering machine >>>

This magnetic pickup only works with a really powerful, old style telephone deskset like this one.

http://www.oldphones.com/servlet/Detail?no=139

The magnetic field from your answering machine is going to be super tiny compared to that. You might do much better with an actual microphone listening to the answering machine speaker in a quiet room.

So the pickup is probably working fine, but this is the wrong application.

Koz

[ktot]

...

So the pickup is probably working fine, but this is the wrong application.

Koz

So can you point me to an application that WILL work. Yes, the RS $7.99 item is the type I have.

[kozikowski]

Unless your answering machine has a Headphone Out, the only other option is snug your laptop up to the answering machine and record the PC built-in microphone in a quiet room -- or use an external microphone, but those come with complications.

Those of us handy with soldering irons and the Radio Shack tools they hide in the back of the store can crack the answering machine apart and add parts to bring out the speaker signal for recording.

That's highly custom depending on your machine.

The only good way to record a live phone conversation is not use the copper phone line. Use Skype and Pamela Professional or Pamela Business software.

Oh, there is one other way. I had an answering machine that recorded standard mini-cassettes. Those played back perfectly in my Pearl mini-cassete player right into my computer.

Koz