How to record from a telephone answering machine.

[88V8]

So, after nine years it's time again to update our technology.

The screens on our Binatone cordlesses are becoming digitally challenged, so I've bought another semi-obsolete Binatone to replace them.
This loses me the current telephone answering machine.

On which I keep not only current messages but one call from anyone who is or has been of importance, shall we say.
Some of whom are no longer with us.

How can I record the messages from the TAM to, errm, something else? Could be a tape deck or the PC.
Do I need to buy a microphone?

V8

[ReformedCharacter]

So, after nine years it's time again to update our technology.

The screens on our Binatone cordlesses are becoming digitally challenged, so I've bought another semi-obsolete Binatone to replace them.
This loses me the current telephone answering machine.

On which I keep not only current messages but one call from anyone who is or has been of importance, shall we say.
Some of whom are no longer with us.

How can I record the messages from the TAM to, errm, something else? Could be a tape deck or the PC.
Do I need to buy a microphone?

V8

You can buy devices like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Telephone-Reco ... B00H7077PC

which I have used in the past. I seem to remember that the output signal was a little low. If there is a better alternative I'd be interested to know.

RC

[Stompa]

Does your old binatone TAM allow remote access (probably with a PIN)? If so, you could maybe use a mobile (with a recording facility) to call it and record the messages. I suspect the quality might not be all that great though.

[Mike4]

Can't you just unplug the old machine and keep it safe somewhere and start afresh with the new machine? (I have a couple of old hard drives that I have done that with)

I think that is risky, unless the old machine used a physical tape to record the messages. Unplugging any older TAM which records the messages on a chip tends to lose the messages. DAMHIK.

Even if on a physical tape it would be best to grab an electronic copy somehow, as magnetic tape does not last forever.

[XFool]

So, after nine years it's time again to update our technology.

The screens on our Binatone cordlesses are becoming digitally challenged, so I've bought another semi-obsolete Binatone to replace them.
This loses me the current telephone answering machine.

On which I keep not only current messages but one call from anyone who is or has been of importance, shall we say.
Some of whom are no longer with us.

How can I record the messages from the TAM to, errm, something else? Could be a tape deck or the PC.
Do I need to buy a microphone?

V8

You can buy devices like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Telephone-Reco ... B00H7077PC

which I have used in the past. I seem to remember that the output signal was a little low. If there is a better alternative I'd be interested to know.

RC

I'm not sure that is going to help. Isn't it for recording live telephone conversations, not stored recordings?

You may need either a recorder of some kind (computer?) and a microphone. Or, if up to it, tap into the old machines speaker output, or similar.
Actually, I have a similar situation with a deceased friend.

[XFool]

Even if on a physical tape it would be best to grab an electronic copy somehow, as magnetic tape does not last forever.

I still use tape to revisit the 1970s, now and then.

[ReformedCharacter]

You can buy devices like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Telephone-Reco ... B00H7077PC

which I have used in the past. I seem to remember that the output signal was a little low. If there is a better alternative I'd be interested to know.

RC

I'm not sure that is going to help. Isn't it for recording live telephone conversations, not stored recordings?

You may need either a recorder of some kind (computer?) and a microphone. Or, if up to it, tap into the old machines speaker output, or similar.
Actually, I have a similar situation with a deceased friend.

Yes, you're right. Apologies.

RC

[88V8]

Thankyou.

I lost the recordings from our previous TAM, more of the departed including all four parents. It was OK at first, until the battery went flat, and a new battery did not restore anything.
I find that once people are gone, the voice soon fades in my recollection, the tone, the timbre.

The simplest thing would probably be to buy a mike. Rather like the one I bought for Zoom, then gave away to a charity shop this summer when I bought a camera with inbuilt mike.
Usually I put such things in a drawer. Or cupboard.
Well that'll larn me not to 'declutter'.

V8

[kempiejon]

I'm sure the mic on the camera could work. Depending on your software it should be s simple matter to play the TAM and record onto a PC.
Here's a starter.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-reco ... windows-10

[JonE]

So, after nine years ...

A bit of a long shot. You don't mention the model but might it be one with an SD card on which recordings are stored? I've had a couple in the dim and distant which used SD (one was an Olitec but I don't remember the other) and it was easy to overlook that fact - until/unless the card 'went wrong'. Useful for transferring selected recordings to archive though I can't remember the native file format(s) used.

Cheers!

[Stompa]

There are plenty of voice recorder apps for mobile phones, and the phone already has a mic built-in.