Weird question about archiving phone answer machine messages

My mom died a couple of weeks ago. When she was more healthy we used to email a lot but as her health declined (lung cancer) we would talk more on the phone. Because I worked quite a bit of late hours, she left a lot of messages on the answering machine, some of which I would like to transfer to the pc to archive. The only way I can think of is to try my web cam microphone and see if I can record them that way as wav files. Any other possible ideas to maintain audio quality, limited as it is from the source? The answering machine is digital so I imagine messages must be saved in flash memory. Wish there was someway I could transfer the contents of the flash memory to the pc. I know kind of a techno geeky questions but will throw it out and see if someone might have a better suggestion then using my webcam mike.

I miss my mom, I now have the experience of knowing what it feels like to have a parent leave you. I'm ok mostly but feel like I will never quite be the same again. A piece of me is gone forever. On a positive note I think I've become more serious, reflective with forgivness and acceptance of family members faults including my own. Death of family members makes you appreciate more what is left.

My condolences. I lost my father at 18 and that was a real eye opener to life and how precious each moment is.

You'll have a loss in quality if you simply record with a mic while playing the messages. I'd probably unscrew the answering machine case to get access to the speaker wires and then splice in a 1/8 jack cable so I could plug it in to the microphone or line-in jacks on the back of the computer. Make sense? Make sure the answering machine volume is on the lowest setting.

Sorry about your loss.

I think Arkayne's suggestion is the best way to go. You'll have to work at the wires a bit... I tried splicing headphone cables once -- it's pretty difficult because the wires are so flimsy.

If I were you I wouldn't trust it to the computer... I'd save it to several formats, such as archive-quality recordable CDs and various online storage sites (briefcase.yahoo.com comes to mind, as does gmail/gdisk).

Actually, I'd first record it your way with a mic before attempting what I suggested. There is a chance that you could lose everything if you disassemble the unit.

If you can access the messages remotely there are several possibilities.
This is probably the easiest since it uses an existing voice modem.
Another way would be to find an answering service that uses TASCOM (and probably other) equipment. They can record your conversations to a wave file with ease.

Hey good idea, I never thought about wiring the speaker outputs to the line in. I want to try to save the machine if possible as it is a combo/900 mhz phone and from what I read (here amongst other places) the newer 2.4G machines and higher do not sound as good as this trusted now ten year old Panasonic.

Answering the machine remotely sounds like it might work but I don't even have a modem anymore!

Question: which would be better to use the soundcard line in or mic in? If line in then I think it will be two channels, is it ok to tie the answering machine speaker wire to both left and right channels and then ground to ground?

Arkayne said:

My condolences. I lost my father at 18 and that was a real eye opener to life and how precious each moment is.

You'll have a loss in quality if you simply record with a mic while playing the messages. I'd probably unscrew the answering machine case to get access to the speaker wires and then splice in a 1/8 jack cable so I could plug it in to the microphone or line-in jacks on the back of the computer. Make sense? Make sure the answering machine volume is on the lowest setting.

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Great suggestion Mike! I like that software.

geepondy said:

Question: which would be better to use the soundcard line in or mic in? If line in then I think it will be two channels, is it ok to tie the answering machine speaker wire to both left and right channels and then ground to ground?

Click to expand...

Agree, go right to the speaker wires. I'd use the Line-In to your computer. Less gain, less noise, more suited to the level from a speaker. Wiring to both inputs should be fine. Personally, I would use an audio transformer to isolate any possible DC or grounds, but you can probably get away without.

I'd digitize at least CD quality (16 bit/44.1kHz sampling rate) even though the audio will be low-fi, because you should make several CD copies for safekeeping. Also, there is a lot of software that can clean up the sound that works on CD quality files and better.

Maybe use an induction mic rather than a condensor. An induction mic grabs the magnetic waves from the speaker and the sound quality can be very good (all without dissassembling the unit). At least worth a shot, here's a cheap one that can be found at the rat shack....

Induction Mic