You may find yourself in a situation with no way out - accused unlawfully of something or you may be a victim who is consistently ignored.

You may find yourself in the dramatic situation of being accused unlawfully of something or of being a victim who is ignored or not believed. This kind of situation may appear to have no way out at the beginning but such situations can often be resolved simply with the use of an inexpensive mini-tape recorder.

It is true that the privacy laws prohibit you from recording anything without the consent of your interlocutor but it is also true that listening to such a recording in an extra-judicial controversy could resolve a lot.
Let’s take a look at a few examples. When you are carrying out particularly delicate business dealings, a tape recorder may be useful for your own protection at every meeting. Such has often been useful in eliminating the risk of being dragged into legal action regarding people who had tried to involve their partner in business dealings in order to further their own illegal operations.
People who work in an office where they are subject to sexual harassment by other colleagues or superiors are often taken for liars, looked on with suspicion, especially if the molester has a good reputation, a little tape recorder could eliminate much doubt and give the victim back a sense of serenity.
It has often occurred that people who were accused unjustly had confidential conversations with their accuser and by recording such conversations, they obtained documentation on the false testimony of their accuser and the reasons for the same. If you receive threats or are the victim of slander it is a good idea to record and store such for the lawsuit that will follow, especially if such threats or slanderous words are recorded deliberately on a telephone answering machine.
Without exaggeration, on the market you will find micro-recorders that are about the same size as a packet of cigarettes and the cost of such equipment can range from 50 Euro to 400 Euro approximately and such equipment can solve a various different situations.
Let’s take a look at the kind of characteristics a tape-recorder should have if it is to be considered really useful:

Complete silence in all of its functions. Before using such equipment, it is very important to remember to turn down the volume completely, firstly because the microphone input volume regulates itself independently from that for listening and if you should forget to turn down the latter, any kind of magnetic interference, such as a mobile phone, could cause the recorder to emit suspect noises.
Vocal activation. This means that the equipment will be turned on and set for recording, but it will only begin recording when it perceives a sound. This function has the disadvantage that at the beginning of each recording we lose the first syllable of each word.
Recording autonomy. As regards magnetic cassette recorders, it is better if they have a reduced speed function and if they can record for an hour and a half with a 90-minute cassette, if they have an auto-reverse function they will record for up to 3 hours. Although they are much more expensive, digital recorders can record for several hours according to the memory that they have.
Battery life. If you want to be sure of excellent functioning quality, it is a good idea to change the batteries after each full cassette recording or at least after every 3 full cassette recordings. You can however purchase equipment complete with a battery consumption indicator.
Reduced dimensions, to be easily concealed. When locating the apparatus be sure that the microphone is not obstructed, if it is kept in a bag then be sure to keep the bag open. Or you must have an additional microphone facing out of the bag. If you are recording from your pocket ensure that it is not closed with zips or other closures. During recording you must remain immobile, so as not cause interference due to the rustling caused by your clothing.
It is very important to know your recording equipment well and to have tested it on various occasions before using it in real situations, in order to be able to best benefit from its characteristics.
If you want to be extra cautious, you can use two recorders in case one of the two should not function correctly.

Published on: 28 Jul 2004