Versatile sound recorder
Voice recorders are very helpful devices in many various situations. They may serve as a handy personal voice notebook, for recording business meetings, lectures, or may be used by journalists during interviews. They may also be used for scientific purposes.
This kind of equipment is also used by the police during investigation or by private detectives. Unfortunately, they are often used in industrial espionage or in political struggles ('tapping scandals' have often their source in cleverly hidden voice recorders). Their advantage over advanced systems is the fact that they don't emit radio waves which eliminate detection.
The market offers many solutions enabling discreet voice recording. For example, a strange behavior of babysitter might be monitored by the parents. Another application may prevent teenagers problems. For example, when a teenager is left alone in his room, his strange telephone conversations may be now monitored. Additionaly in a situation when a business partner or a client, does not play fair and might cause serious financial losses. In these and many other unpleasant situations, a discreet recording may be helpful.
Which parameters are the most important when choosing a voice recorder?
Nowadays, the market is dominated by digital voice recorders. Their biggest advantages are: reliability, miniature size, easy management and data storing. Digital voice recorders allows to save very large amount of information and thanks to energy saving technology – offer long operation time.
The most important technical parameters of the voice recorder
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SAVING FORMAT AND SOUND QUALITY SETTINGS
Currently, most of voice recorders offer MP3 or WMA file format, which are commonly used because of the fact that they are efficient when it comes to file storage and quality during the compression. In very specific situations, a device with an option of saving in PCM (WAVE) file format would be the most suitable. It has better sound quality than a CD! An important thing is the possibility of changing the file format and level of compression - if the user wants to retain the best quality of sounds or the longest time of recordings.
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TYPE AND SENSITIVITY OF THE MICROPHONE
Most of the voice recorders have a built-in mono microphone. The quality of recording and sound sensitivity depends on its quality and parameters. Good quality microphones are able to capture the sounds of conversation from 10-12 meters range. Some of the voice recorders are equipped with stereo microphones, so the sound is more clear and real. What's more some devices offers the possibility of plugging in an external microphone.
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CAPACITY AND TYPE OF MEMORY
Voice recorders use flash memory as a built-in chip or replaceable memory cards (mostly these are microSD/SDHC memory cards). Obviously, the larger capacity the better, especially in devices which offer the best quality – PCM file format. The most common voice recorders with a built-in 1-4 GB flash memory, some offer a possibility of extending it by replaceable memory cards of even up to 32 GB capacity.
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TYPE OF POWERING AND OPERATION TIME
This is one of the most important parameters of voice recorder. Often, we need very long operating time without changing batteries. Advanced, efficient and energy saving solutions allow to obtain operating time from 10 to 20 hours. In some cases it might be even couple of hundreds hours.
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CONSTRUCTION AND SIZE OF THE DEVICE
The discretion of use is a very important matter. The voice recorder must be miniaturized , at the same time, keeping important parameters of sound quality and operating time. There are voice recorders which may be tiny , easily hidden. It is also possible to put a microphone into unique, everyday use item. It allows to record sounds with no suspicions.
Practical additional functions
Digital technology allows to use many additional solutions, which make dealing with voice recorders easier. Especially, it is worth to focus on a few matters described below.
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VOICE ACTIVATION RECORDING
It is a very useful function which helps to save memory and makes a further playback of recordings easier. The voice recorder switches on automatically in a moment when the sound level, captured by a microphone, exceeds the level of audibility.
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BUILT-IN CLOCK AND CALENDAR
A clock and calendar allow to configure the schedule of recording.
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DISPLAY SCREEN
More advanced voice recorders have LCD or OLED display screens which allow to configure the parameters of the device, in order to manage and preview the recordings in a more convenient manner.
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HEADPHONES
They allow to play the recordings directly from the voice recorder.
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MASS STORAGE FUNCTION
Allows to use the voice recorder for storing other types of files.
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MEMORY ACCESS PROTECTION
Guarantees memory access and protection data encryption, as well as protection against modification (by electronic signature).
What kind of voice recorders Detective Store offers?
We offer many kinds of voice recorders, adjusted to various needs. One of the most universal solution is Esonic MemoQ MR-740 voice recorder. This ordinary voice recorder, offers very good sound parameters and long operating time. By the use of additional equipment it may be transformed into an efficient spy tool. The additional external microphone is easy to camouflage in a room, car or in clothes. It's still able to capture sounds from the surrounding. The voice recorder itself may be discretely hidden and become invisible. An adapter of a phone line or a combination of microphone and headphone are accessories which allow to record conversations conducted via telephone. The voice recorder may also be plugged into a radio receiver and record sounds from a bug placed in different location.
Voice recorders placed in items of everyday use, are very popular too. They may be useful in different situations. Left on a desk or somewhere else in room without any suspicion. Recording everything from the surrounding. The MQ-78 voice recorder, hidden in a pen, is worth noticing. It looks like an ordinary pen. You can write it, but inside there is a miniature voice recorder with motion activation, working even 15-20h after the accumulator has been charged. MQ-U350 voice recorder is also a great idea. Hidden in a pendrive, in sound activation mode, it may work up to 25 days, and record even 24 hours. If you need very long operating time and advantages of advanced parameters configuration, Edic product will be very suitable. The RF-Tech LR-64 voice recorder, apart from its tiny size – 28 x 20 x 6 mm, is able to record for up to 48 hours!
Voice recorders with remote access to recordings, and a function of real-time access via the Internet seem to be a peak achievement – the voice recorder has a WiFi module. Recordings are obviously protected from people who do not have a password. In professional use (for example by war journalists), the highest class tool will be helpful – Gnome-2M. The emphasis was put on obtaining maximum quality of stereo sound, easy operation and data safety, which is digitally marked (guarantee of authenticity) and protected with a PIN code.
The prices of digital voice recorders start from 27 GBP, and for the best class device you need to pay even few thousand GBP. The wide choice of voice recorders in our offer allows every customer to choose the best one for his needs and purposes.
More information can be found in our detective blog.