Have you ever finished a phone call and thought gee I wish I could have recorded that conversation? Maybe you are a journalist and regularly interview people by phone or you have regular business meetings by phone?
The TP-7 telephone pickup mic from Olympus is a microphone that can be used with any Olympus digital voice recorder to easily record phone conversations. It can be used with any phone – mobile, office phone even a pay phone.
The TP-7 connects via the jack plug to any Olympus digital voice recorder, the other end fits in your ear like a iPod earbud. It then sits neatly between the phone and your ear while you hold the conversation. It can directly pickup the audio from the phone speaker usually held to your ear and also from your spoken words all recorded easily to the voice recorder.
Quite a neat gadget from Olympus and a popular product with journalists. Officially this works only with Olympus voice recorders but I have heard of people with Sony’s using it also.
Philips has something similar and is called the 9162 telephone pickup mic. Slightly cheaper than the Olympus it comes in a nifty pouch with spare ear bud cushions and a retractable cord. It follows the same principal by fitting in your ear making it compatible with any phone you use.
The Philips 9162 can be used with the Philips Digital Pocket Memo (DPM) series, Philips Digital Voice Tracer (DVT) series, analog pocket memos and the Philips 955 conference recording system.
I had the impression TP-7 only really worked with Olympus voice recorder, so I have ordered a dictator. However the money was unnecessarily spent as it is not needed. It works plugged into a soundcard on the PC using Audacity, and also works with my Treo 650. It has two additional add on connectors for greater adaptability including a 2.5mm adaptor and a full 3.5mm adaptor.
If people already have an input/mic slot in phone or computer, order this first test it before outlaying for a dedicated device.
Oh, and by the way, the product works great. Well worth the money.
– Nathan
Thanks for the info Nathan. Yes there is no reason why the TP-7 couldn’t be used directly plugged or in other units, as you say, give it a test first. We have had people buy these in the past to use with non Olympus recorders who have not had success, from memory I think they were Sony recorders which is why we added the advisory that officially they are supported for use with Olympus recorders.
If you are only ever recording phone conversations then your scenario of the TP-7 works well. Most people though, we find, have a TP-7 as an accompaniment to their usual digital voice recording requirements, for those occasions where they conduct a meeting or interview over the phone instead of face to face.
As you said, the Olympus TP-7 works well, it is a great idea and very useful.
Dave