Record phone from laptop?

[A man]

Many computers have a modem card with 2 jacks, one goes to the phone line, one
to a phone, so you can make a call via your phone, which then goes through the
modem. A person might be able to record a phone conversation this way.

However, I have a laptop with just one phone jack, to the phone line. I also
have a mike in and speaker out line. Is there a way to record phone
conversations on the laptop? Freeware preferred.

Thanks.

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[Terry Orchard]

Many computers have a modem card with 2 jacks, one goes to the phone line, one
to a phone, so you can make a call via your phone, which then goes through the
modem. A person might be able to record a phone conversation this way.

Can work, but is (in my experience) often unsatisfactory.

However, I have a laptop with just one phone jack, to the phone line. I also
have a mike in and speaker out line. Is there a way to record phone
conversations on the laptop? Freeware preferred.

You need to get the audio from the phone into your computer. That will
require some sort of adapter that plugs into the phone (typically into
the handset plug) and also plugs into your sound card. One usually
plugs in to line-in, but if you only have mic-in, you can probably use
that. You can purchase such devices inexpensively at office supply
stores, RadioShack, etc. They are often used to connect a telephone to
a tape recorder (like a micro-cassette recorder).

Once you have the sound getting to your sound card, you can use any of
the freeware sound recording and playback programs. If you need this,
see http://www.pricelessware.com

Be aware that depending on where you are located and where the person
you are speaking with is located, it may be illegal to record the
conversation, or you may be required to get permission from everyone
who participates in the conversation.

If you need to make transcriptions, look into ExpressScribe at
http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/.

Terry