Gadget brief: Telephone call recorder

Telephone conversations you want to keep, file, or forward can now do just that using a product launched last week by telephony distributor IMC. The Call Recorder is aimed at companies that need to keep track of conversations for inventories, transactions etc.

The unit costs £150 and uses a microphone that sits between the handset and the base of most telephones. It can be connected to an ordinary tape recorder, DAT or MiniDisc and the files may be stored in .wav format on a hard disk.

BT warns that recording conversations is illegal unless you tell the other person you intend to record.