A few months ago I was interviewing a famous author type, who is well-known for speaking in a very soft voice, as well as for his writing and his general celebrity. Normally, I just take notes when I interview, but I was feeling like it left holes in my interviews so I used my semi-trusty RadioShack 2-Speed Voice Activation telephone tape player, that plugs into atelephone. I realized, however, that to use this recorder I needed an old fashioned phone that has a receiver and a cord, and the only one in the house was an ancient 25-pound rotary phone that you can now buy for $50 in the name of kitsch at Pottery Barn.

Well, it screwed me. The tape player was a complete disaster, catching only the faintest whispers of my interviewee, who already spoke in a whisper anyway. Transcribing it was like transcribing an interview with a ghost, and it was painful to listen to, mostly because the distortion was so loud when I turned up the volume.

This experience has left me leery of recorders, so I asked some experts and fellow writers what they use when they interview. It turns out that tape recorders are mostly way out.

Many of the writers I spoke with also distrust the tape recorder. One said, "I use a Sony microcassette recorder M-670V with a phone adaptor. I also simultaneously type what's being said as fast as I can while the interview is going on-- just in case. And if all else fails, I have developed a remarkable talent at scribbling things down in a way that is illegible to everyone but me." Another who works for an entertainment magazine added, "I do have an Olympus DS-330 digital voice recorder, but I don't use it very much. I prefer taking notes, for whatever reason. If I record a conversation, it's for backup rather than for primary reporting." Another non-recommendation: "I have an Olympus Pearlcorder S950, some digital overpriced crap I got at Radio Shack (where I also got its phone adaptor.) It is very sometimey and I would not recommend it because it has all these dumb ass adaptors you have to use. I always type or write in addition to rolling tape, so I'm usually pretty safe."

Yes, actually, everyone I spoke with writes as well as tapes, so is there such a thing as a recorder that writers have 100% faith in?

The folks at Engadget don't even think a recorder is necessary. Peter Rojas says, " just use your iPod with Griffin's iTalk voice recorder attachment: or Belkin's Universal Microphone Adapter: One less gadget to have to carry around, and you won't have to worry about running out of recording space or whether or not you'll be able to copy the audio files to your computer (you can even post them to your blog)." Why, this blog?