From the PrivateInvestigatorsInc.com website:
"Caution: Getting listed in this directory is all about visibility, search engine marketing and helping potential customers find you rather than finding your competitors. If you are OK with that then we invite you to submit your listing for consideration."
This is a new type of directory in that it is built in WordPress, a blogging tool, rather than upon the old directory scripts that everyone is putting out. In plain English, this means that the directory listings at the PrivateInvestigatorsInc.com website will be better optimized for search engine consumption than a typical directory listing.
I'm excited about it as I can see the REAL value to this type of listing. Scott Harrell understands search engines and understands how to reach the top of search engine listings as he has with almost all of his websites. He explains that this listing is not so much about being found in the website itself as it is generating the right kind of search engine traffic to the listed agency's website thus improving the visibility of the agency website rather than the directory.
Personally, I'd rather have potential clients find my website rather than find me and my competition in a PI Directory.
Find a Private Investigator in... makes sense. The listings are currently free but they do ask that you provide a link back to the website, which is a very small price to pay for the exposure.
Get listed in the Private Investigator directory today... go to Find a Private Investigator in and get more information.
Showing posts with label Best Practices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best Practices. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
A New Magazine for Private Investigators is FREE!
Check out Pursuit Magazine- a new private investigator magazine that absolutely blows the doors off of PI Magazine!
Not only is Pursuit FREE, it is an incredibile source for information too. They have past articles and issues posted so if you miss one they are all readily available.
The May Issue had articles about advertising and marketing my PI agency that I used and had immediate results. I like the sense of community they are building and the fact that Scott Harrell recognizes the need for coninuing education for all professional investigators which include bail enforcement and fugitive recovery agents, collateral repossession professionals and other skip tracers (to name just a few).
Great job to the staff, I can't wait for the July Issue!
.
Not only is Pursuit FREE, it is an incredibile source for information too. They have past articles and issues posted so if you miss one they are all readily available.
The May Issue had articles about advertising and marketing my PI agency that I used and had immediate results. I like the sense of community they are building and the fact that Scott Harrell recognizes the need for coninuing education for all professional investigators which include bail enforcement and fugitive recovery agents, collateral repossession professionals and other skip tracers (to name just a few).
Great job to the staff, I can't wait for the July Issue!
.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Small PI Agencies are Going Out of Business, Here's Why...
Hi All,
This will only take 5-10 minutes (max) to read, so please continue. And once you’ve read, please spread the word and remind your fellow PI that he, like you, is worth more than he thinks.
Many of you do not know me, but if you’ll indulge me, I would like to recount a little bit about my background. Before 1980, I helped manage a large multi-purpose agricultural business. Some may call it farming, row cropping, ranching, or refer to those associated with it by such pejorative phrases as "straw chewing hick" or "overall wearing hayseed." I don’t really care what you call it or me, but it was the best business experience I have ever had, bar none! Make no mistake though, “Mother Nature” is a landowner’s boss and don’t let anybody ever tell you differently. No matter what you may think, farming is not for the stereotypical, “backwoods redneck yokel.” Farming takes planning, organization, money, timing, a market, and a whole lot of LUCK! No other vocation falls at the mercy of year- round weather conditions than farming. What does all this have to do with anything? Well, I was hoping you’d ask.
The small farmers of America are a thing of the past. Corporate farming and private land ownership has taken away America’s most precious identity – that of the family farmer. The family farmer has been exploited for years by poorly written laws (and the lawmakers who write them), greedy merchants, and avaricious big businesses – a situation not unlike what the PIs of this nation have been experiencing during the past three decades. Logic and commonsense have given way to political correctness and privacy hysteria. PIs are not completely free from fault. We are just The Last of the Mohicans - small enterprises that are being replaced by “national agencies” in the same way mom and pop farmers were pushed out to pasture.
Have you ever noticed how the ABA and AMA are nationally organized? Although the medical profession is on its ear, all the doctors I know still own nice homes and drive fancy cars. The reason lawyers and doctors are doing well: they recognize the need to form huge coalitions through their national and state run organizations. Farmers tried but, due to fragmentation within their ranks, failed, and look where they are now. Through tremendous solidarity, doctors and lawyers have gained bargaining power, clout, and a war chest to challenge bad legislation. Farmers were too divided, putting self-interest first, and you see what it cost them. Talk about fragmented, divided and emphasis on self-interest -these are all terms that can be applied to today’s licensed PI. It is true what is said about history repeating itself.
The PI vocation is doomed because of apathy, cynicism, and mistrust in our spokespeople, a lack of participation, factions of too many colors, and a serious lack of leadership. There are approximately 60,000 licensees nationally, yet the ranks of most PI organizations cannot even brag about having 30% of the total of each potential state’s licensees. It’s no wonder we have no voice; no unity. Laws are changing more frequently than some of you change your yolk-stained ties, and yet you do nothing or you bitch and moan about the impending doom and gloom. At the rate we are going, we are headed toward extinction. There are no teeth left in the tiger’s mouth to kick out, yet most of you sit on your tired rumps, too lazy to do anything about it. It’s pathetic. Where is your pride, people? Are we all so burned out we do not give a damn anymore?
We do not have enough resources to run a nationwide television ad. That too is deplorable. DO NOT STOP READING… KEEP GOING…I AM ALMOST DONE.
I wish to share an idea I have been mulling over for awhile. Seeing as how a great majority does not want to spend a nickel to support state and/or national organizations, perhaps this revelation will change your thinking:
Lift up your self-worth! I cannot believe what some of you are willing to sell your retail services for! It’s no wonder PIs and small agencies are suffering as they are.
The sole practitioner and the small agencies are being replaced by inexperienced wannabes who are supervised by a bunch of sophisticated business people who saw an opportunity to catch us asleep at the wheel. Try a little surfing on Google or Copernic and you’ll easily discover who the culprit is snatching the food out of your refrigerator. Out-of-state agencies are killing all of us. They are willing to exploit inexperienced (and oft-time bogus) PIs for $10-$15 dollars/hour, all the while misrepresenting themselves to their clients. The supervisors of these “agencies” are getting fat while your cupboard is looking more and more bare. With any luck, something will backfire on these so-called “national PI agencies.” You can only use/exploit “inexperience” for so long.
It is in all of our respective interests to recapture our instate work for our instate licensees. The longer we allow this downhill trend to manifest itself, the sooner we will arrive at the collective loss of our livelihoods before this decade ends. The national companies’ poor work product may be our saving grace. You cannot teach 27 years of on-the-job experience to a person in one year. It is impossible. Yet, companies are shunning experience in favor of cheap labor.
So, you may be asking yourself, how can we charge more if national agencies are charging less? Well, the objective is to come together and form an American PI Association, “APIA,” so we can build the resources to reclaim all that we have lost. No voice, no vote. No money, no change. We need both money and a voice. And, if any of you think a dollar amount that exceeds $99 a year is too much, please don’t bother to apply. We don’t want or need your apathetic attitude and/or shortsightedness. Save those qualities for your analysis of a witness’ statement under oath. I am not giving up. It is not in my nature, but you can rest assured I am not dragging the sorry lot of cynics and naysayers along for the ride. I just as soon start fresh and bring a new breed of educated, optimistic, and motivated people whose goals are to succeed in life and business. Work smart, not hard.
Although the Sherman Anti-Trust Act prohibits collusion in the free-market bidding process, it does not prohibit the offer of sage advice. I am not the only answer, but I’ll stand by my successes and failures over the many years I have been practicing as a PI entrepreneur. When a newbie asks me for advice or ideas about how to start a PI business, the very first thing I tell them is “Don’t sell your self short.” So many of you know what I am talking about, however, you are constantly discounting yourselves, ergo, the malaise we find ourselves in as our businesses dry up. Granted there are several factors that are squeezing the life out of some our markets, and, those for certain are the “national agencies” that are springing up like bad mold all over the U.S. There is no way a home office in Timbuktu will have the same experience and knowledge of the laws in another state than a home state PI will have in his/her own territory. Nevertheless, more and more “national agencies” are taking the food right out of our mouths. The primary reason this is happening is that this profession is so factious that we are biting off our own noses because of our own shortsightedness and cynical disinterest.
After years of bidding on RFPs, I have noticed a consistent trend by a majority of the bidders to come in at such ridiculously low hourly bids, its no wonder PIs and small agencies are dropping like flies into cow pies. The rule of thumb for calculating a proper profit margin for a business is to charge three times per hour [or what ever unit of measure] you would pay an employee to do the job. The math is so easy that I will not bore you with the minutiae, but it is patently apparent that many of you people are selling yourselves too cheaply. If you hold a license to practice Private Investigations, then take pride in the fact that you have something special to offer. When you price your wares ad hoc, you are not only doing a disservice to yourself, but you are royally screwing the rest of us. If you do not feel like you know what or how to operate a PI business so that you are maintaining a fair and reasonable standard, then I suggest you join a professional PI organization. Ask folk that have been in the business 20 plus years, go to the professional seminars, and/or take a few night classes at a reputable business school so you will know what you need to run a real business. I could go on for hours on this topic, but it is not necessary. The bottom-line: We as PIs are entitled to make a decent living for our efforts, thus we all need to take pride in our retail services so we actually can make a living. I have done well for a small agency, but given the current trend of low-ball tactics, unlicensed activity, fraudulent misrepresentation, out-of-state monster “agencies” coming into our various markets, and BAD LEGISLATION, something is going to have to give. I talk to many PIs during the course of a week and it never ceases to amaze me how many share the same sad tales of woe.
Thanks for reading, and like I said, spread the word. Hopefully, we can rally to make pride and integrity the standard for our industry - and not suffer the fate of the family farmer.
Bernard Cane
President & Director of Operations
Bernard George Investigations, Inc.
Santa Monica, CA 90401-1700
Bernard@BernardGeorge.com
BernardGeorge.com
This will only take 5-10 minutes (max) to read, so please continue. And once you’ve read, please spread the word and remind your fellow PI that he, like you, is worth more than he thinks.
Many of you do not know me, but if you’ll indulge me, I would like to recount a little bit about my background. Before 1980, I helped manage a large multi-purpose agricultural business. Some may call it farming, row cropping, ranching, or refer to those associated with it by such pejorative phrases as "straw chewing hick" or "overall wearing hayseed." I don’t really care what you call it or me, but it was the best business experience I have ever had, bar none! Make no mistake though, “Mother Nature” is a landowner’s boss and don’t let anybody ever tell you differently. No matter what you may think, farming is not for the stereotypical, “backwoods redneck yokel.” Farming takes planning, organization, money, timing, a market, and a whole lot of LUCK! No other vocation falls at the mercy of year- round weather conditions than farming. What does all this have to do with anything? Well, I was hoping you’d ask.
The small farmers of America are a thing of the past. Corporate farming and private land ownership has taken away America’s most precious identity – that of the family farmer. The family farmer has been exploited for years by poorly written laws (and the lawmakers who write them), greedy merchants, and avaricious big businesses – a situation not unlike what the PIs of this nation have been experiencing during the past three decades. Logic and commonsense have given way to political correctness and privacy hysteria. PIs are not completely free from fault. We are just The Last of the Mohicans - small enterprises that are being replaced by “national agencies” in the same way mom and pop farmers were pushed out to pasture.
Have you ever noticed how the ABA and AMA are nationally organized? Although the medical profession is on its ear, all the doctors I know still own nice homes and drive fancy cars. The reason lawyers and doctors are doing well: they recognize the need to form huge coalitions through their national and state run organizations. Farmers tried but, due to fragmentation within their ranks, failed, and look where they are now. Through tremendous solidarity, doctors and lawyers have gained bargaining power, clout, and a war chest to challenge bad legislation. Farmers were too divided, putting self-interest first, and you see what it cost them. Talk about fragmented, divided and emphasis on self-interest -these are all terms that can be applied to today’s licensed PI. It is true what is said about history repeating itself.
The PI vocation is doomed because of apathy, cynicism, and mistrust in our spokespeople, a lack of participation, factions of too many colors, and a serious lack of leadership. There are approximately 60,000 licensees nationally, yet the ranks of most PI organizations cannot even brag about having 30% of the total of each potential state’s licensees. It’s no wonder we have no voice; no unity. Laws are changing more frequently than some of you change your yolk-stained ties, and yet you do nothing or you bitch and moan about the impending doom and gloom. At the rate we are going, we are headed toward extinction. There are no teeth left in the tiger’s mouth to kick out, yet most of you sit on your tired rumps, too lazy to do anything about it. It’s pathetic. Where is your pride, people? Are we all so burned out we do not give a damn anymore?
We do not have enough resources to run a nationwide television ad. That too is deplorable. DO NOT STOP READING… KEEP GOING…I AM ALMOST DONE.
I wish to share an idea I have been mulling over for awhile. Seeing as how a great majority does not want to spend a nickel to support state and/or national organizations, perhaps this revelation will change your thinking:
Lift up your self-worth! I cannot believe what some of you are willing to sell your retail services for! It’s no wonder PIs and small agencies are suffering as they are.
The sole practitioner and the small agencies are being replaced by inexperienced wannabes who are supervised by a bunch of sophisticated business people who saw an opportunity to catch us asleep at the wheel. Try a little surfing on Google or Copernic and you’ll easily discover who the culprit is snatching the food out of your refrigerator. Out-of-state agencies are killing all of us. They are willing to exploit inexperienced (and oft-time bogus) PIs for $10-$15 dollars/hour, all the while misrepresenting themselves to their clients. The supervisors of these “agencies” are getting fat while your cupboard is looking more and more bare. With any luck, something will backfire on these so-called “national PI agencies.” You can only use/exploit “inexperience” for so long.
It is in all of our respective interests to recapture our instate work for our instate licensees. The longer we allow this downhill trend to manifest itself, the sooner we will arrive at the collective loss of our livelihoods before this decade ends. The national companies’ poor work product may be our saving grace. You cannot teach 27 years of on-the-job experience to a person in one year. It is impossible. Yet, companies are shunning experience in favor of cheap labor.
So, you may be asking yourself, how can we charge more if national agencies are charging less? Well, the objective is to come together and form an American PI Association, “APIA,” so we can build the resources to reclaim all that we have lost. No voice, no vote. No money, no change. We need both money and a voice. And, if any of you think a dollar amount that exceeds $99 a year is too much, please don’t bother to apply. We don’t want or need your apathetic attitude and/or shortsightedness. Save those qualities for your analysis of a witness’ statement under oath. I am not giving up. It is not in my nature, but you can rest assured I am not dragging the sorry lot of cynics and naysayers along for the ride. I just as soon start fresh and bring a new breed of educated, optimistic, and motivated people whose goals are to succeed in life and business. Work smart, not hard.
Although the Sherman Anti-Trust Act prohibits collusion in the free-market bidding process, it does not prohibit the offer of sage advice. I am not the only answer, but I’ll stand by my successes and failures over the many years I have been practicing as a PI entrepreneur. When a newbie asks me for advice or ideas about how to start a PI business, the very first thing I tell them is “Don’t sell your self short.” So many of you know what I am talking about, however, you are constantly discounting yourselves, ergo, the malaise we find ourselves in as our businesses dry up. Granted there are several factors that are squeezing the life out of some our markets, and, those for certain are the “national agencies” that are springing up like bad mold all over the U.S. There is no way a home office in Timbuktu will have the same experience and knowledge of the laws in another state than a home state PI will have in his/her own territory. Nevertheless, more and more “national agencies” are taking the food right out of our mouths. The primary reason this is happening is that this profession is so factious that we are biting off our own noses because of our own shortsightedness and cynical disinterest.
After years of bidding on RFPs, I have noticed a consistent trend by a majority of the bidders to come in at such ridiculously low hourly bids, its no wonder PIs and small agencies are dropping like flies into cow pies. The rule of thumb for calculating a proper profit margin for a business is to charge three times per hour [or what ever unit of measure] you would pay an employee to do the job. The math is so easy that I will not bore you with the minutiae, but it is patently apparent that many of you people are selling yourselves too cheaply. If you hold a license to practice Private Investigations, then take pride in the fact that you have something special to offer. When you price your wares ad hoc, you are not only doing a disservice to yourself, but you are royally screwing the rest of us. If you do not feel like you know what or how to operate a PI business so that you are maintaining a fair and reasonable standard, then I suggest you join a professional PI organization. Ask folk that have been in the business 20 plus years, go to the professional seminars, and/or take a few night classes at a reputable business school so you will know what you need to run a real business. I could go on for hours on this topic, but it is not necessary. The bottom-line: We as PIs are entitled to make a decent living for our efforts, thus we all need to take pride in our retail services so we actually can make a living. I have done well for a small agency, but given the current trend of low-ball tactics, unlicensed activity, fraudulent misrepresentation, out-of-state monster “agencies” coming into our various markets, and BAD LEGISLATION, something is going to have to give. I talk to many PIs during the course of a week and it never ceases to amaze me how many share the same sad tales of woe.
Thanks for reading, and like I said, spread the word. Hopefully, we can rally to make pride and integrity the standard for our industry - and not suffer the fate of the family farmer.
Bernard Cane
President & Director of Operations
Bernard George Investigations, Inc.
Santa Monica, CA 90401-1700
Bernard@BernardGeorge.com
BernardGeorge.com
Monday, July 9, 2007
Telephone Company and Location from Telephone Number
Try www.fonefinder.net
For those of you not familiar with this search, it's a fast and free way to learn if a phone number is a cell or a landline, the geo-location of the wire exchange, and who the phone company is. Although generally reliable, the results are not perfect due to number porting and occasions where phone companies split up blocks of numbers that have been assigned to them.
For those of you not familiar with this search, it's a fast and free way to learn if a phone number is a cell or a landline, the geo-location of the wire exchange, and who the phone company is. Although generally reliable, the results are not perfect due to number porting and occasions where phone companies split up blocks of numbers that have been assigned to them.
Audio Recordings- Analog or Digital Storage?
Hello Group,I am in need of your help. I am looking for advice, suggestions on a new recorder to use for taping Interviews. I tryed this on my own but with all the new stuff out there, I couldn't settle on what would be best. Please, lend me your experience and knowledge.
-PS
Take it from me, when they subpoena duces tecum all your records and recordings, it's sure nice to be able to hand over a simple tape instead of your whole recorder. I say tape. This happened to me and I didn't get my recorder back for 6 weeks.
-GK
Using the best evidence rule, the original source medium - voice or video - is the best piece of evidence. However, in the age of erasable medium; digital hard drive cameras and voice recorders, the "original" is becoming a little ambiguous.
I am not an attorney and you should consult with your own before you make any decisions on what to use or how to handle your company. But here is what I did:
I have spoken to the attorneys I work with about this very issue and the response was that if you have an unedited copy of the original, and if the original is not available, then the copy becomes the "best evidence". This of course must be backed up with testimony the submitted copy is an unedited version. In this new age of erasable mediums, digital copies of source material are acceptable. The courts can easily recognize that when using the new digital medium, no one can be expected to buy new recorders once the first one is filled, and that digital copies are made for long term storage.
This is a very valid issue for the new hard drive cameras (which is why I asked the question) where the "original" is erased once you transfer it to a DVD or desk top. This is applicable to digital voice recordings as well.
The upside is I now have a stack of DVDs where I had a stack of tapes, which takes up a fraction of the space.
-MC
Good day -
-- My opinion is simple - digital.
-- Further - with Sony and Olympus using their own proprietary formats (or the Windows "WMA" format) Both Sony and Olympus are good quality recorders. Attempt to get one that has a card slot for additional memory expansion. Olympus seems to have chosen to drop all models with a card slot in favor of more built-in memory (a less than optimal solution).
-- Using any of these will give you excellent results for a recording - but you will likely have to convert it at some point for use on some other computer system (say, in court). Arizona's legislature uses the Olympus (DSS) format, and you get a software player to distribute with it. Some also permit you to convert to the WAV format during downloads to the computer. WAV files are -very- large by comparison. Then you might also need to convert that WAV file to a more usable format for wide use -likely MP3.
-- My opinion - Try to get a recorder that records directly to the MP3 format. There are a few available.
-- There are some very expensive, physically larger, ones meant for studion quality recordings. There are some that are good for desktop interview use (still a bit larger - say 4" x 6") that cost in the area of $200 or so. Then there are a couple that are smaller, similar to the other brands of handheld digital recorders commonly available.
-- I've bought one for desktop use (connect to a telephone for instance) that you can sit near and record an interview with the recorder in full view. It works very well - and you can set the "sampling rate" for high to lower quality (and smaller files sizes). Then I've bought one that looks very much like an 'older' MP3 player that is quite pocketable.
-- MP3 is considered the 'text' file of the audio world. It is able to be played on any operating system that can play audio (so can WAV) and for 'CD' quality is approximately 9% the size of a comparable WAV file. (think 1 hr on a CD to about 11 or so hours on a CD). Though lowering the sampling rate can give you very good recordings and still make very small file sizes. I have one CD with 29 hrs 45 mins on it. Makes for good use of time for both you and the attorney? adjuster? ... ?
-- Sanyo makes two that I know of. One is typical size for a handheld digital and is similar to the familiar slim microcassette-size recorder. It has 256meg of built-in memory (h o u r s of interviews) a slot for SD cards (preferable to use a card versus the built-in memory), and a built-in USB connector, for as much convenience as you can hope for. I guess that (secure) wireless transmission to the PC (from your remote location) is the next desire. The other Sanyo is the small MP3 player-looking one. Both had list prices of $300 (matching those from Sony and Olympus) when brand new. I've seen it around $200 now (a bit cheaper than Sony and Olympus - due to name recognition?). However I did buy the small MP3 player version for $66 on Overstock.com awhile back. But both record directly to MP3 and I felt that is by far the best thing you can do when moving to digital - IMHO.
-- Many times you would be faced with converting an audio file to another format - in real time. Not a good use of time at all. There are software packages that can help with some conversions, but that idea of doing any conversion in real time is not appealing.
-- When I've been asked to explain this idea of digital recording I simply use a tape analogy for them to understand it a bit more easily.
-- I begin with the idea that any recording I supply them IS 'the original recording' (as it was recorded directly to MP3 format). Compare this to the idea that you remove a tape from the recorder to the 'shelf' (for instance) - well, I remove the recording to the PC. I'd store a tape in some 'shoebox' - I store the recording in a folder on the PC. I make the argument in simple matter-of-fact terms that they are the same - but this is the original recording without the crappy sound or need to record it to the PC (in real time).
-- If not one of these - I am -still- very high on the Sony MiniDisc recorders. 45 hours or more on a single $2 disk (cheap enough to actually store). The newest ones still record to a proprietary format (but can download to WAV file, then can be converted at high speed to MP3) so you still need to explain that you did not edit the interview, just changed the format.
-- Good luck.
-BK
-PS
Take it from me, when they subpoena duces tecum all your records and recordings, it's sure nice to be able to hand over a simple tape instead of your whole recorder. I say tape. This happened to me and I didn't get my recorder back for 6 weeks.
-GK
Using the best evidence rule, the original source medium - voice or video - is the best piece of evidence. However, in the age of erasable medium; digital hard drive cameras and voice recorders, the "original" is becoming a little ambiguous.
I am not an attorney and you should consult with your own before you make any decisions on what to use or how to handle your company. But here is what I did:
I have spoken to the attorneys I work with about this very issue and the response was that if you have an unedited copy of the original, and if the original is not available, then the copy becomes the "best evidence". This of course must be backed up with testimony the submitted copy is an unedited version. In this new age of erasable mediums, digital copies of source material are acceptable. The courts can easily recognize that when using the new digital medium, no one can be expected to buy new recorders once the first one is filled, and that digital copies are made for long term storage.
This is a very valid issue for the new hard drive cameras (which is why I asked the question) where the "original" is erased once you transfer it to a DVD or desk top. This is applicable to digital voice recordings as well.
The upside is I now have a stack of DVDs where I had a stack of tapes, which takes up a fraction of the space.
-MC
Good day -
-- My opinion is simple - digital.
-- Further - with Sony and Olympus using their own proprietary formats (or the Windows "WMA" format) Both Sony and Olympus are good quality recorders. Attempt to get one that has a card slot for additional memory expansion. Olympus seems to have chosen to drop all models with a card slot in favor of more built-in memory (a less than optimal solution).
-- Using any of these will give you excellent results for a recording - but you will likely have to convert it at some point for use on some other computer system (say, in court). Arizona's legislature uses the Olympus (DSS) format, and you get a software player to distribute with it. Some also permit you to convert to the WAV format during downloads to the computer. WAV files are -very- large by comparison. Then you might also need to convert that WAV file to a more usable format for wide use -likely MP3.
-- My opinion - Try to get a recorder that records directly to the MP3 format. There are a few available.
-- There are some very expensive, physically larger, ones meant for studion quality recordings. There are some that are good for desktop interview use (still a bit larger - say 4" x 6") that cost in the area of $200 or so. Then there are a couple that are smaller, similar to the other brands of handheld digital recorders commonly available.
-- I've bought one for desktop use (connect to a telephone for instance) that you can sit near and record an interview with the recorder in full view. It works very well - and you can set the "sampling rate" for high to lower quality (and smaller files sizes). Then I've bought one that looks very much like an 'older' MP3 player that is quite pocketable.
-- MP3 is considered the 'text' file of the audio world. It is able to be played on any operating system that can play audio (so can WAV) and for 'CD' quality is approximately 9% the size of a comparable WAV file. (think 1 hr on a CD to about 11 or so hours on a CD). Though lowering the sampling rate can give you very good recordings and still make very small file sizes. I have one CD with 29 hrs 45 mins on it. Makes for good use of time for both you and the attorney? adjuster? ... ?
-- Sanyo makes two that I know of. One is typical size for a handheld digital and is similar to the familiar slim microcassette-size recorder. It has 256meg of built-in memory (h o u r s of interviews) a slot for SD cards (preferable to use a card versus the built-in memory), and a built-in USB connector, for as much convenience as you can hope for. I guess that (secure) wireless transmission to the PC (from your remote location) is the next desire. The other Sanyo is the small MP3 player-looking one. Both had list prices of $300 (matching those from Sony and Olympus) when brand new. I've seen it around $200 now (a bit cheaper than Sony and Olympus - due to name recognition?). However I did buy the small MP3 player version for $66 on Overstock.com awhile back. But both record directly to MP3 and I felt that is by far the best thing you can do when moving to digital - IMHO.
-- Many times you would be faced with converting an audio file to another format - in real time. Not a good use of time at all. There are software packages that can help with some conversions, but that idea of doing any conversion in real time is not appealing.
-- When I've been asked to explain this idea of digital recording I simply use a tape analogy for them to understand it a bit more easily.
-- I begin with the idea that any recording I supply them IS 'the original recording' (as it was recorded directly to MP3 format). Compare this to the idea that you remove a tape from the recorder to the 'shelf' (for instance) - well, I remove the recording to the PC. I'd store a tape in some 'shoebox' - I store the recording in a folder on the PC. I make the argument in simple matter-of-fact terms that they are the same - but this is the original recording without the crappy sound or need to record it to the PC (in real time).
-- If not one of these - I am -still- very high on the Sony MiniDisc recorders. 45 hours or more on a single $2 disk (cheap enough to actually store). The newest ones still record to a proprietary format (but can download to WAV file, then can be converted at high speed to MP3) so you still need to explain that you did not edit the interview, just changed the format.
-- Good luck.
-BK
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