I work as a journalist for a publishing company and part of my role requires me to write magazine features. I usually have to interview a number of people before I can write an article and sometimes it's not physically possible to meet everybody in person, so, as an alternative, I often arrange telephone interviews and record them using this telephone pick-up and my Olympus dictaphone.

I bought this pick-up about two years ago from Amazon and for £2.99, with free shipping, it was a real bargain. I have also seen these pick-ups on sale in Maplin, but I'm yet to spot them in any other highstreet stores, so for ease and convenience I recommend that you pick one up on-line.

This item is very easy to use - you just attach the suction cup attachment onto to phone receiver and plug the other end into your recording devise. This telephone pick-up with fit into any digital recorder that has a 3.5mm microphone socket and in my experience most dictaphones come with this socket as a standard feature.

In general all my recordings are very clear, but occasionally, when I'm conducting a phone interview my recorder will flash if it's not picking up the person on the other end of the phone very clearly. This is usually because they're talking on a hands free system, but seeing this light means that I can rectify the issue without losing the whole recording.

I find that recording interviews and transcribing them back helps me to pick out key quotes and if you're in a similar line of work to me, or if you're a student studying journalism then I recommend that you buy one of these pickups, especially if your shorthand isn't up to scratch!

This piece of kit is really basic and cheap, but it's been a great investment for me and I've used it with my Olympus dictaphone at least four times a week for the past two years, and so far I've not had a single issue with the devise.

Overall I'd say this is a sound piece of kit and it's an absolute bargain. I award it five bright Dooyoo stars!