Leaving recorder in hotelroom for a month

[findu]

Hi,


So there are these voice activated recorders that can be on stand by for about 28 days, not too expensive.

The ebay seller told me that the 4gb can provide up to 140 hrs recording time, which sounds a bit much to me but it should still get a good few hours of recorded sound.


Has anyone ever tried placing a voice activated recorder with a long battery life in a hotelroom, hidden under the bed or something, and come back to that same room a couple of weeks later to see what was cought?

I think it could be absolutely great. It is officially ilegal is it?


Any thoughts?

[yeppie]

This would be absolutely illegal, so it wouldn´t be too clever to admit it in public (more or less).

If I´m still able to calculate, 4gb should be enough for 4000 minutes recording (128kbps) or 8000 minutes (64kbps) or even 16000 minutes (32kbps). That would mean constantly recording for about 66 hours / 132 hours / 264 hours. One week has 168 hours. 4gb and 64 kbps should be fine if the battery has enough capacity for a recording (not standby) of this length.

[sc0tt-uk]

You'd need to pick placement carefully. In my experience of being a forgetful plonker and leaving belongings behind in hotels (even small ones), the cleaners tend to be quite thorough at taking stuff down to the front desk... more thorough than they are at cleaning actually lol.

[tilehurst88]

Your other challenge might be getting the same room 1 month later as many hotels aren't very good at honouring exact room requests unless you book a special suite or something that there is only one in the hotel.

If its a small family hotel you might be able to make a booking directly when you leave after the first visit and request same room but that leaves you more open to being identified should the recorder be found.

is it really worth the risk vs opportunistic capture

[findu]

Yes you'd have to request the same room again. I don't know how common that is really. Surely those picky old people make requests like that constantly.

I agree with your comment on questioning if it is worth the risk, although it actually could be a lot safer than walking the corridors all night long and placing and leaving recorders by peoples door-gap....