Thanks everyone for the responses.
I'll have to check out that Audacity software. Thanks Chris. Is there a reason I should avoid the pre-beta version? Well I'll check it out, then it might just make sense because of obviousness, or posted explanation.
I remember the devices Mikie is speaking about, my roommate used to have a voice activated one once in 1990 that recorded to audio cassettes, but I imagine they would be digital now. One day I was in our home office talking on the phone, and I noticed an indoor phone wire that wrapped around behind the desk, but wasn't apparently attached to the wall jack or telephone at first look. It led into a hole behind a bottom drawer of the desk. As I chatted on the phone I kept tracing this stray phone line like a Scooby mystery. Upon closer inspection, one phone wire went from the wall jack to the cassette recorder hidden in a drawer normally locked with a key I didn't have (left unlocked somehow that day), and another line from the recorder to the telephone, and it only recorded upon voice activation. Any other time it was inactive so the cassette wasn't moving. I saw that the cassette was like a 60 minute tape that didn't stop at each end, but would just continuously record and/or play in one direction so if left unattended it didn't need to be turned over, erasing what was recorded unless a new tape was changed out frequently. I saw some of these tapes in the drawer with dates scribbled on the labels, and others were brand new never used. When I pushed play, I was shocked to hear myself having a phone conversation with a friend which was very confidential, and I was steaming mad. My roommate gave me some excuse that because his adopted parents were a State Governor or Congressman back during his childhood, they always recorded their conversations just habitually because it was a security precaution they were advised by secret service to practice. I thought he was lying and just liked to listen to other people's private conversations. I overlooked the matter in short order.
Where I live, you only need the consent of one party to record a phone call, and I have inquired a lot of sources who insist the caller has to be the only one giving consent, which seems sort of dirty to me, because the person they call doesn't have to give consent, and they stand to give up the most privacy since they don't know they are being recorded. It makes sense though, since if the recipient had to be the the "single-party consent" giver, then both the caller and the recipient would have BOTH consented by that time. On the other hand, if I tell someone not to call me, and they continue to call me after I make this request, they haven't respected my privacy so why would I consider theirs? Especially if I record myself making the request not to call me anymore? (Never mind what the law says, just GP.)
Anyway, for recording voicemails, the caller has already recorded by leaving the voicemail, I just want it to last longer than 7 days (Mobile phone service - Cricket), especially if it has phone numbers, appointment (driving) location instructions, and threats made on voicemail are recorded anyway, so I wouldn't need consent to record them again, I am recording a recording, one realizes when they leave a voicemail they are recording their own voice.
I really prefer the software option, because I can continue to use the handsfree option, and in order to use the phone line adapter recorder option, I have to attach a telephone to the magicJack USB device, and then I would need to take all calls and retrieve all voicemails through the telephone. But that is still a last ditch option, one I had forgotten about, and with digital technology the unit size digital voice recorders is certainly a lot smaller than 20 years ago. Cost is an issue. I just checked Google, and it looks like there is a lot of variety, and you can get all different kinds and sizes, and the price spread is pretty wide for different features, quality, and budgets.
RE WOT: I've been a magicJack customer since autumn 2007, and I had to provide an email address in order to register with the company. The only email they ever sent me was the Visa debit card receipt and invoice for my initial purchase, and one email each year for my annual payment for one year of additional service, with a payment receipt. I have never received any offers to buy extra years service, or international minutes, or anything else the company sells, by email. They do advertising in a 2inch x 3 inch panel on the software phone on the computer screen, but using the software phone is optional. The beginning of the EULA I read said the software phone would target advertising based on Google search, and the CBS, NBS, ABC, and FOX news stories that ran mentioned that advertising would be integrated into the product to help pay for such inexpensive phone service. If you use a standard phone you never see the advertising.
I have plenty of reasons to complain about certain troubleshooting and software updates that temporarily caused functional issues with the mJ product, lasting from a few hours to a few days, but I think these people are saying they got spam are angry, because they do charge your payment debit card when the order ships, unless it has an unattached line of credit on it, and that fact was omitted when they say "free for 1st 30 days." Not a single advertisement "spam" email though. I must not understand how to read that WOT website. It looked to me like their rating was "Excellent" on all marks, at 83-85% rating, out of 100% being a perfect score. If it were my company I would like a higher score than that, but I'd give Comcast a lot lower rating than that, like 20%, and I give them the largest portion of my income than any utility, it's my final wish to have unlimited television and internet since the end of my life is imminent, and I never had TV before I became ill. That's the justification I give myself for overpaying for their services, and poor customer care.
Anyway, magicJack doesn't pay me to make them anymore friends so it doesn't matter to me if anybody can find their website or not, it's plastered all over the TV, although less now than it used to be. Now you can get the USB devices off those little hooks they have on the checkout line hangars they have at the Walgreens drugstore. I am moderately happy with what I get for the little bit of money I spent, but there were enough glitches I wouldn't cancel my mobile phone or landline, I wouldn't have it as my sole means of communication for sure. I don't have a landline, just my mobile phone, the magicJack was just for another option, like for the time my cat pushed my mobile into the water glass next to my bed, and I had no landline or anything else. The 911 is excellent, I hit the speed dial twice by mistake now, and hung up before the first ring could finish, and 911 dispatch phoned me and wanted to me to verify I didn't need police, rescue, or fire, and one time they sent two officers to my door anyway which really embarrassed me. On the other hand, it took them nearly 2 years to get the 911 service properly set up at my address, so they really do give people mixed experiences, good and bad. Other times I phoned customer service at big bill collectors like Comcast or the electric company, and I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me on their end, so they hung up on me. But it's the only way I'll let my best friends yack at me for a long time, that way my hands are free, and I still have just been too cheap to buy a bluetooth enabled phone yet. You can use the headset with microphone, I have one of those, but I prefer the desktop microphone and speakers because it's like having another person in the room, my speakers sound awesome for the smallest, inexpensive speakers I probably ever bought. Pre-bluetooth I spent hundreds $$ on analog headsets that were either too quiet, or broke too soon, dozens, so I know bluetooth will be on my next mobile phone after the mobile I have now just dies and doesn't work anymore.
Sorry Graylox, I realize now you have to delete urls the forum rules don't allow, for spam or WOT violations. I didn't know about that before. It wasn't my intention putting the original link to MJ to encourage people to purchase the product. I thought maybe if they could see what it looked like, or the specs, they could recommend a software recording option I could use to record voicemails I played over it's softphone.
What about PC Magazine? Here is a very fair review of why the magicJack company did not become the big future tech it was predicted to be in 2008, why they have limited appeal, but what was/is good about the product. When it first came out, PC Magazine raved it was the future alternative to land line phone service, the Mobile phone's compliment without the expense of landline, possibly replacing traditional POTS lines, they got the Editor's Choice Award January 2008 (now no longer), now that article has been removed from PC Magazine, even though magicJack keeps the PC Mag logo on their site as one of their so-called "positive reviewers." The original raving review, which included a very brief biography of the CEO Dan Borislow has been removed, I have searched all over PC Mag's site and can't find it, but I did find this:
"The Complicated Case of magicJack" by Dan Costa
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2340417,00.asp#fbid=lWMS6P0Su3H
New Pc Magazine Editor's Choice for DIY VoIP:
netTALK DUO Review and Rating by Jill Duffy http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387769,00.asp#fbid=lWMS6P0Su3H
