When you are trying to run audio surveillance on any particular location discretion is key. You can not listen in 24 hours a day, and installing a regular tape record will give you a lot of empty tape to listen to. However, if you use voice activated recorders you will not have this problem. A digital voice activated recorder will only start recording when it is activated by hearing someone speak. Most recorders are small enough to hide in concealed locations. They have a recorder that looks like an ordinary pen, and makes it easy to hide in plain sight. Each recorder is very user friendly, and can be used to record just about anything.