# How do I find an old message on my answering machine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2000, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001 "2000-02-10T03:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/1 "2000-02-10T03:31:00Z")
I’ve been trying to find a message from about a month ago. I hit ff (fast forward), then play, and I get recent messages, then some really old ones (like, 5 years ago!) I re-wind every time after listening to a message and I thought it recorded over the old messages. When I ff trying to find the old one, I get the recent ones, then the real old ones - I’d think I’d get the older ones first. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/2 "2000-02-10T03:39:00Z")
If it’s the kind of machine with a full-sized cassette for the incoming messages, try putting it into your stereo tape deck, rewinding to the beginning, pour a beverage, and listen. (Or do it in your car, and drive around!) If it’s the type that records everything on a chip, I…dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/3 "2000-02-10T04:36:00Z")
Your messages from a month ago have been recorded over by new messages. If you say you’re hearing messages from five years ago after your current messages, something like this happened/is happening: –Five years ago, you had a lot of messages on your tape. –According to your OP, each time you listen to your messages, you _rewind to the beginning of the tape._ –Each time it records new messages, _it starts recording from the beginning of the tape_, so it tapes over starting from the beginning. –If you had, say, an hour of messages at one time, then rewound to the beginning and next time you listened, you had gotten twenty minutes of new messages, you’d still have an hour of messages on your tape (twenty minutes of new messages + forty minutes that haven’t been taped over yet). –If then you rewound again and got ten minutes of new messages, you’d still have an hour of messages on the tape (ten min. new, ten min. older, forty minutes oldest). –Do it again and get a half hour of new messages, you lose the “ten min. new, ten min. older” and ten minutes of the oldest, and end up with half hour newest and half hour oldest. –Etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/4 "2000-02-10T05:00:00Z")
No, can’t play it on my cassette player - it’s a microcassette. Kat - that must be what’s happening. Got to get rid of the thing - was horrified to hear a real old message from an old boyfriend. If my SO decides to listen to old messages, I’ll have some explaining to do! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/5 "2000-02-10T06:35:00Z")
You could call yourself and leave a LONG message, thus erasing the tape 🙂 Or, you could just toss the tape and buy a new one. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/6 "2000-02-10T06:45:00Z")
To listen to it, just get one of those microcassette recorders guys carry to meetings so they can say “Note of self: buy more microcassettes.” * * * “I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/7 "2000-02-10T08:03:00Z")
“Note to self: buy more microcassettes” Incidentally, does anybody actually say that in a note to theirself? Given that nobody else is likely to listen to that tape, who else could the note be to? Pay not attention to me, I’ve been drinking. ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/8 "2000-02-10T20:14:00Z")
Well, if you are a big enough deal, you will never listen to this tape yourself. Your secretary will transcribe it - and those ‘note to self’ will help her realize who the message is to. For example, he might just say ‘Setup meeting with Randy for this friday’ and the secretary would assume that she needed to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/9 "2000-02-11T03:46:00Z")
Actually I do have an extra microcassette-- it’s right there in the machine to use for some special kind of recording - I forget what. Hmmm…a microcassette recorder, eh? I know someone at the office who might have one – I’ll have to check that out! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-an-old-message-on-my-answering-machine/7001/10 "2000-02-11T03:51:00Z")
That extra microcassette may be the one your outgoing message is on. My machine has one microcassette-the outgoing message is at the beginning, messages that people leave come after it. If I have a lot of messages, then I have an incredibly long beep. So when I come home and see 3 or 4 messages on the display, I know exactly the first thing that the last person is going to say: “Gee, what a long beep…”