How do you choose a telephone answering machine?

Any tips before I go out and buy one? What are the things I should look for and what are the pitfalls? Anything else I should bear in mind.

If you truly want a physical answering machine as opposed to a monthly charge for voicemail through your phone company, then I would suggest this:
Go to a large electronics store (such as Best Buy, Circuit City, etc) and pick one out that does NOT use miniature tapes. You want one that uses a microchip to record your outgoing announcement AND a microchip that records your messages that you receive. Also, be sure that the answering machine you decide on has a battery backup in case your power goes out and someone calls while the power is out. This way, your answering machine will still operate and callers will be able to leave you a message. Another thing is be sure that your answering machine will not only leave a time of the call, but the DATE. I had one once that only had the time of day with each message and if I had been gone for several weeks, I didn't know WHICH day of the month the calls came in. Only what TIME they came in....That was frustrating.
Also, if you don't need additional "bells and whistles" on your answering machine, be sure you don't pay for them. In other words, don't get an answering machine with things you don't want on it. You will pay more for it and if you don't use the extras, then why have them and pay for them up front?
I cannot think of anything else that you would need to look for in an answering machine but be sure to ask the salesperson which brand is the best seller. That is also helpful as well as asking which brand the salesperson sees being returned.
Good luck!!

no biggie anymore....just go out and get one, there are fairly cheap today....and don't forget the digital machines pitfall, if you delete a messages, its gone!! also make your it has a timestamps on it...most do!

i suggest just getting voice mail.. most phone companies offer voicemail for free (well with one of there calling packages)

there are phones that you can get with a voice mail indicator light..

the benifits to voicemail is that you dont have to worry about a machine breaking on you... and if you have a trouble with your phone line you will still usually be able to receive voicemails...

almost all answering machines allow you to dial in to retrieve messages.. so dose voicemail... so there is no beinfit either way..

if you decide to get an answering machine, i would advise to get one where you can play back messages from the handset.. many cordless phone/answering machines have the ability to listen to messages from the cordless handset... so you can listen to messages anywhere in your home, instead of staying by the base..