Editing Answering machine (section)

=== Greeting message ===
[[File:OutgoingMessageTape.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|right|An endless-loop outgoing message tape used in dual-cassette-based answering machines]]

Most modern answering machines have a system for greeting. The owner may record a message that will be played back to the caller, or an automatic message will be played if the owner does not record one. This holds especially for the TADs with digitally stored greeting messages or for earlier machines (before the rise of [[microcassette]]s) with a special endless loop tape, separate from a second cassette, dedicated to recording.

There have been answer-only devices with no recording capabilities, where the greeting message had to inform callers of a state of current unattainability, or e.g. about availability hours. In recording TADs the greeting usually contains an invitation to leave a message "after the beep".