$\beta$-decay studies using total-absorption spectroscopy

$\beta$-decay experiments are a primary source of information for nuclear-structure studies and at the same time complementary to in- beam investigations of nuclei far from stability. Although both types of experiment are mainly based on $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy, they face different experimental problems. The so-called " Pandemonium effect " is a critical problem in $\beta$-decay if we are to test theoretically calculated transition probabilities. In this contribution we will present a solution to this problem using total absorption spectroscopy methods. We will also present some examples of experiments carried out with the Total Absorption Spectrometer (TAS) at GSI and describe a new device LUCRECIA recently installed at CERN.