Easy audio blogging with Audioboo

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Here’s the coolest iPhone application I’ve found so far this year – Audioboo.

What you do with Audioboo is simple: record audio on your iPhone and publish the recordings to your Audioboo account on the web, complete with your geo-location data if you choose to include that via an option on the iPhone when you first use the app.

Your account has an RSS feed so anyone can subscribe to that feed and get all your boos.

I’ve been playing with Audioboo for the past few days and, frankly, I’m addicted. I do have an affinity for recording audio, I admit, far more than with video, so if I find something appealing in this area, I’m probably predisposed towards wanting to like it.

Recording is very easy to do: hit the ‘Start’ virtual button on your iPhone screen and talk. Hit ‘Pause’ to stop and then ‘Publish’ to complete. Could hardly be simpler. The app takes care of all the production and uploads the resulting MP3 audio file to your Audioboo account.

Recording quality is astonishingly good, a testament to some excellent design and manufacture with the components of the iPhone as well as Audioboo’s software development.

Listen to an example boo here, one I did last night about Apple’s specs for the iPhone 3.0 update:

Listen!

(If you don’t see the embedded Flash player, you can listen at Audioboo.)

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While the app on the iPhone works well, other elements of the experience leave much to be desired, especially the website.

But that’s ok for now – London-based Audioboo went public less than a week ago and are working on making the website far better as well as building out some nice additional features and functionality such as enabling you to keep copies of recordings on your iPhone.

One of the developments that has already come to fruition is the release yesterday of version 1 of an Audioboo plugin for WordPress that lets you display your recent boos as a widget in your blog’s sidebar. (I tried it on this blog, but couldn’t get it to work – lots of flash players with ‘undefined’ errors. I’ll give some feedback and try again when version 1.1 comes out.)

TechCrunch UK has a good write-up and Audioboo also gets some good coverage in CNET News as part of an overview piece about South by Southwest 2009.

Last weekend, I discovered Cinch from Blogtalk Radio, a tool that lets you record via the phone. It’s great; I’ve been using it with Skype so calls to its US number to record are low cost.

But Audioboo is far easier to use and has literally no direct cost if you connect to your Audioboo account from your iPhone via your own or a free wifi service. Of course, you need to have an iPhone which isn’t a requirement for Cinch.

It’s not really valid to compare the two services. The only thing they have in common is that they enable you to record audio and publish it to the web. The means to do so are different.

Both have a place. Yet I know which one I’m in love with!

Neville Hobson

Social Strategist, Communicator, Writer, and Podcaster with a curiosity for tech and how people use it. Believer in an Internet for everyone. Early adopter (and leaver) and experimenter with social media. Occasional test pilot of shiny new objects. Avid tea drinker.

  3. Mark Taylor

    Neville, I’ve enjoyed your Boo reports thus far!

    Yes, you do like audio posting! But then you are great at them. Have you figured out how to get RSS for only your Boo posts? I can’t see how it is done, probably staring me in the face.

  4. Yang-May Ooi

    There are so many great applications for the iPhone that it leaves us “non-believers” thinking about converting…

    In the meantime, if like me, any of your readers don’t have an iPhone to use this app, they can phoneblog using http://www.gabcast.com. I can dial a UK number and effectively, leave my audioblog as a voicemail and it will be published on the Gabcast site – and also automatically uploaded as a distinct post on my blog. There are a range of local tel numbers around the world. The mp3 file can also be downloaded later if you want to save a copy on your own PC. There’s a free version and a premium version (more storage space for your audio).

  7. Rob Safuto

    This is a very good find Neville. I have an 1st Gen iPod Touch so I can’t take part in the AudioBoo fun. With all these cool apps and the new 3.0 release coming I may get one this summer.

  9. rodica

    This sounds like a very cool app. Do you know if it also allows you to record yourself (and the other person) when you’re on a call, as well? That would be super-handy!

  13. Bernie Goldbach

    Thanks for the RSS info. Nokia’s standard podcatcher cannot handle the RSS feed, probably because it’s looking for a suffix in the file name. I’m shoveling the RSS feed onto FreeNews on my E90 because that feed scraper approves of the Audioboo feed format. That means I should be able to get the audio clips onto the phone via FreeNews but not via Nokia’s podcatcher.

  14. Claire

    Hi Neville

    There’s another of this type of app out for more than just iphones- ipadio (www.ipadio.com)

    I’m reliably informed that the code to embed the soundfiles (MP3) into blogs etc will be up on the site in the next day or two, but the apps already up and running on Facebook and it’s easy enough to link to the site already.

    Have a look and see what you think. IU’m sure they’d value the feedback.

    (I’m with Mark on this one – you’re better than most at audio posting! Mine sound like minnie mouse, but I’m working on it)

    Claire

    • neville

      No, never got it t work and don’t know anytime who has. So no Audioboos with the plugin. But I do have a player embedded that aggregates recent boos. On a page and much better than the WP plugin.

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