rubbish. So many people are trying it out for the first time that most boos have titles like “My First Boo.” But that’s to be expected, and in short order there will no doubt be an elite group of AudioBoo artists finding clever, entertaining, and educational uses for the medium. Why wouldn’t there be? We’ve seen exactly the same arc in the past with blogs, podcasts, and Twitter.
There’s one more twist on AudioBoo that’s got me intrigued. Just this week, the company struck a deal with SpinVox, another UK company that specializes in converting voicemails and voice memos into text. According to BestBefore CEO Mark Rock, there’s an “AudioBoo Pro” app in the works that will have Spinvox’s service baked in, meaning AudioBoo users will be able to upload longer recordings and get back text versions, presumably via e-mail.
I absolutely can’t wait for something like this, and I would be willing to pay real money for it. If the transcriptions are any good, such a service would transform the way I do my job, by allowing me to find more productive uses for the untold hours that I currently spend transcribing audio recordings and/or cleaning up typewritten interview notes.
But if all this digital-media acceleration leaves you a bit dizzy at times, I’m with you.Every week seems to bring a new mobile application or Web-based publishing medium that promises to once again upset all of our expectations about communication, journalism included. But I guess that’s why I like my job—I get to ride the tiger by writing about it.
Click on the play button below to hear an abridged AudioBoo version of this column.
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