They would love to hear from you
by Brad Jensen
Published on this site: May 6th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
If you are like most of us, you are spending more and more time
reading and typing emails. You may also be writing to relatives
and friends far away who would love to hear from you, instead of
just receiving a typed email. You'd call if there was time, but
you don't want to interrupt the person on the other end, phone calls
can get expensive, and it's hard to say just say hi without getting
into an extended chat.
It would be great if you could just make a quick comment or share
your thoughts through email, without all that typing, and without
having to download and learn special software.
Now there's an easy way to do this, that doesn't cost anything,
and doesn't involve special software. It's a web page, that contains
a voice recorder for Windows PC users. Using a microphone attached
to your PC's sound card, you can click record, record a voice file
of any length, then click email to email it. It's that simple!
It's called SaveAWave, and it uses the sound recording and
compression software capabilities that are already built into
Windows. The software is in the web page as an activex control,
code signed by the software company for your security. When
you visit the page for the first time, your browser asks you
for permission to download the recording object. It's a small
download, so it works even for people who don't have broadband.
What you see is a voice recorder built into the web page. You click
the Record button, and SaveAWave starts recording audio to a temporary
file on your PC. Click Stop to stop recording, and Play to listen
to what you have recorded. When you are ready to email the voice
recording, click the Email button. SaveAWave compresses the audio
to a special voice wave format that's even smaller than an MP3.
Then it opens a new email message in your email program, and attaches
the file. You can then send the voice file, just like you would
a regular email.
The person receiving the email with the wav file attached, can
save the file or listen to it right away. It doesn't take any extra
software to listen to it.
Electronic Storage Corporation developed this software and
is allowing everyone on the Internet use it for free. They
developed it as a part of their document and content management
system for businesses, and they see this as a nice way to
share this capability and do a little free advertising at
the same time. The software contains a small clickable text
link with the program name, and a tooltip that mentions the
Software company. The generated email text also contains a
reference to the SaveAWave web page, but you can delete those
lines if you want to.
An interesting use of this software is no-cost phone mail for soldiers,
sailors, Marines, and their families and friends.
One of the original ideas behind this software, was to make it
easier for our service personnel and their loved ones to keep in
touch. Anyone with a windows PC can come to this web page, use it
to record as many emails as they want, and email them. The latest
version of the software is always available on this web page.
You can use any microphone you want that will work with a PC. it
easy to find them at the local discount store or computer store
for under $15. You might want to buy a combination microphone and
stereo headset, which usually cost $15-$40.
If you have a laptop or tablet PC, chances are you already have
a built-in microphone, although an external microphone will generally
give better sound quality.
It's amazing how much time you save answering emails this way.
You may also get in the habit of recording reminders to yourself
and emailing them to your own inbox.
it's much easier to keep in touch, when it only takes a second
to record an email. You don't worry about spelling, grammar, or
formatting. And unlike text messages, which can be misunderstood,
your tone and attitude is usually clear in a voice recording.
The SaveAWave recorder also offers the option of saving the recording
as a permanent file on your hard drive. You can create recordings
to use on your web pages this way. Just upload them to your web
server, add a link to your web page, and you have instant audio.
To record your first email, go to www.actasif.com/saveawave
You can right-click the page and 'Create Shortcut' to create an
instant link on your Windows desktop for the next time you want
to use the recorder.
Try it now, and send some messages to your friends and family.
They are going to love hearing from you - in an email.
Brad Jensen [email protected]
www.actasif.com/saveawave
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