Just Call Me Frank: Our Endeavour at Being Frank: AudioBoo. Who Will You Boo?

Thursday, December 1, 2011

AudioBoo. Who Will You Boo?

*as usual links provided here, if not taking you to one of the pages here in the blog, or on our other blog, will only take you to relevant links, we do not condone word link advertising, or any of that other bullshit*

BOO! (warning, the following boo contains the "F" word)

Yeah, no...we haven't had a glass on wine at all. (That was recorded last week)

So, AudioBoo…you may have seen the term (and the links) floating around Twitter or other places on the internet. We’ve definitely seen people asking what it is, so we thought “Hey, we’re totally uninspired for writing topics and going of our mind with stress this week, lets write about AudioBoo!”

Last week we opened our first AudioBoo account, and took part in an AudioBoo throwdown of @C-J_Commode’s tweets (see Tumblr post for reference: http://jstcallmefrank.tumblr.com/post/13355942678/the-c-j-commode-audioboo-throwdown). After a sufficient amount of wine we were comfortable enough to give it a whirl, even though the final recording was the audio version of double exposure, parts recorded over itself, and conversation with The Boyfriend somehow got recorded in the middle of it…but ultimately it ended up funnier that way, so we left it (after contacting AudioBoo via and @ on Twitter about the recording error).

Some people have said (okay, Tweeted...same thing) things like, before you know it we'll all be calling each other on the phone and that AudioBoo just seems like a replacement to phones and phone messages.

Here's why it's not: It's broadcast to many people at once (usually); you don't have to run the risk of someone actually picking up the phone and having to have a conversation with that person (because, ICK!); other people don't have to listen to you. It's actually kind of fun...if you can find creative ways to use it...like AudioBoo throwdowns in conjunction with Twitter. (more about that at the end of this "article".)

AudioBoo is a “mobile & web platform that effortlessly allows you to record and share audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear”, which started as a small project by Mark Rock in the UK in March 2009, and with the help from a very specific fund provided by Channel 4, a local public UK channel (think Public Access) became a business in 2010. It was launched with the AudioBoo boo of Stephen Fry, a author, television presenter, comedian...a national treasure of the UK. His Boo’s: http://audioboo.fm/stephenfry)

AudioBoo is free to use and records up to 3 minutes of audio, you can use your mobile device, or you computer, and share it across different internet platforms - such as Facebook, Websites, Blogs, and of course, Twitter.

The application itself is easy to use on the internet and on mobile devices, but you can’t (as of this writing) publish to Twitter/Facebook directly from the smartphone/mobile apps; though you can record and upload to your online account, and then publish from there; even on the website via your mobile phone, just not with the app itself. The conformation on the mobile publishing limitation comes straight from AudioBoo themselves (James actually contacted them to ask). Alternatively you can e-mail audio clips to AudioBoo via BooMail, or record by calling their PhoneBoo and leaving a message, in case your phone doesn’t have web browsing/mobile internet features. (more on the alternatives here: http://audioboo.fm/about/boomail)

While free for recording three minute blocks of audio, AudioBoo offers Pro features, an upgrade you pay for, which include things like longer recording capability, the ability to moderate and edit the audio clips by more than one user and better quality. While it doesn’t have practical uses for the average person, it does appear to be useful for some types of businesses. (For more: http://audioboo.fm/about/pro)

AudioBoo also has some handy widget for web developers, bloggers, etc. You have a choice between a Follow Button or a Playlist Player to add to your internet presence. You can see ours, added today, up at the top on the right hands side. We can imagine some people would have a lot of fun with AudioBoo in conjunction with Tumblr accounts and other types of blogs.

So far there is one competitive alternative to AudioBoo, http://cinchcast.com/; however, advertising on the site is considered to be a bit heavier.

Find the smartphone/mobile apps here:
In the Android Market: https://market.android.com/details?id=fm.audioboo.application&hl=en
For iPhone on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audioboo/id305204540?mt=8

So, an AudioBoo throwdown, you say? These are fun on Twitter...actually AudioBoo and Twitter are fun together in general, it's pretty cool to hear the voices of the people you've been reading for months, for some, years.

Here's what @Versability has to say about AudioBoo and hearing the voices of his followers:

Last week there was a group of our guy friends who read CJ's tweets, and this week it was our turn to get read by them...so for fun we decided we'd add them at the end of this entry today, as a fun example. We have to say, it's interesting hearing people read our Tweets, because they sound different than when we read them, that's for sure. We're supposed to award someone a Tweet of the Day for the best read...we're still waiting for @T0MFooL3RY's submission...we'll add that one tomorrow...

So...the first three submissions:

NOW WITH ADDED FOOLERY! (Added Friday, December 2)

@T0MFooL3RY

@ConfusedLush

@C_J_Commode

*we wanted to note that while CJ apparently did a good job, he's got our particular mental disorder mixed up with...something else. We are not emotions...we all have emotions...but we're people, people. Didn't want to make anybody more confused here...we have names and shit*

@grheatley

AudioBoo
So...who will you Boo?

(that shit right there...that last sentence...trademark, copyright, ours now...unless...someone else said it before today and can prove it)