Audio comments are the next big thing? I think so!
Browsing Yaro Starak’s blog, I noticed that he started using audio comments widget (see screenshot left) on his blog. When you select the person’s name in the widget, it will play that particular individual’s audio comment. What a great idea!
Clicking the footer link of the widget “MobaTalk Audio Comment System“, I signed up for the service. However upon logging in to my account, I saw no such service being offered by MobaTalk.
Doing a little research on Google, I found out that this service is actually offered by www.mychingo.com and it’s not a free service. It costs $3.95/month. Also the site says that the service is being taken over by MobaTalk soon. Aha, no wonder the footer link takes me MobaTalk website I told to myself ;) So they are in the process of integrating it to MobaTalk then.
I was quite tempted to subscribe for the service, but then I realized how you guys (my readers) are not so talkative type, so I decided not to. I hardly get text comments on my posts, I don’t think it will be worth to purchase an audio comment service just yet (i thought to myself).
Audio comments in the future
Nevertheless I think, it’s a great idea to have audio comments on the blog. I hope there will be some free services in the future. If it could be integrated to WordPress as a default commenting service, it would be even better. Readers could leave text comments, as well as audio comments on specific posts. It would also make the discussion a lot easier - replying to each other by text would be a thing of the past. Blogs would save space too, especially the ones that receive hundreds of comments per post (e.g JohnChow). Instead there would be only one widget at the bottom of the post.
Free idea for entrepreneurs
I believe there is no such audio commenting service for blogs yet. So if you are an entrepreneur, you can bank on this idea and make it a reality. I am 90% positive that it would be a success.
I wish I had the capacity to produce such a system. If I had, I definitely would. To give you some visualization of what I think the widget could look like, here is an illustration I have created:
So what do you think? Do you think one day we will be “audio commenting” in the blogosphere? It would be interesting to know what you guys think.
Ping: blog.guykawasaki.com (Let me ping Guy, he can make it reality. Afterall, it’s a better idea than truemors ;)
Related Posts
- Guy Kawasaki and AudioComments idea
- Learn Out Loud.com - free Audio Books
- Yahoo! Audio Search
- WP Plugin: Flash Audio Player
- WP Plugin: WP Ajax Edit Comments
By Michael Bailey on Oct 8, 2007
Interesting.
Hello, I’m the guy who developed the MyChingo audio comment system, and also the guy creating MobaTalk.
You may be interest in having a look at this link, http://mobatalk.com/public/Journal/?m=MichaelBailey
Drill down into my comments section.
The system isn’t finished 100% yet, as I have been a one-man shop since 2002 and mychingo and mobatalk are both bootstrapped projects of mine.
I’m glad that you think it is a good idea, as I already have 7,500+ hours of development time invested in it(during the last 23 months).
So, you have a personal connection to Guy?
Yeah, I tried a little to reach him too, but he always seems to be busy with other projects.
By adivor on Oct 8, 2007
not usefull for me, i can’t use this in office ;-)
By Ades on Oct 8, 2007
Hi Michael, I think it’s a great idea. You need to get some angel investors or venture capitalists to take this into next level. Because I believe it has a huge potential to go mainstream.
I wish I had a personal connection to Guy, but unfortunately I do not. Keep up the good work.
By Ades on Oct 8, 2007
adivor, should you be surfing net in the office? ;) your boss won’t be happy knowing that… ;) but it’s something to take into account. thanks. i think providing both options (text and audio comments) for users will solve that problem.
By Square1 on Oct 8, 2007
I understand not wanting to spend the money. But then I always swore I would not spend money on my blogging habit. I still haven’t yet and don’t intend to. If blogs ever become a paid service… well I suppose I will just have to hang up my blog.
By Michael Bailey on Oct 8, 2007
Ades - it looks like your blog content is already being ripped off.
http://bestwebsitetemplatesblog.com/posted-on-ades-blog-audio-comments-are-the-next-big-thing-i-think-so/
By Yaro on Oct 9, 2007
Hey Ades - That’s a good idea. You are right, I think it would take off on at least the most popular blogs who have an audience that likes to comment. It certainly would be nice to just have the feature available as an option, like a plug-in.
Perhaps I’ll look into getting something created by outsourcers.
By hafreze on Oct 9, 2007
this comment thing is really cool, but there is another service that taking your blog feeds and turn it into voice. I’m using it right now, check http://www.odiogo.com
By Ades on Oct 9, 2007
Yaro, thanks for dropping by. As the creator of this widget Michael had said, he had already invested a lot of man hours into this and it’s in pretty advanced mode at the moment, so maybe you guys can take it from there.
Michael, thanks for the heads up. I will look into that link.
By Michael Bailey on Oct 16, 2007
Yaro, Why would you first consider going to outsourcers? I mean, I’ve already created 90% of what is being talked about here - it would seem logical to me to at least see if I’d be interested in it. Am I missing something here?
By DevDad on Jan 7, 2008
Yaro, support the developer! We need more people like Bailey who, if not the first, works on ideas.
By Lena on Jun 17, 2008
Hi All,
I am currently looking for such an audio commenting system to our blogg. Is there anyone still active on this discussion? I would be very happy to receive the latest news about new services and companies that offer such a system. If there is anything for free it would be great.
Thanks for help
Lena
By Ades on Jun 17, 2008
Lena, please get in touch with Michael (first comment) who is the author of this audio comment program.