Memos on the Go

How to capture ideas and reminders when you're in transit--using tools you may already have.

You're in the car. Jogging in your neighborhood. Or snorkeling in Hawaii. Boom--you get a great idea. How do you capture it while it's still fresh?

If you're snorkeling in Hawaii, poor thing, you'll just have to scribble something in the sand. In those other scenarios, however, recording a brief voice memo often does the trick. There are several ways to accomplish that--often using the cell phone you may already have with you.

Many people call their own phones to leave themselves voice memos and reminders. But here's a new twist: Have those memos automatically transcribed into text.

For example, I use Vonage'sVOIP phone service(plans begin at $15/monthly). Vonage offers a Visual Voicemail feature that automatically transcribes each voice-mail message into text, which is inserted into the body of an e-mail. The transcriptions cost 25 cents per message. In my experience, the service usually does a good job of accurately transcribing messages. You can compare an example of a voice memo with its transcription on my blogTraveler 2.0.

I've used Vonage to dictate memos and reminders. Using my Palm Treo, I speed-dial my office number, hit the # key to bypass my greeting, and start talking. Within a few minutes after I hang up, an e-mail arrives with the memo transcribed. The recording of my memo is attached as a .wav file, which I can delete, archive, or forward to someone else via e-mail. (A .wav file offers slightly better audio quality than MP3 voice recordings, but .wav files tend to be bigger, too.) For more on Vonage's offering,read my review.

Vonage is only one way to get voice mail transcribed into text. Jott is a free online service that lets you send messages to yourself and others over the phone. Messages are transcribed into text and sent to you via e-mail and text message. You must go to the Jott Web site to play the audio recordings, however. ReadSteve Bass's review.

Other options includeGotVoicePremium or Business services,SimulScribe, andPhonewire. (Worth noting: Vonage uses SimulScribe's speech recognition technology.) Each of these services works with cell phones and landlines. You'll pay a monthly fee, about $5 and up, and may be charged for messages or phone minutes used beyond your plan's allotment. For example, Phonewire's $9 monthly plan includes only 30 minutes; additional minutes are 69 cents each. You have to set up call forwarding for Phonewire to retrieve your messages, however.

Aside from additional costs with some services, the memo-as-transcribed-voice-mail strategy has other downsides. Airline travelers can't leave themselves voice mail while in flight. Lengthy voice-mail messages may not be entirely transcribed; Vonage has sometimes thrown in the towel with messages longer than half a minute or so. Also, when you're calling from a noisy environment--such as an airport departure gate--transcription accuracy suffers a bit.

Some smart phones, such as thePalm Centroand most Windows Mobile devices, come with basic software for recording voice memos. Third-party software for recording voice memos offers additional features. Among them:

VR+($25) is a voice recording utility for BlackBerry and other phones. The software lets you capture and e-mail recordings, and the developer (Shape Services) lets you upload and store messages to a Web server at no charge.

CallRec 5.2($20) gives Palm OS users more features than the Voice Memo program included on many Palms, such as the ability to record phone conversations (always ask the other party's approval first, of course).

Resco Audio Recorder($25) for Windows Mobile devices records voice memos and music. The software maker claims the program will also automatically record phone calls.