Audio
iOS Apps and/or websites for Audio recording/editing:
Google Voice
Use Google Voice to capture reflection as Voice Mail. Download recording as MP3 file.
AudioBoo (free app for iOS/Android and website)
http://audioboo.fm/ - Audio version of Twitter; record on app or website or upload audio file directly
From their website: “We are a mobile & web platform that effortlessly allows you to record and upload audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear. Or record on the web”
Cannot download audio... only play from link or get embed code to paste into web page/blog
iPadio (free app for iOS/Android and website)
http://ipadio.com/ - From their website: “ipadio allows you to broadcast from any phone to the Internet live. Phone blog, collect audio data, record and update the world, or simply let your mates know what you're doing - ipadio is integrated with Social Media & Blogging platforms.”
Allows posting phlogs (phonecasts) and direct MP3 uploads. Can download audio files as MP3.
Voisse (free website)
http://www.voisse.com/ - From website:
1. Record: Record whenever & however it suits you... record online in any browser, use your phone or upload recordings you already have.
2. Keep: Store all of your recordings, online in My Voisses (your very own online library). Sign up now to access My Voisses - It is safe, secure and free.
3. Share: Create amazing audio slideshows & podcasts from your recordings, [for a fee] then share them on your favourite social network. You can even sell then in the Marketplace.
Website indicates that audio clips can be downloaded.
Aviary’s Myna (free website and free add-on to GoogleApps) - requires Flash - won’t work with iOS - Android?
http://www.aviary.com/tools/myna - From website: “Use Myna to remix music tracks and audio clips. Apply sound effects and record your own voice or instruments!”
Resembles Garage Band. Aviary also has image editing tools and Music Creation tools.
My blog entry:
Mobile devices are great at capturing the moment: audio reflection, video clip, text comment. I'm not sure they are good at organizing all of the data into a coherent presentation. It would be interesting to have an app that would show me the videos that I have uploaded to YouTube, or the blog entries I have written, or the audio clips I have stored online.
Audio is the major void in the space. We can use Aviary's Myna to capture and store audio, and give a link or embed code. But I think you need a desktop computer to use that tool. I wonder if Aviary is planning an App? The Aviary tools are now available as a menu in my Firefox browser and can be embedded into GoogleApps. Of course, if the software is based on Flash, it won't work on an iPad. I have AudioBoo on my iPhone (but haven't used it yet... maybe that is the solution?).
Here is are two common situations with a need for easy audio recording and embedding:
ESL students need to be able to capture speaking samples, to compare their progress over time. When my daughter was teaching English at a High School in Budapest, we used their mobile phones and MP3 players to capture their speaking samples, but never went the whole way and create an ePortfolio that stored all of those speaking samples. I worked with a university in Mexico that was having students use Audacity to record their speaking samples, uploading them to a free storage site, and used Blogger to organize the links and reflections (it was an awkward process).
Early readers need to capture their oral reading skills. Here is a 2006 Apple paper (PDF) on Language Acquisition with the iPod. Here is Wes Fryer's 2009 blog entry on Kathy Shirley's project on Transforming Reading and Language Acquisition using iPods.
There is a need for a web-based version of using audio this way (requiring just a microphone and Internet connection). I also think we need an easy way to record reflections. Before students can easily write, they can talk. How can we manage all of these audio files in an online repository, all dated and organized for easy retrieval, and embedding into a blog or ePortfolio page? Can it be made easy enough for a Kindergarten student to manage, but still sophisticated enough for adult learners? Just dreaming... and hoping.