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Jott—a Free Voicemail to Transcribed Text Memo Service

by Tom Johnson on Apr 28, 2007
categories: technical-writing web-design

JottI just discovered Jott today. Jott transcribes voicemail you leave on its service as text, and then sends that text to you via e-mail. So if you're driving along and you have a memo to note, instead of writing it down, you just call a special Jott toll-free number, speak your memo, and Jott transcribes it as text and e-mails it to you.

You can also "jot" voicemail transcribed memos to others you've added to your Jott contact list. It's a cool service, but when I cranked up a podcast and tried to record an excerpt of it as a memo, Jott couldn't understand the speech. Darn. But if you speak into the phone clearly, it transcribes it rather well. For example, here's a jot I made tonight:

Hi Shannon its Tom, please save me a couple of cookies I will be back in about half an hour and I might get a movie or not, I am sending you this voice mail, which will be converted to text in your inbox, arriving in about five or ten minutes. Bye, love you. [...]. Bye, bye.

If you don't mind a few comma splices in the transcription, it's a great resource. Also, Jott is in beta right now, so everything is free.

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

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