Convert Speech to Text Message or Email Using Your Cell Phone and Free Jott Service

Jott is a free voice-to-text service that lets you use your cell phone to transcribe voice messages into text, then e-mails a transcription of the message to yourself or whoever you want to send a message, or Jott will send a text message of the transcription if you prefer.

It's so quick, convenient and easy to use ... no more sticky notes for reminders ... now I just use Jott.

All you have to do to start using the free service is to register online at http://jott.com/default.aspx. You'll be asked for you cell phone number and email address. Jott can be used with a land line phone but you won't be able to send text messages using a land line. So if you want to convert speech to a text message, you'll need to sign up using a cell phone number.

As for privacy, their terms and conditions state clearly that your phone number and email address will not be shared with any other parties.

After you register, you'll immediately be able to send yourself messages. You'll dial the toll free number for Jott (866-568-8123) and a female voice says "Who do you want to Jott?" If the message is for your self, just say, "Myself." Then you'll hear a beep signaling you to start talking. When you're finished with your message you just stop talking and then a few seconds later the voice will say, "Got it." Then you will hear silence and if you say nothing else you'll hear "Message sent". Then you hang can up or continue leaving more messages. Messages are delivered within mere minutes.

The transcription of my voice to text has been very accurate so far, which is amazing because most of the time when I use Jott I'm on a cell phone flying down the road, and I have a heavy Texas accent. I guess Jott speaks Texan fluently!

Message length is about 1 minute, so I use Jott a lot of times when I driving down the road or sitting in a waiting room and think of an idea for an article to write for Associated Content or some other publication. Then when I get home all I have to do is check my email and cut and paste the text into a word processor and continue writing from there! It's a big time saver for me!

I also use Jott a lot when I'm driving down the road and have one of the "oh crud" moments when I think of something I need to do or forgot to do. So instead of fumbling around for a sticky note to write down a reminder, I just dial the toll free number for Jott (866-568-8123) and leave myself an email reminder. Then when I get back to my computer I have all my messages and reminders right there in one handy location. You can only leave emails for yourself, not text messages ... although you can also set up your messages to leave you reminders if you choose that option.

You also be able to add a list of contacts who you might want to send an email or text message to. When adding your contacts, you can list either their email address or their cell phone number, or both. If you list both the cell phone number and email address, your contact will get double message from you. They will get an email and a text message. That is a bit redundant to me ... so when I added my contacts I only listed email addresses for those friends who do not have a free text message plan on their cell phone, and only listed cell phone numbers for the friends I usually text.

You can also create a group of contacts with multiple email addresses of cell phone numbers, so if you want to send a meeting notice to all of your employees you can just set up a group of contacts and you're done! Sending email from your cell phone can be very handy for those who are on the road a lot and have limited connectivity to their PC. Now you don't have to have a fancy smart phone or internet access to send email from your cell phone either! You can just use dial Jott, speak your message, and let Jott do all of the work.

There are other uses and features of Jott that I don't use and haven't fully explored, but you can read all about them on their website.

As of right now, Jott is a free service, with the exception that it uses your cell plan minutes and charges text messaging fees if your cell phone services charges a fee for texting. In an article I read in PC World magazine titled "Why You Should Jott Yourself", written by James A. Martin, James says "Some might worry they'll get hooked on the free service, only to be charged for it down the road. When I asked about paid versions of Jott, the company's founder John Pollard responded: "Someday we will offer a premium version of Jott for a reasonable price in addition to a free version. The feature set of a fee-based service has not been set in stone, but I can tell you it will include the ability to record longer Jott messages, as well as some nice additions we're cooking up.""

So come on people, start Jotting! I can't imagine how I managed without it ... it's a wonderful convenient tool that any true geeky gadget person will not be able to resist!

Sources:
PC World magazine
www.jott.com