Google Voice Memo Work-Around

[arcane]

Lately I've been recording little bits for blog posts and even emailing voice messages to family as holiday greetings. Here's the quick-and-dirty how-to on using your Pre or Pixi to do stuff like this, despite the fact that Palm has left us without voice memo support as of 1.3.1.

1. You need a Google Voice account. If you don't have one, you may be able to use YouMail or a similar service, but I'm not sure (and YouMail charges for what Google does better).
   
2. Now, my settings are such that when I call my GV number from my primary phone, it goes straight to voicemail. Then, I hit * and type in my pin. But, of course, if I don't enter my pin, I can leave myself a voicemail just like anyone else.
   
3. From here, you can download mp3s of your voicemails to your pc. But, if you're impatient or on the road, you can use gDial Pro to get that file with ease. Just open up gDial and go to your voicemails. Refresh the screen if necessary and click on the message you left for yourself. Scroll down through the transcription and click on the "Listen" button. Let the voicemail play through once, and now the mp3 file of that messsage is somewhere on your Pre's USB partition.
   
4. Now, this is the tricky part. These files usually have odd names when you download them, they almost look like hashes. But if you're emailing the message to someone, you can always preview the audio in the attachments scene and confirm that you're attaching the right one.

This might sound like a lot of work, but I find that I am rarely at a computer when I decide I want to record something and send it to myself or someone else. This gets the job done on the road. You can go from recording to emailing the message in under 5 mins. I would imagine that this would work rather well at concerts, too.