BarryRodriguesQ: I tried the free version and in principle, it's great.
However, my only issue is that it does not play the voice recording in-line and you need to download the note to your computer or phone as an attachment.
In a world where the cloud dominates, I don't think people will be too thrilled saving messages to their phones or computer. Is there a plan to offer storage in the near future? You can limit the number of messages stored or even give users a time limit to save space.
Nathan_Vocal
May 14, 2024A: Hey Barry,
Most email clients such as Gmail allow you to listen to audio messages in your browser (without having to download the file). There seems to be some situations where Gmail does not offer this feature (for example if the file is too large).
The more people send voice messages per email, the more email clients will offer features to listen to voice messages without having to download the file first - that's definitely something we are pushing for!
Verified purchaser
Hey Nathan,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
I've tried sending this to multiple email applications (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) from my Gmail address and in most cases, it prompts you to download the file.
As for Gmail, it does allow you to play the file without downloading it but for that, your Gmail app needs to be linked to a player and as far as I can tell, not many people would have done that. (I am a power user and even I didn't do that until today)
Personally, I wouldn't send anyone a voicemail message that's more than a minute long, unless you're sending the message to your therapist :)
But overall, it's a great app,
Yeah, I agree with you 100%...Gmail just adds it as a downloadable mp3 file for me too. Which honestly I can do on my own without the need of a special app. I was under the impression the audio would play within the email via some type of "play button."
I'll pass on this one but I wish the developer good luck.
There seems to be a misunderstanding here, the voice messages are accessible without the need to download them :)
But in order to listen to them, you need to send them! Just after recording, the voice message gets attached to the email (if you try to listen to it before sending it, that's when you'll be prompted to download it). If you send it and try to listen to it then, you'll see that the recording can be listened to in the browser!
Hope that clarifies things. Vocal is of course intended to be used without the need to download the voice messages :)
@Nathan_Vocal,
Thanks for your reply it's appreciated regarding the "audio attachment" I mentioned here:
https://appsumo.com/products/marketplace-vocal/#q620938
I should have been more clear.
When the email is accessed via a desktop browser. It is only available as a download. I did another test and the file will not play at all. I get an error from Gmail. But that could be for any number of reasons and not necessarily anything to do with your product. However, it is something I would have to be concerned with when sending to my clients.
But when the Vocal Mail is accessed via a mobile phone it plays when clicked without download.
So if we're assuming all of our emails with the Vocal file included will be accessed via a smartphone then it's fine. But if our recipients try to listen via a desktop they will end up downloading the file in order to hear it.
I'm wondering if the autoplay audio feature is gmail-specific, meaning that if the end-user is using a desktop client, the file may need to download as you pointed out. I sounds like what happens when you send small mp4 files in gmail, those never play in my browser (however I think .mov files, a very similar format, do) but any mp3 files that I've sent from my gmail account (online) are all playable within my sent emails, I just click to play them.