Audacity Audio has announced a new product for most Palm devices - Audacity Communicator. Audacity Communicator is an addition to Audacity Audio's suite of voice recording type applications. Communicator seems to be most targeted to mobile professionals, and those with personal secretaries or assistants:

Audacity Communicator is a productivity tool for the mobile professional. It is designed for lawyers, doctors, salesmen, executives, etc. to document and communicate while in the field. Using your Treo, record with the Audacity Professional voice recorder and the Communicator software transfers the file using the cellular data network. It happens transparently and automatically in the background so it doesn't disturb your normal handheld usage. The file is placed in your normal desktop Audacity Recordings folder and then alerts your secretary or transcriptionist.

The basic concept of Audacity Communicator is that you can make a voice recording on your Treo/Centro, then automatically, and in the background, the voice file is sent wirelessly to a server, which then delivers notification of the voice message to your secretary's PC. At that point, your secretary can handle the message, or queue it for later processing.

There are certainly other ways of doing this type of function. You could use one of the many voice recording applications available for the Treo/Centro, then email the recording to your "secretary". You could also use some of the newer online services like Jott to transform a call into text and email the result. However, in those cases, you'd have extra steps, limitations, and potential inaccurate transcriptions. The value add of Audacity Communicator (assuming you have the luxury of a secretary/transcriptionist) is the simplicity on the user's end - simply record your message, and be done with it.

The cost for this (pricey) service is on a monthly basis, ranging from $19.99 for a typical user, to $49.99 for heavy usage.

---