Record MP3s from any phone

Web-based file storage outfit drop.io has announced a new extension to its free service: the ability to record audio directly from a telephone.

The site already offers users the ability to create a free file storage space for up to 100MB of miscellaneous files, and the option to make said files private or available for public viewing. The new feature allows users to dial a geographic telephone number and have their message converted into an MP3 file and added to their storage area, no computer required.

Billed as a useful method of making notes and broadcasting simple 'podcasts', the service is undeniably more useful to US residents thanks to the phone number being based in New York City. That said, many international carriers here in the UK will allow you to call US numbers for around 1p a minute, making it certainly an affordable method of note-taking if your mobile doesn't have its own audio record facility.

Another advantage the service has over any in-built facility offered by your handset is an absence of limits: if you wanted to, you could fill a free 100MB drop space with a single 400-minute MP3. The paid-for version of the service increases this limit to 1GB, and I doubt the battery in your mobile is going to stretch to 4000 minutes of talk time.

Any students over the pond thinking about giving the service a go at their next lecture, or is it destined to end up as a repository for all those drunken thoughts that made so much sense at o-dark-hundred? Have a go, and let us know how you get on over in the forums.