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Record free, unlimited MP3 audio with your cell phone

Online-storage service Dropio just added a new recording feature: Dial in from your phone and it records almost unlimited MP3 audio. Best of all, it's free!

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
Dropio

If you've never heard of Dropio, it's worth checking out. The service provides temporary storage for your files--an online dropbox, so to speak--complete with a unique Web address you can share or keep to yourself.

Of course, lots of services offer this capability, but Dropio just added an entirely original feature: MP3 audio recording. Now, when you create a "drop," you get a phone number and special extension. Just dial in from your cell phone (or any phone), enter the extension, and start talking. When you're done, Dropio turns the recording into an MP3 you can play, share, download, or whatever. How cool is that?

You could use this to record a lecture, a podcast entry, an audio reminder to yourself, or even an interview (your phone takes the place of your voice recorder). There's no limit on recording length except for the 100MB cap on each free (!) drop; a 10-spot buys you a Premium drop with 1GB of storage.

(I know this is a little different from my usual gadgets-and-gear coverage--is that a good thing? Bad thing? Other thing? Let me know if you'd like to see more Web services in the mix.)