Is Cinch really better than Twitter and Evernote?

There were a lot of reactions around the last post on Cinch. And some folks might be curious about the service and the iPhone app. So I decided to write a follow-up post (the title is possibly borrowed from someone else by now).

Cinch, the iPhone app, allows to share audio-notes taken with the iPhone, complemented with a photo and a 140 chars message. Cinch also works with regular mobile phones as you can call a Cinch number and record your audio-notes. Your "cinches" are forwarded on RSS stream and they'll pop-up in your Google reader, Twitter and facebook stream in near real-time (as good as it gets - except for Google reader, as I don't think they use the pubsubhubhub tech, yet). In the last post, I said that it was better than Twitter and Evernote combined together :) So, is it?

First of all, the good news: I may find it absolutely more interesting than Twitter, but it doesn't "replaces" Twitter. In fact, it *feeds* Twitter with more interesting links to rich audio content. It also feeds your facebook stream. I can say that I got more reactions than average over at Facebook because of my cinches. And *that* is what matters to me.

Second, Cinch *is* a lot better than Evernote for audio notes. The iPhone app just works, whereas Evernote's iPhone app has bugs and failed on me several times in the past. The sound quality is way better than Evernote. However, I wouldn't mind if my cinches were duplicated on Evernote's servers. In fact, I wish they were...

Finally, Cinch is *well-implemented*. They did it the right way. I won't enter on details, but I know a good implementation when I see one. (Ok, I wouldn't have implemented the front-end in asp, but that's me...).

Thus, to sum up, Cinch is for audio-notes what Twitter is for 140chars text messages. Cinch is not a reason to ditch Twitter (au contraire) nor is it to ditch Evernote (I duplicate all my flickr uploads on Evernote using this custom workflow I made with Tarpipe).

So, the only "bad news" is that you're going to spend 20 minutes to try it out. If you've got an iPhone and if you're an iphone app addict, it sure is definitively worth it. Best app in its category. If you don't like texting your tweets (like myself) you may consider calling the Cinch number (us only) and voice them (though Twitterfone is perhaps better for small audio-notes).

Here are my Cinches: I cinch mostly to share all my sound and visual experiences, like music concerts, new city sounds, strange eery magical atmospheres, friends chatter and laughter... all those beautiful sensorial experiences that a simple photo just cannot keep. I do it for me, for my friends, for my future memories of my past :D

Disclosure: I have no connections with CinchCast or BlogTalkRadio. First, I liked their app. Then, I enjoyed some amount of feedback from the Silicon Valley tech-sphere with the last post. So, I try to keep it up =)

Cinch: better than Twitter, better than Evernote.

Wow, it's been a looong time since I posted something here. Lots of spider webs to clean up...

Anyway, I'm posting this entry to tell the world about this cool new thing I started using out of lately. It's called Cinch and it's the best thing since sliced-bread.

Seriously, this little birdie is better than Twitter and Evernote combined together!

It allows the user to post a short message (like twitter), a photo (like brightkite) and an audio stream (like ?? AudioBoo - as suggested by a reader). Your media-shots are syndicated on RSS and on a web-page stream where other cinch-ers can leave comments, reply and follow you. And you can show your love back at them ;) You can also download your cinches in mp3 format or redirect them to Twitter and Facebook (which I did. I Wish could store it on Evernote as well. Oh well...).

But the killer-feature (secret-sauce) of this service is its usability. You can post your media-shots from the iPhone app, which is fantastic AND free. It just works. It's the best free app in its category. (I ditched the built-in audio recorder in the iPhone presto due to this app). And if you don't have an iPhone, all you have to do is set up your mobile phone number in the Cinch web-service and make a call to a Cinch number (us phone only). Your phone call will be recorded and immediately posted on your wall and RSS stream. Now, that's A GREAT IDEA and a great implementation!

I use Cinch to record live music events. These are my most precious memories. I was using Evernote to do that, but their iPhone app is buggy and sound quality simply sucks compared to Cinch's. Mailing mp4 from the iPhone built-in audio recorder also sucks, because you have to limit it to less than a couple of minutes, while full live songs usually take three to six minutes. So, I fell in love with the Cinch iPhone app, because it just works, plus, it adds a photo to your audio stream and a 140chars message. Finally, the sound quality is good-enough and the audio length is long enough to record full live songs.

What's missing? Video. Video's missing. Badly. Adding an option to choose between audio or video would have made it a total killer!

I seriously believe Cinch could become the best mobile social media platform. Best combo so far to use with your mobile phone or iPhone. What do you think? Have you tried out Cinch yet?

*UPDATE*: I forgot to mention that Cinch is powered by BlogTalkRadio (BTR), the technology that pipes audio streams from phone calls or mp3/4 files into rss feeds. BTW, we already covered BTR in this blog almost two years ago...