Product Review: Saving Memories Forever

(Text Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette)

Saving Memories Forever ( www.savingmemoriesforever.com )
     Free Membership: Free!
     Premium Subscription: $3.99 monthly / $40.00 annually

A while back the folks at Saving Memories Forever asked me to write a review of their product system for recording, saving, and sharing stories. The system consists of two parts--an app and a website. According to the the website "...the app provides great mobility for interviewing and easy uploading to a secure and private storage on the website."  There are two levels of membership--a Free Membership and a Premium Subscription.  I am evaluating the Premium Subscription for my review.

About the product: The free app is available through the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. Before I downloaded the app to my iPhone I decided to check out their website to learn a little more about the product.  The Saving Memories Forever website is neat and easy to navigate.  On the left-hand side of the screen there are three sections: Start Here; Helpful Tips; and Free vs Fee.  All three sections are helpful.  The Start Here section has easy step-by-step instructions.  I like their suggestion that I interview myself to get the basic feel for the interviewing process. Being a newbie to interviewing I also like the practical suggestions offered in the Helpful Tips section. Finally, the Free vs Fee section clearly outlines the benefits of each type of membership.

The product is essentially an audio scrapbook for saving family memories. To get started you need to downloaded the app.  A User's Manual is available, but the app is pretty simple and self-intuitive for those who prefer to jump right in.  You can create and manage multiple "storytellers" and have the option of uploading photos to each storyteller's profile.  The "Helpful Tips" section on the app is short but helpful. I like their idea for keeping stories short, five to ten minutes.

Stories are organized by storyteller.  A series of prompts are provided and the prompts are organized into broad categories: Childhood (0-12); Teenage Years (13-19); Adult (20-25); Adult (26-40); Adult (41-55); Adult (56+); Jokes; Philosophy; Religion; Other Stories and Songs.  You can create multiple stories for the same prompt.  The ten or 11 prompts in each age category are pretty basic, such as "Describe you mother and father" and "Describe your childhood home" in the Childhood (0-12) category, and "Describe your family" and "What did you like to do?" in the Adult (41-55) category. You can tag stories to make them searchable.

Saving Memories Forever allows you to share your stories with others, but anyone you share a story with must create an account before they are able to access the stories you've uploaded.  Sharing stories is a key feature of the product, but the user manual points out that you will share ALL your stories with everyone.  You can also put story notifications on Facebook to let the rest of your family know that a new story is available for listening.  At the end of a story you press a button on your phone, and your story uploads to the website.  You can use Saving Memories Forever in conjunction with Skype for interviewing family long distance and can download stories to your computer using a zip file.

The Saving Memories Forever Privacy Policy states that "..all content will be made public 100 years after the date of initial creation." I think this is important to note given that you are gathering stories from other people and that your storytellers' privacy, even a hundred years down the line, may be important to them and/or to you.

Finally, a bonus included with the product is a copy of Thomas MacEntee's Preserving Your Family's Oral History and Stories which is available with the Premium Subscription in .pdf form or as a webinar.

What do I think?  Saving Memories Forever is a nice product.  The phone app aspect of the product is particularly handy.  No special equipment is required, just your phone and your computer.  Most people have their phones on them all the time, so there isn't special equipment to remember. You put your phone down on the table, press record, and forget about it! It's that simple!

I do have a couple of suggestions though.  Before I reviewed the product I read Jennifer Wood's review of Saving Memories Forever on her Climbing My Family Tree blog. I agree with her suggestion that it would be nice to be able to add/change/customize the interview prompt questions/titles. I also hope this will be available in a product update down the line.  Some of the prompts are pretty basic and a bit limited in scope, like having the question "Who did you date/marry?" in the Adult 20-25 category and not again in any of the other adult categories.  

While you can add and search tags, it would be nice to have a tag list/cloud to select from.  I know from experience with my blog that sometimes it's hard to remember all of the tags that I have assigned my various posts over the years, and the tag list is an incredibly helpful reminder when I am looking for something specific.

What's the bottom line?  Saving Memories Forever would make a great gift for the genealogist in the family, but you don't need to limit your purchase to just gift giving or genealogists.  It would also make a great purchase for anyone with an interest in saving stories or family history. Imagine being able to listen your adult children telling stories recorded when they were young or to your grandparents' voices and stories long after they have gone. Saving Memories Forever truly has the potential to be a gift that lasts a lifetime.

[Disclosure: I was not paid for my review of Saving Memories Forever but was contacted by the company and offered free access for a year to the Premium Subscription in exchange for my honest evaluation of the product.]



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My Favorite Current Technology: I ♥ My iPhone

(Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette) Let's just say I'm not exactly a cutting edge kind of gal, though I do like to think I was cutting edge once back in 2008.  It's not that I don't love all the shiny new techie stuff.  I do, but at this point in my life I feel like I've got so many plates already spinning, I don't really have the time to fully invest in many of the popular gizmos and gadgets on the market.  I'm perfectly happy with a few favorites--a basic laptop, a laser printer, a scanner, my Kindle, and my iPhone 3G.  Oh, how I love my iPhone.  My heart beats faster just thinking about it.  I've had the same one for the last two and a half years (Like I said, I was cutting edge in 2008.) and don't want to contemplate life without it.  Okay, so maybe I exaggerate a wee bit, but last summer when a good friend was in the market for a new phone I told her she just HAD to get an iPhone.  I said, "Once you get an iPhone you'll never go back." 

Why Is It So Special?

Let me just say, that I like the iPhone because it works for me.  I think that's pretty important for any technology.  Sometimes newer is better, but sometimes newer is just...ah...well...newer.  That said, I would love to upgrade to a newer iPhone at some point, but frankly this one still works just fine so for now I'll make due with what I've got.  The iPhone, at least mine, is durable within reason.  I've dropped it on more that one occasion, most recently on the pavement in my driveway.  I don't recommend dropping it on a regular basis, but accidents, no matter how careful we are, happen to the best of us.

What features do I use all the time?  I use it to check my e-mail.  The notepad is great for writing down a few quick notes, library call numbers, tombstone inscriptions, or database search strategies when I think of them for use at a later time.  Oh yeah, it's great for writing down your grocery list too!  I'm not a big texter, but did you know some library OPACs (online public access catalogs) allow you to send yourself book call numbers as text messages?  Now how cool is that!  The camera is great in a pinch for taking photos of tombstones or historic sites or your cute kid if you have one or two or three.  You can then upload your photos to post via your facebook app.  The iPod is great for listening to podcasts, walking/museum tours, or to your hopelessly dated recordings of Petula Clark singing Downtown or Meatloaf singing Bat Out of Hell. 

I love the GPS for finding and navigating in and around cemeteries.  I've noticed that the GPS picks up named city streets within cemeteries pretty well.  It also picks up smaller, even dirt, roads leading to remote cemeteries.  Last year when I was out looking for the Riverside Cemetery in Barre, MA the GPS was great.  Riverside Cemetery is now adjacent or part of land taken by the state of Massachusetts for the Barre Dam.  The GPS helped to get me back on track when I thought I was hopelessly lost.  Three weeks ago it helped me to find my way to NERGS when I got lost in Springfield, MA and ended up at the Basketball Hall of Fame instead of the conference hotel.  I've also used the GPS walking feature to figure out where I was when I was lost in San Francisco.  Don't ask...

What apps do I use on a regular basis?  I use the app for World Cat on occasion.  I've downloaded a voice recorder app which I use for singing, but you could use for voice memos or recording interviews.  I've also recently downloaded a scanner/PDF app which I use for scanning library items too fragile to photocopy.  I love the Kindle app, which opens right to where you left off with your book in your regular Kindle.  

Then there is Safari, the iPhone's web browser.  I don't know what I'd do without it.  Have you gone to a park, playground, or museum recently and seen all the parents of small children sitting on what I refer to as the Bored Parent Bench?  Last summer when we were in California and my son went to the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley nine (Did I mention nine?) times, I sat on the BPB and caught up with my blog reading while my son played.  I can log into my blog and post comments.  I can even access some databases in a pinch if I have to.  I read the local paper online when we travel and review the Legacy obits as well.

I'm sure there's more that can be done with the iPhone.  I doubt I've scratched the surface.  I haven't even mentioned any specific genealogy or history apps.  If you have any great uses for your iPhone feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.  Oh, and there's one more thing you can do with your iPhone.  You can even make phone calls...


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