Anchor.fm – True Public Radio
Haven’t done a product review in a long time, but felt this was the perfect app to start off my first 2016 review. A few days ago, I came across an interesting product called Anchor.fm, via Twitter. Before I dive deeper, here’s a little background on Anchor via their website:
Anchor is a free iPhone app that makes it easy to broadcast short audio clips to a global audience in seconds. Your listeners can talk back, sparking instant group conversations that were never before possible. When not recording, listen to authentic humor, knowledge, inspiration, and debate from Anchor’s global collective of personality. – Anchor.fm
OK – Back to the product review. Lately, I’ve been big into podcasts (I KNOW I’M A LITTLE LATE TO THE GAME) and I’m always on the lookout for something in the audio space. Podcasts are where I get my weekly tech updates, listen to the latest news, and hear interesting stories from casters. Basically, I just enjoy listening to audio. When I saw Anchor, I thought their concept of using audio in the form of short clips was intriguing. I decided to ask for a beta invite (For iOS only – SORRY Android users but I hear they may be working on a version for you soon!) from one of its founders, Mike Migano, who was kind enough to send me access so I could become an Anchor member.
Signing up was easy – link my Twitter (BIG TWITTER USER I AM), enter in my email, choose a password, and voila~ After all that was said and done, I got to explore the platform itself and listen to some of the “waves” as they’re called (like radio – GET IT).
Below is a screenshot of Anchor.fm from my account.
There were a lot of users whom I already knew (I follow them on Twitter) who had posted a lot of waves. When I clicked on play for one of them, Anchor offered the ability to either listen to the wave via your phone’s speaker (see screenshot below), or by putting it up to your ear to hear. This part was what really struck out to me. Anchor’s platform is smart and detects whether you move your phone to your ear or whether it’s just laying idle on a surface. I liked this feature as it let me decide whether I wanted everyone near me to hear my Anchor wave or if I wanted to be more discreet and listen in privacy (I could pretend that I’m just on the phone listening to a voice mail). Also, recording a wave was pretty straight forward as well. Best part of recording a wave – was that it has a time limit as to how long your wave can be.
Anchor.fm
I really liked that aspect of it. Reminded me sort of Twitter’s 140 character limit. I really had to prepare and practice my first wave before I actually recorded it. Trust me, it’s a good thing. I probably re-recorded my first wave several times, but I think that’s what makes Anchor beautiful. You don’t want to put up anything – because it becomes public to the entire community. Anchor makes you want to really think hard and carefully about how to put up meaningful content. Whether it’s a simple question about politics, or a topic that you want to reply to, you have to make sure you think it thoroughly through before you respond with a wave.
With all that said, Anchor also has some cool social features such as liking, sharing, and replying. You can also choose to follow other members so you get updates on their latest waves. It’s actually pretty addicting. Even now, as I’m writing this post, I’m also trying to think of my next Anchor Wave. Hopefully Anchor will continue to gain momentum and attract more users. Go ahead, give them a try and feel free to engage with me on Anchor.
OH BTW – they officially launched on iOS today.
Check them out here: https://www.anchor.fm/
geeky_yang 