Ever needed to write down an important appointment, only find your calendar nowhere in sight? Ever found yourself walking around the mall and had a million-dollar idea flash into your mind with no pen or scrap of paper to write it down? Ever called a friend or spouse from your cell phone to ask them to write something down for you or remind you later? If you answered "yes" to any of these or similar questions, then the free service at Jott.com may hold an answer that might very well change your life forever!

Jott.com allows you to call their toll-free number, leave a 15 second message, and then receive an e-mail reminder with transcribed text of your voice message. FREE! You can even schedule a specific time and date when the message gets emailed to you as a reminder. Upgrading to Jott.com's premium services (starting at less than $4 per month) enables you to leave longer messages and integrate direclty with more online tools, such as: Outlook, Google Calendar, Twitter, and more. Bottom line, Jott.com makes it possible for you to communicate, remind yourself, make written notes, and organize your thoughts using just your phone.

Jott's Basic (free) service makes a great way to get started making notes to yourself and scheduling reminders. Just sign up for the free service, enter in your phone number, make a quick confirmation call to a toll-free number (to make sure the phone number used is legitimate), and you can start jotting. You can even register multiple phones on your account (office, cell, home) so you can jot from anywhere. By the way, putting Jott's toll free number on speed dial rates a smart move rather than trying to remember and dial 10 digits when inspiration (or a panic attack) strikes and you need to get it out of your brain and recorded quickly.

Once you get a note recorded in Jott, you can optinally set it as a reminder that gets emailed you ton on a certain date and time right through the phone using simple voice prompts. Once your note gets transcribed (which usually takes less than 15 minutes), the site sends you an email alert to log in and access the text of your note. They even include the audio of your original note in case the text is off because of a poor phone connection or background noise. All your notes get organized on your Jott Dashboard in chronological order and you can delete, highlight, and prioritize them however you like.

Though the free level offers an excellent option, Jott.com also offers 2 premium levels worth a look. Most notably, the $3.95 per month level allows you to set appointments on your Google or Outlook calendars through your phone. Also, you can email and text your Jott Notes to specific contacts (or even a group) - a much safer alternative to texting while driving. With the Jott Pro plan ($12.95 per month) you can jot for up to 30 seconds per note and post directly to your Blogger, Titter, and Tumblr accounts.

I like Jott most because of the service's simplicity and that it just plain works as advertised! Remember to speak clearly and enunciate and you may just find yourself wondering how you ever got along without Jott.com.

Copyright (c) 2009 Jim Edwards