All You Need are the Memories

Voicemail for Life Story Memoirs - LifeOnRecord

Trend Hunter Magazine - October 27, 2008 - Theresa Gramza

A company called LifeOnRecord offers an automated way to have friends and family from around the country call in and record stories, memories, and well-wishes for special occasions. Those messages can be downloaded into iTunes and can also be compiled onto a keepsake CD by the company. 

Everybody has one person that is impossible to buy a present for, be it a dad, wife, or grandparent. I have one; he’s a 70 year-old adventurer who buys what he wants, and returns the rest. He has enough gadgets and “stuff” for three people. But this year on his birthday, he got something he couldn’t return that reflected his life of friends and stories. It was a sentimental and unique birthday gift called LifeOnRecord that allowed his friends and family from across the country to dial a toll-free number and record a message up to 30 minutes in length.

You sign-up for an account and get a toll-free number to email to people.  You ask everyone who gets the email to forward it on to others who know the recipient. The recordings he received had old friends and neighbors from across the US and Canada, all for a fixed price of $49.99.

The company lets you download the recordings to make a CD or they’ll send you one. The recordings on my dad’s CD made him tear-up, which is a big accomplishment for an ex-Naval officer.