Read Your Voice Mail Online

MyTalk blurs the line between written and spoken messages--get them both online.

Lincoln Spector, special to PC World

Since June, myTalk has been offering free e-mail with an added bonus: In addition to reading your messages at myTalk's Web site, you can also listen to them over a toll-free phone number. The site also offers free two-minute phone calls and pager alerts when e-mail arrives.

Now myTalk has added voicemail to the mix. When you check your in-box on the Web, you'll find both typed and spoken-over standard telephone messages.

Hands Off

The voice-mail system in myTalk responds to voice commands when you call in to check your messages. You don't have to punch a lot of keys on your touch-tone phone; instead you can say, "Send a reply" or dictate a phone number.

The idea is great, but, unfortunately, the reality doesn't always stand up. Can you remember to say "Tell me about my mailbox" and not "How do I get to my mailbox?" Nor does myTalk's voice-mail system always understand what you say; you often have to repeat numbers and instructions.

As everyone who grew up with television knows, free really means "must put up with advertising." In addition to Web banners, myTalk subjects you-when on the phone-to audio advertising. Luckily, the ads are mercifully short. I never waited through more than three commercials, totaling 37 seconds, at a time.

There's another problem with free voicemail: If your callers don't get you in person, they must dial another number to leave you a message. On the other hand, since the voicemail line is toll-free, your long-distance friends can leave you a message at no cost.

General Magic plans other features for myTalk. For instance, the only e-mail you can currently send over the phone is a response to an existing message; you record it verbally and myTalk sends it as a .wav file attachment. But when you receive one of these attachments, you can't listen to it over the phone.

At some unspecified future date, you'll be able to send these messages to anyone in your address book, and if you receive one of these messages over the phone, you'll be able to listen to it.