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Roads Audio
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Dave Faliskie

Have you ever wanted to start a podcast to stay in touch with friends?

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I thought I wanted to start a podcast with my friends, turns out I just wanted to use the format to stay in touch.

I travel quite a bit so I have friends in many timezones. Some of us attempted to start a podcast by each recording an audio clips and stitching them together into an episode. We quickly realized we didn't want the discussions to be fully public, however, the format of communicating through these audio podcast-like messages was a game changer.

This is what lead to the development of Roads Audio.

So have you ever wanted to start a podcast? What was that experience like?

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Rajiv Ayyangar

Interesting concept...I do think a side benefit of podcasts (I have a rock-climbing podcast and an intermittent startup--related podcast with @kwindla ) is that it's an excuse to talk with your friends.

Did you try @Airchat or the 2nd iteration of @Clubhouse ? Both explored an async podcast format - vaguely adjacent to @Marco Polo. Neither managed to really take off, but both were compelling initially.

Rajiv Ayyangar
@kwindla @airchat @clubhouse @marco (I lightly edited your title to be more descriptive)
Dave Faliskie
@rajiv_ayyangar Yes I think there is some overlap in the app's you mentioned. Do you have any theories why they didn't take off? Some feedback I'm getting is people don't want to record their own voice or don't know what to talk about. I'm working on a few ways to handle both of those soon!
Dave Faliskie
@rajiv_ayyangar Not the end of the world but I did share the post on X and since you edited the title the link is now broken. Would be nice if the old link redirected maybe that's a small bug?
Rajiv Ayyangar
@davefaliskie that’s a bug. We’re on it.
Business Marketing with Nika
This reminds me a little bit of the concept of Clubhouse when there was COVID and we started with Clubhouse audio rooms with the Slovak and Czech community – some members even shared recorded podcasts on YouTube after that and some turned into video casters when COVID left and Clubhouse bubble had shrunk. And the second case of "audio platform" was AirChat or audio messages. The thing you are describing is new to me but I think you can do the same with YouTube videos that are private but can be shared with someone who has a link. :)
Dave Faliskie
@busmark_w_nika Roads could be thought of as a private, audio only, group message with the ability to record comments at timestamped locations while listening. This helps with organization of responses and keeping discussions context aware, compared to typical messaging apps. The goal is to have collaborative discussions, where as typical podcasts or private YouTube videos would be more one way. There is some overlap with Clubhouse & AirChat and even WhatsApp audio messaging
steve beyatte

Never started a podcast myself but seems like @Riverside.fm is the defacto podcast recording solution now. Is that relevant for Roads Audio? Seems like your product is more around how to connect busy people with threaded voice notes, is that right? Like how Marco Polo was doing this for video for a while?

Dave Faliskie
@steveb That's exactly right. It's less of a podcast and more of a shared voice note. I have heard from some people that even using the term "podcast" when talking about Roads leads to confusion. Because yes it's not really podcasts.
Ash G
Great idea. I checked out Roads Audio, I like the execution and concept of adding roads, nice work. Will share it with my friends!
Dave Faliskie
@ash_grover Thank you, let me know if you have any questions/ ideas/ feedback on how it can be better!
Nathan Lively
I've been using the Cappuccino app to stay in touch with family and friends for a few years now. It's great!
Dave Faliskie
@nathandofrango Nice, I discovered this app recently when looking for similar apps to Roads. If you could do anything to improve Cappuccino what would you change?
Nathan Lively
@davefaliskie mmm, I guess the main thing is that there's not really any support I could find except a defunct twitter handle. Seems like the creator is MIA. Otherwise a couple of small technical issues, like it's not clear which mic is being used. So my wife and I have both several times recorded and send garbage recordings because we didn't know that it was using the bluetooth connection or the phone or whatever. Oh, another important feature request is notifications. In Cappuccino you never know if someone actually listened to your recordings unless they respond or comment and you have to actually go into the app to figure that out.
Dave Faliskie
@nathandofrango Great to know, I have the same mic situation with Roads - it's on my list to update. If you ever feel like testing out the app it's still actively developed and also has notifications for new messages. If you do decide to try it I'd love to hear any feedback/ suggestions!