When it comes to media and social sharing, the book is still being written on what people want. Today, Shuttersong and Microsoft are announcing their newly redesign app for Windows 8.1. Shuttersong (www.shuttersong.com) is a free service that lets you embed audio, such as voice clips or music, directly into photos. Once completed, you can share those photos via email or social networks like Facebook.
Shuttersong has been in an open, but quiet, public beta for a few weeks. The company though feels their app is ready for prime-time, announcing today the general availability of Shuttersong for all Windows 8.1 users.
The idea behind Shuttersong is simplicity. It is similar to creating a video but without the complicated edits. Sometimes, a single photo, collage or drawing with some sound is enough to convey meaning – at least that is what the folks behind Shuttersong have confidence in. Despite being a limited beta, early reviews in the Store provide the app high praise. The app itself is clean and minimalist, making recording and producing Shuttersongs easy. From this morning's press release:
"Shuttersong's Windows 8 app builds on the platform's strengths including system-wide gestures for playing music and sharing Shuttersongs. As a social and photo app, the app's intuitive wordless design is positioned to thrive in Windows, where social content and sharing photos are key features of the operating system. In addition to the exceptional camera quality in Windows 8 devices, Windows 8 users can also effortlessly access their photo library on their device or in the cloud, and easily create Shuttersongs from archived images."
Some of the features for Shuttersong include:
- App design is so intuitive there are no words.
- One tap to shoot photos and capture sounds.
- Easy to grab music or sound effects from your music library and select up to a 15 second clip.
- Shoot new photos or add sound to your existing photos (including ones created with other photo apps) or images from the web.
- With one tap, share with Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, VK and Reddit or via email and text. Many more global social networks will be added soon.
- View Shuttersongs either in-the-app or on the web (even if you or a friend doesn't have the app).
- Shuttersongs sent to you are immediately saved to your phone.
- Embed Shuttersongs into web pages or blog posts.
The app itself is well designed, though it remains to be seen if users follow. The app is also available on iOS and the iPhone.
Windows Phone app on the way too
We've spoken to a representative for Shuttersong and wecan confirm that an app for Windows Phone 8.x devices is in the works as well. The timing for that release appears to coincide with the first update for Windows Phone 8.1 due in a few months. We'll of course keep you abreast of any news when that happens.
For now, if you are on a Windows 8.1 tablet or PC, give Shuttersong a download. It is free, easy to use and it maybe you can create a great memory to share with others (Tip: use #Shuttersong on Twitter). Let us know what you think about it in comments!
