[ross_chanin]

Thanks for good words! Soundcloud is a great DIY solution and we are thinking about how to bring DIY into our service going forward.

I also want to repost from a comment I made below regarding the role of the professional interviewer and the Do-It-For-You approach we're taking (essentially the "what you pay for part"):

"...Separate from the important logistical aspects of our service that other contributors mention on the thread, our customers continue to share with us that the role of the professional interviewer is just really important.

This space that gets created between professional interviewer and guest makes it possible for the guest to go beyond that first question about, say, the relationship between two people, and get much deeper into particular periods in each others lives when that relationship has really mattered, and also sharing makes sharing lighter moments a lot of fun.

I'll just say that the art and skill of the follow up question is real."

Of course this is not to say that you and many others cannot do amazing recordings and interviews with family and friends - of course you can and that's a skill! It's just not a skill that I and a lot of other people have as much of a command of, and so we are hoping that our service helps out in those cases.