Free Online Recorders are Toast?
February 7th, 2011 by Greg R Notess
Of the various free online screencast recorders, my favorite was ScreenToaster. It was free, included hosting, and it did not limit the screencast length as severely as others. In addition, you could add text to sections of the screencast. Unfortunately, in June 2010 ScreenToaster announced that it was closing down, even though it had been acquired by Veodia back in July 2009 who then launched Screenjelly. Even though they were considered “sister products” (see the ScreenJelly Twitter feed), it is not at all clear that either will survive.
Since the summer, ScreenToaster has been up and down. The site itself has been down at times. As of Jan. 2011, the site remains, but every time I try to record I just get the recorder down message whether I’m logged in or not.
Strangely enough, other users seem to find ways to make it still work. The “Just Toasted” gallery on the site has several screencasts from Feb., although none seem to have sound.
Meanwhile, I have to wonder about Screenjelly and Veodia itself as well. Screenjelly still works, but check the footers at ScreenToaster, Screenjelly, and Veodia. All have a 2009 copyright date, when they were all most active. Check the ScreenJelly Twitter feed (last post April 2010), Veodia’s blog is empty and the news page has no content since 2008. ScreenToaster’s Twitter account is similarly dated.
As an intermittent blogger myself with long gaps in my activity, I know that sites can return, but when these three have been so long incommunicado, I suspect that it is time to move on. Fortunately, Screencast-O-Matic remains active and has made some improvements (which I’ll cover later). As to ScreenToaster, I am reluctantly saying it is now time to declare it “toast.”