Social sound platform Audioboo open sources its Android app: “It suits the platform”

We’ve written about social sound platform Audioboo a few times over the past couple of years, and in February we wrote about how it was gearing up to take on SoundCloud in the social audio space.

Back in June, we reported that its Android app had caught up with iOS, when version 2.0 was finally released. And today it has announced plans to open source its codebase for the Android mobile app.

The last update Audioboo will make to the Android codebase will be to enable support for blind users. It will then release the code in its entirety under a standard, free to use MIT license to enable others to tweak and reuse the components.

Audioboo CEO Mark Rock commented:

“This decision was not taken lightly, given the amount of time and money we’ve put into the Android app since it launched. But it seemed time for us to give something back to the open source movement, as a lot of its software powers our web platform. We believe this open source approach for Android suits the nature of the platform, in the same way as our iPhone plugin suits the more vertical controlled nature of the Apple platform. The iPhone plugin has already been incorporated into 20 apps, including Absolute Radio, with more on the way. We hope this move will kick-start innovation around Audioboo on Android in the same way.”

What this essentially means is that third-party developers will be able to contribute and help evolve the Audioboo app, expanding its features much quicker than it otherwise would.

Launched in March 2009, Audioboo allows users to record a near-unlimited amount of audio, which they can share with friends or broadcast to the world. They can also add images, titles and tags and upload it to Audioboo.fm, complete with biographical and geographical information on where and when it was recorded.

Audioboo also has a well-established contingent of celebrity users, including Stephen Fry an newsreader Jon Snow. The Guardian, FT, British Library, Royal Opera House, BBC Radio and the British Army also use the audio platform.