Google Voice really “Googlified” GrandCentral – it has the same look and feel of Gmail or AdWords, and the most amusing part is that it will turn your voice mails into pure text (and it does a pretty damn good job at it). Somewhere along the line, you have to take a good hard look at this service and appreciate how cool it really is.

Here’s an example…I called my Google Voice phone number that I had set up this past summer on a land line phone. The instant I call, my cell phone goes off. I ignore it, of course. An automated response greets you after a few rings, and lets you know that it “will forward you to (queue the voicemail you’ve created for your Google Voice account)”. It then asks you to speak your name, and then your message. After hanging up, my cell phone vibrates again, with the message: “You’ve got a new voicemail from __”.

I then log into my Google Voice account, and there’s a new message. It lists a new message with a timestamp. The voicemail itself was transcribed into text, and it even has a little “play” button so that I can hear it online. It’s truly great.

Back when this service was still GrandCentral, you were only allowed to use the account for personal reasons – it couldn’t be used as your business number. Google appears to have removed that demand from their terms of service. I use my Google Voice number on all of my online business directory listings, since I don’t want to put my cell phone number out there for the whole world to see. This is a truly great service, because I, a business owner, don’t have to purchase a second line for my own business, just for privacy reasons! Google Voice also accepts incoming text messages, as well.

There’s only one catch to the service: if it is not used once every 9 months, Google will close your account. Be sure to call yourself if nobody else does :)

If you manage to get a Google Voice invite (it’s still an exclusive members-only deal at the moment), be sure to give it a full run!