Every family has its own unique story and lore; we’re sure yours isn’t any different. Those stories of how your grandparents met, some notable family events, memories of turbulent times, and how you conquered them together as a pack, long-lasting memories of family history and traditions—these stories and memories are important building blocks that mold your identity as a family and individual.
Documenting these family stories and memories can be a family bonding exercise that allows you to create keepsakes dedicated to your family’s growth and capture the stories of aging family members to pass down to the next generation.
Best Tools to Capture and Celebrate Family Memories
That leads us to the pressing question of today: What digital tools should you use to document your family memories and preserve your family stories for future generations to trace their genealogy ? Finding the right tools to preserve your unique memories can be difficult with all the options available. In this article, you’ll learn about digital tools that help you collect and keep your family lore safe, the best of which is the Meminto Memory Book.
Tool #1: Meminto (Editors’ Choice)
Meminto is the best platform to help you preserve your family stories and memories. It achieves this by providing thoughtful questions that guide you in documenting your family stories. Meminto can capture your stories in various formats, including written text, voice recordings, videos, and phone interviews, which are transformed into beautifully crafted physical or digital keepsake books. Here’s a table showing the summary of Meminto’s key features .
| Key Features | Meminto |
| Primary Focus | Focuses on all kinds of memory books and can be tailored to fit your needs—in this case, a family memory book. |
| Available Output Formats | You can choose to receive your book in high-quality physical format or in a digital e-book format |
| Interview Process | Self-paced and can be done individually or with your family members |
| Story Collection | Collect your stories through customizable question prompts that you can remove, add or modify. With the option to add pictures and video to your story. |
| Price | The Meminto Life Book costs $79. Childhood books cost $69 |
Pros:
- Meminto allows a very flexible and personalized approach to capturing your stories, giving you full liberty to customize your questions and your book design and layout.
- Meminto’s physical output format is a professional, beautifully bound, and high-quality hardcover book that’s guaranteed to preserve your family legacy for generations to come.
- The book creation process is simplified and user-friendly, allowing you to create your family book with little technical know-how.
Cons:
- Getting familiar with all the available customizing options may take you some time.
Tool #2: Story Terrace
Story Terrace is a more traditional, personal biographer-like option that matches you with a professional ghostwriter, who you tell your family stories and they help you craft detailed and professional memoirs.
| Key Features | Story Terrace |
| Primary Focus | Best suited for documenting personal experiences and events. |
| Available Output Formats | A high-quality, professional-level physical memoir. |
| Interview Process | Person-to-person audio interviews with your assigned ghostwriter. |
| Story Collection | Stories are collected through guided questions from your writer, leaving little room for personal customization. |
| Price | Pricing for Story Terrace’s’ services starts at a whopping $2200 |
Pros:
- With Story Terrace, you get professional biographer experience and a high-quality end-product.
Cons:
- High price tag starting at $2200.
- Structured process, with almost no room for customization.
- Time-consuming, story collection and drafting process.
Tool #3: Story Corps
Story Corps is a non-profit organization dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of people from all walks of life. Story Corps archives record stories at the Library of Congress making sure that they are available for generations to come.
| Key Features | Story Corps |
| Primary Focus | Audio interviews and public archiving. Not particularly suited for private and in-house family stories. |
| Available Output Formats | Audio tape that is filed and archived with the Library of Congress. |
| Interview Process | Person-to-person audio interviews at recording booths or over the phone |
| Story Collection | Guided Q&A session, moderated by trained staff |
| Price | You’ll be advised to donate to the organization’s cause. |
Pros:
- Relatively cost-free, save for the suggested donation to the organization’s cost.
Cons:
- Sharing your family stories publicly may not be an appealing option.
- Limited professional editing and any taped mistakes or errors are permanent.
Tool #4: Memorygram
Memory Gram offers a “photo and text-focused” memory book option that allows you to transform your family stories into physical keepsake books.
| Key Features | Memorygram |
| Primary Focus | Best suited for documenting personal experiences and events. |
| Available Output Formats | A beautiful hardcover memory book |
| Interview Process | Stories are recorded individually or collaboratively with your family members |
| Story Collection | Collects your stories through customizable question prompts. With the option to add pictures and video to your story. |
| Price | The standard plan costs $178 per year; the Premium Plus plan costs $287 per year. |
Compile family photos and videos to create memories with your kids
Pros:
- User-friendly and customizable .
- Output is a durable, hardcover memory book that can hold your family stories for generations to come.
Cons:
- Primarily photo-based and may not cover the full story.
- Higher cost compared to tools of similar operation (Meminto).
Tool #5: MyLifeinaBook
MyLifeinaBook offers a simple approach to documenting your stories. It sends weekly question prompts via email. These questions are tailored to make you reflect on various life stages and experiences, and you respond with written answers.
| Key Features | MyLifeinaBook |
| Primary Focus | Best suited for safekeeping personal experiences and events. |
| Available Output Formats | A hardcover book. |
| Interview Process | Q&A exchange via weekly emails |
| Story Collection | Collects your stories through customizable question prompts received by weekly email. |
| Price | $79 per book, an additional $39 for audiobook add-on, shipping included for some regions, and a $15 shipping fee for other regions |
Pros:
- Simple story recording process as you simply have to reply to the emails you get
Cons:
- A less interactive story collection process.
- It is a time-consuming story-collection process, as you only get one email per week
Tool #6: TryLifeStory
Trylifestory offers a unique way to capture and preserve your personal stories through a recorded video interview.
| Key Features | TryLifeStory |
| Primary Focus | Recorded video interview service where you can tell your family story. |
| Available Output Formats | An edited video of your interview with a personalized opening sequence |
| Interview Process | Interviewer-led, Q&A conversation |
| Story Collection | Collected by answering the structured, uneditable questions your interviewer asks. |
| Price | $499 |
Pros:
- Interactive, person-to-person interview process
Cons:
- Output is in video form and not a physical document that can be physically passed down to coming generations
- Higher cost compared to physical book alternatives
Tool #7: Remento
| Key Features | Remento |
| Primary Focus | Remento covers various topics such as relationships, childhood memories, or life lessons |
| Available Output Formats | Physical books or digital memory hub with QR codes |
| Interview Process | Written or audio replies to question prompts. No person-to-person interaction |
| Story Collection | You get to select question prompts from a collection and record your responses. You can also upload your own customizable prompts. |
| Price | From $99 |
Pros:
- Very similar to Meminto in operation and shares the same pros.
Cons:
- A more expensive option than Memento.
How to Create a Meminto Life Book to Document Your Family Stories and Strengthen Family Bonds
Now that you know Meminto is the best option to keep your family memories and history safe, Let’s walk you through the steps to order one from our store:
- ]Go to https://meminto.com/product/life-book/ and click “Get Started.”
- You can choose whether to buy the book for yourself or someone else using the “I will” or “Someone else will” options.
- Select the number of pages you want and decide if you want additional or digital copies. Click “Add to Cart” when you’re done.
- Enter your shipping address and payment method. Use a promo code if you have one.
- Confirm your order and track it on the checkout page.
- Check your email for a confirmation message and an activation code. Copy the code and go to https://memin.to/register.
- Enter your personal information, activation code, and password. Click “Sign up for Meminto” to start writing your story.
- Please select your preferred language (German or English) and the day you want to receive weekly questions. Then click “Save Changes.”
- Select your book’s typographic alignment and category presentation.
- Customize the book to fit your needs.
- Watch the video below for more information on using the Meminto app.
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