For all the chatter on Twitter, the social networking tool is still very much driven by short written messages. But imagine if you could add your own voice to your Tweets?

That's the idea behind Chir.ps, a new service that launched today from Seattle-based Entertonement. In addition to broadcasting audio messages via Twitter, the sounds also can be distributed via email, blog posts and incorporated into ringtones for mobile phones.

The idea is to make the sharing of audio clips as easy as sharing a photo.

Chir.ps also has a Retweet function so you can distribute audio messages from your friends or pick from thousands of audio clips already uploaded through Entertonement's Web site. (Check out my Twitter account to try to identify an audio clip from a famous movie.)

I've been playing around with the service today. It's pretty cool, though my first Chir.ps message got cut off after a few words.

Entertonement founder David Aronchick said that's not supposed to happen and they've been ecnountering a few bugs for those using Macs. But he's working on that problem and says those using PCs can leave Chir.ps of any length.

"We’ve internally tested having the recorder on for an hour, and uploaded some sample clips that were three hours long," he said via email.

The company doesn't have an iPhone app at this time, and is instead trying to partner with folks such as PixelPipe and Tweetree.

“We looked at all the great multimedia services that enriched the Twitter community, and saw an unmet need for sharing what we hear in the world around us," said Aronchick.

Entertonement -- founded in 2006 -- is backed by Redpoint Ventures.