Patent ID: 7561679

Claim:
A method of message delivery using a voice mail message system, comprising: receiving from a party at said voice mail message system, a voice mail message and a category designation for said message; storing said message in a storage area, said storage area accessed by said voice mail message system and corresponding to said category designation for said message; retrieving messages from said storage area based on a user of said voice mail message system choosing said category designation; presenting said messages to said user; providing a first choice for said user to place a call to said party; providing a second choice for said user to subscribe to future messages from said party when said message is presented to said user; identifying said future messages received at said message system from said party as subscribed to messages for said user, when said user chooses said second choice; and retaining access by other users of said voice mail message system to said message after said user deletes said message which restricts further communication on said message between said user and said party, whereby subsequent retrieval of said message by said user is restricted while subsequent retrieval of said message by any of said other users is not restricted.