Podcasts On Your Phone

Posted by Paul Colligan on Monday, November 20, 2006

I feel like for the last few months I’ve heard of at least a dozen people tell me about some Podcasting/phone service every day. Did you hear about “x?” There is this service called “y.” And the list goes on.

I’m not talking phones with MP3 players in them – I’m talking, access a Podcast over the phone. I.e., call a phone number, hear a Podcast, etc.

I don’t doubt that there are companies who are providing Podcast to phone services – but my question is this …

Is anyone really using them?

And when I say “use,” I mean regular habitual consumption. 2 to 3 a week type of thing.

It isn’t the per minute charges that make me question it – it’s the functionality of it all. Anyone who thinks ahead enough to call a phone number an go through a tree to hear the Podcast of his/her choice – it seems to me they’re they’re the type who would spend the money required to make it much easier – a Nano, MP3 phone, etc.

So, any “I get my Podcasts by telephone” types out there? Tell me your story.

Technorati Tags: , ,

  • http://foneshow.blogspot.com/ Erik Schwartz

    “it’s the functionality of it all. Anyone who thinks ahead enough to call a phone number an go through a tree to hear the Podcast of his/her choice – it seems to me they’re they’re the type who would spend the money required to make it much easier – a Nano, MP3 phone, etc.”

    If that’s the implementation for podcasting on the phone, I totally agree with you. That’s pretty dumb. As is arranging a playlist on the web and then calling in without knowing what you’ll hear and any number of other implementations.

    None of those however, are anything like what we at foneshow have built.

    As in all things, execution is everything.

  • http://www.wahmtalkradio.com Kelly McCausey

    I don’t and I won’t. Can’t think of any good reason to :)

  • http://www.melodeo.com Rob Greenlee

    Paul,

    These many dial a phone number podcast services maybe easier to use, but they are not the longer-term solution to allow anywhere and anytime access to podcasts on mobile phones.

    I am with Melodeo Mobilcast in Seattle and we have a downloadable java/brew application that has been accepted by Cingular and Alltel respectively that allows direct access to podcasts via data/Internet access on the phone. With Mobilcast, podcasts are streamed or downloable directly to the phone over the wireless carrier data networks. The power of mobilcast on the phone is that it allows the listener to search for any podcast and get access to hourly and daily updated podcasts from major media sources anytime.

    You also have the option to make a subscription list at Melodeo.com and have the subscription list sync’d to the phone in a “My Favorites” as part of the default podcast directory always full of short-cut links to the best short-form podcasts online from sources like NPR, MSNBC, Onion Radio, ESPN and many others.

    While wireless networks can be a little unreliable, the technology enables pausing of podcast playback when a phone call comes through and podcast bookmarking and resuming when the network connection goes down and then comes back up again. We are working hard to make this system as good as possible and we have seen seeing steady growth in subscribers to our Mobilcast service throught the wireless carriers here in the USA and around the world.

    Stop by and give it a try on your phone. We do support many lower end phones like the Rzer and many others.
    http://www.melodeo.com/mobile_center

    Rob Greenlee
    Melodeo Mobilcast

    Host, WebTalk Radio

  • http://foneshow.blogspot.com/ Erik Schwartz

    Anything that requires a handset install is fighting an uphill battle. The % of users who have EVER installed software on their handsets beyond a ringtone or wallpaper is in the single digits.

    Anything that requires a carrier deal is going to be very hard to make go as a business. You need to give them too much off the top…

    Market penetration of data plans in the US is pitiful.

    http://www.foneshow.com has managed to provide pretty much all the functionality that Rob mentions, but reach a much larger audience. We offer random access to shows, bookmarking, pausing audio, forwarding programming to any other cell phone, instant publishing anywhere sign up and a bunch of other functionality.

    We presented at podcamp west in SF last week and got a great response from the podcasting community. Currently we’re transitioning from private beta to public beta.

  • http://www.paulcolligan.com Paul Colligan

    Rob,

    You don’t work on my Treo (Verizon) so I can’t give it a try. Sorry. The Website is impressive (as are previous demos I’ve seen), but I can’t comment until I can use.

    Erik,

    Looks interesting, I will take a look.

    Pal

  • http://foneshow.blogspot.com/ Erik Schwartz

    Drop me an email, I’ll set you up.