The recent Zune HD announcements have been exciting and it is great to see so many others excited about it as well. The images of the device do not show "Podcasts" as a top menu item, but it is in the mix and thriving on the entire Zune platform and devices. The Podcast menu item appears when you select a podcast to be added to your collection. The new Zune HD will continue to support audio and video podcasts. Zune is commited to offering podcast content as we have 4 people working on the Zune Podcast area. We will continue to expand the podcast catalog that is also available at our Zune.net podcast area.
Update: Engadget has a nice article and set of hands-on gallery photos of the new Zune HD that shows clearly that Podcasts are indeed part of the top level navigation on the new device. Read it and see the photos.
Zune has a steady flow of new podcast series coming into the Zune Podcast Directory and many really great ones never get the deserved audience attention for a variety of reasons. So, starting with this post will be a regular flow on this blog about new and cool podcasts that are the best of the best.
Here is this week’s list.
- SuperNews from Current TV is a full-episode animated video podcast makes fun of current events and online culture.
- President Obama's Weekly Address and Key Speeches – Video
- President Obama's Weekly Address and Key Speeches – Audio
- Coverville is a long-running music podcast produced/hosted by pioneering podcaster Brian Ibbott that has published almost 600 episodes.
- College Humor original videos are shockingly funny and like a box of chocolates as you never know what you are going to get with this very high quality produced viral video.
- Digg Dialog is hosted by Digg co-founder and Diggnation co-host Kevin Rose as he shows his more serious side.
- Smosh Videos are produced by YouTube stars Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. This series won a YouTube award for Best Comedy.
- Motley Fool Money podcast is your weekly dose of financial news, commentary and tips.
- NPR: Planet Money you'll meet high rollers, brainy economists and regular folks -- all trying to make sense of our rapidly changing global economy.
- Rotten Tomatoes Show from Current TV is a fun and very well produced movie review show. So before you go to the movies this coming weekend check latest full-episode.
The links above will take you to our page for them in our Zune.net podcast directory.
The news that broke last week that Zune.net now has all 12 thousand podcasts available for streaming or download from the web site now. The streaming part is only available for audio podcasts at this time, but could be considered one of the largest online podcast directories online.
The real significant story that has yet to be blogged about is that podcast feeds can now be submitted through Zune.net. This is great for all those Apple Mac users who are making great podcast content and can now submit their feeds. They will also see them in the catalog and this is something that I have been working to get happen for many months at Zune.
It has been many years since a new online podcast directory has launched and is a significant development for the podcast industry.
I want to clear up any rumors about me “moving on” from Zune. It is true that I was off for many weeks, but I am back working on Zune Podcasts as a Podcast Producer that is doing the podcast community relations, editorial and promo features for the Zune software platform at Microsoft.
Rob Greenlee
Earlier today (Sat, Dec 20th), I joined Todd Cochrane of the Geek News Central podcast who is the 24 hour host of the podcast. It takes dedication to operate a 24 hours of live streaming. I want to thank Todd for inviting me to join the event this year to talk about Zune and the state of podcasting.
Here is the Top 25 Most Subscribed to Podcasts in the past week (Dec 1-7, 2008):
The big new hits for the week are Best Ads on TV, CHTV: CollegeHumor Original Videos and President-Elect podcasts. See below.
The below deep-links go to the Zune 3.1 Marketplace media player software. You can download the Zune PC desktop player here to get these FREE podcasts.
1. Best of YouTube (video)
2. FOXCAST: Family Guy (audio)
3. Best Ads on TV (video) New
4. Discovery Channel (video)
5. CHTV: CollegeHumor Original Videos (video) New
6. President-Elect Obama's Weekly Radio Address (audio) New
7. Videos from President-Elect (video) New
8. G4 Attack of the Show (video)
9. The Green Room presented by Zune (video) New
10. Happy Tree Friends (video)
11. VH1 Best Week Ever (video)
12. Break.com (video) New
13. Discovery Dirty Jobs (video)
14. Comedy Central: Standup (video)
15. Sarah Silverman Program (video) New
16. G4 Human Wrecking Balls (video) New
17. Zune Insider (video & audio)
18. HBO's Stand Up Comedy (video)
19. Strong Bad Emails (video)
20. Onion Radio News (audio)
21. Fox News Gamers Weekly (video) New
22. The Soup Video Podcast (video)
23. X-Play's Daily Video Podcast (video)
24. Dane Cook Podcast (audio)
25. G4 TV Street Fury Video Podcast (video)
If you are a podcaster with a podcast in the Zune Marketplace Directory then you can also create what we call a Zune Deep-Link that you can use to link to your podcast page in the Zune Marketplace - Media Player software. To get this link go to this page: http://social.zune.net/links/ZuneLinks.aspx and do a search for your podcast to find the deep-link for use on your website. We will give you the complete code to place this link into your HTML code on your blog or webpage.
Shaun Daily interviewed me at the recent New Media Expo and we talked for 30 minutes about Zune podcast support, the state of podcasting, the future and some great content that is available. To listen to the full interview click this link that will take you to the BlogTalkRadio.com website.
It appears that the building economic troubles are starting to impact the business and content side of podcasting. The most recent sign of this is the cutbacks to we have seen this past week by Revision3. Revision3 has been a great example of a successful independent new media content producer that has rivaled the success of major media podcasters. I have also started to see cracks in some of the success of major media podcasters as well. Many of these major media podcasters are in it for the long-term, but many are still still struggling to build solid revenue around their podcasting content. Many are bullish on the future of downloadable distribution, but are having a hard time selling the platform to advertisers for two primary reasons;
1) No actual playback data from the existing major podcast distribution platforms at Apple, Creative and Microsoft Zune.
2) Content redistribution concerns.
The major media companies are also becoming more concerned about the costs of making and distributing longer form video podcasts as the costs for bandwidth and staff labor are the major concerns. They all like podcasts because it enables the networks to reach their audience when it is easier for them, especially with cable tv shows that air during the day or work time hours.
I do think that comedy shows that air late in the evening like "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show, The Late Show with Conan O'Brien Show and all the other late night talk shows should become advertiser supported podcasts so those shows would be seen more.
I am also seeing more serialized scripted dramas and comedies come to video podcasting lately. See series like the Casanovas, We need a Girlfriend and shows from the Independent Comedy Network.
Video podcasting is becoming like TIVO without the DVR and may be a sign of an important shift that is happening to broadcast TV. Video Podcasts are becoming the Future of TV.
Everyone has switched into fall mode and that has translated into a huge jump in podcast interest in the Zune Podcast Marketplace software. This is an annual rite of passage, that summer is the time when podcast usage dips and then it comes stampeding back in the Fall and Winter. Well, this year is no exception and we have seen a 30% or more jump in new podcast subscriptions from August to September. This heightened activity around podcasts involves Zune users discovering great new podcasts in the areas of comedy, politics, money, news, tech and comedy. Current zune podcast users are also doing some significant house cleaning of podcast feeds that are just not of interest anymore. This means that Zune has seen huge increase in activity around podcast transactions over the past few weeks on the Zune Podcast platform.
Here is the Top 25 most subscribed to podcasts in the past week (Sept 21-28, 2008):
The below deep-links go to the Zune Podcast Marketplace - media player software. You can download the desktop player here to get these FREE podcast episodes from the below podcasts.
1. FOXCAST: Family Guy (audio)
2. Best of YouTube (video)
3. HBO’s Stand Up Comedy (video)
4. Zune Insider (video & audio)
5. Strong Bad Emails (video)
6. Xbox 360 Only Game Trailers (video)
7. Discovery Channel (video)
8. Discovery Dirty Jobs (video)
9. Dane Cook Podcast (audio)
10. GameTrailers.com – Xbox 360 (video)
11. Happy Tree Friends (video)
12. NBC Nightly News (video)
13. Onion News Network (video)
14. G4 Attack of the Show (video)
15. Dilbert Animated Cartoons (video)
16. Comedy Central: Standup (video)
17. Real Time with Bill Maher (audio)
18. Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil (video)
19. G4 TV X-Play’s Gaming Update (video)
20. 60 Minutes Podcast – Full Episode (audio)
21. Xbox Live’s Major Nelson Radio (audio)
22. G4 TV Around the Net (video)
23. HBO’s The Life & Times of Tim (video)
24. CNBC’s Mad Money w/Jim Cramer (video)
25. G4 TV Street Fury Video Podcast (video)
If you are a podcaster with a podcast in the Zune Marketplace Directory then you can also create what we call a Zune Deep-Link that you can use to link to your podcast page in the Zune Marketplace - Media Player software.
To get your link then go to this page: http://social.zune.net/links/ZuneLinks.aspx and do a search for your podcast to find the deep-link for use on your website. We will give you the complete code to place this link into your HTML code on your blog or webpage.
The new features in the Zune 3.0 release are adding to user options to discover music in new ways. Microsoft Zune research has shown that radio is still being used by the majority of potential users to discover new music. Most people like to have help in discovering new music. The buy from FM feature rated very high in the research and would drive device and service adoption.
The perception that radio is dead is misguided and has been for years now. Many bloggers and major media back in 2004 said, that radio was dead with the invention of Podcasting and that has NOT at all happened. The same is true for music discovery from broadcast radio.
Broadcast radio is still very important (huge audience) and will continue to be so for a very long-time. These new options don’t stop users from using the Zune players as just a digital music player, Zune just takes it to an new level. If the portable media player market is going to grow then there needs to be more ways new potential users can get into the digital music game.
Many may not realize it, but still as of today the majority of people in the USA do not currently own a digital portable media player and these new Zune features are a way of pulling this huge existing radio listening market into the digital music/portable media player market. The other reason to be positive about the Zune features in 3.0 is that it is always good to have competition in this kind of market.
I just don’t see why many bloggers and major media have to keep slamming Zune, even as it continues to innovate in this evolving space. It is still very early days for digital media and portable consumption of that media. Zune does not have to follow Apple to succeed, as I believe that Zune is quickly moving into the leadership position around innovation in social networking digital media discovery, wireless sharing, sync and radio to digital e-commerce.
Rob Greenlee
It is true that the podcast audience is growing slower than most expected, but it is still growing at a regular yearly clip. Mark Ramsey of the Hear 2.0 blog states that podcast audience is being held back by a variety of things that include the difficulty of finding podcasts that you would find valuable and worthy of your time and effort. I do agree, that it is tough to find podcast content that is valuable. I deal with that issue everyday in my work on the Zune Podcast content offering. I often have mixed feelings about building large catalog of podcast feeds as opposed to building a smaller catalog of the very best podcasts. I am leaning towards building a very large catalog that just has great discovery processes that include human editorial. I can really help people get to the very best content that will keep them interested in continuing to download and consume the content.
My strategy has been to included everything that has a fully functional podcast feed and content offering. The other part of my strategy is to only feature the best podcasts in my front page promotional spots. This has resulted in those podcasts doing very well on Zune. The issue is that my taste in podcast content will not always match with everyone looking through my limited selection of features every week. I try to feature a nice cross-section of great podcast content and it is driving a lot of video podcast subscriptions on the Zune platform. Zune users really love podcasts as it is FREE content and is driving large numbers of daily wired and wireless connections to the Zune Marketplace software client that holds my podcast catalog of about 6,000 podcast feeds.
I also agree that most iPod or Zune device users just don't sync up as often as we need for this industry to grow faster. I do feel strongly that the download sync process needs to get easier and more convienient. I learned this in my 2 years working on Melodeo's Mobilcast podcast to mobile phones position. This taught me that these podcast subscriptions need to live up on the internet and download sync can then happen directly to portable devices in cars, buses, trains and on airplanes. When audio and video podcasts can be gotten easily on a mobile phone or other portable device anywhere then this platform gets legs fast. What is interesting is that this could enable getting any kind of media content on the go via RSS enclosures.
The last point is that because of this lack of regular download sync is that many of the hourly and daily podcasts are just not being consumed very much on iPods and Zunes, but will see more consumption on mobile connected media player phones.
Podcasting will grow to over 60+ million users by 2012 and will have a strong advertising business driving it by then at almost a half a billion dollars.
Rob Greenlee
Here is a little known COOL new feature to the Zune Podcast support in the recent 2.5 firmware update. This feature is REVOLUTIONARY and I am surprised that it has not been blogged about before now, but you can now send video podcast episodes to other Zune devices using its built-in WiFi radio. This means that if you have found a cool episode from the Best of YouTube podcast that you can send it to a fellow Zune user and then that user can watch that episode on their device and subscribe to it all in the Zune device software. While the video podcast episode is playing - just click and hold the middle of the Zune touch pad until the subscribe screen pops up. Then click on "subscribe" and when you next sync your Zune it will add a new subscription to your "Collection" area. I think that is way cool and nothing you can do in an iPod.
Rob Greenlee
What is "Personalized Radio or Video" you might be asking right now. Well, it is very simple and it is the concept of a prioritized or smart software agent created playlists. It is still too hard to manage and discover audio and video content that "You" are or will be most interested in. If we look at the success of TV and Radio it has been based on fairly limited choice and mostly high quality content choices. This limited selection has had the economics behind it to justify spending large amounts of money to market it as well.
Today, the reality is we have have almost unlimited choice of audio and video content from millions of sources. Everyone is becoming a "caster" of some form, whether it is audio bloggers to major media cable channels to you newspaper. Everyone and I mean everyone is starting to create audio and video content these days... just visit YouTube.com to see what I mean. This is starting to become a significant change for the larger and minor media companies as well and they are shifting fast to adapt, but many it will be too late. I think smaller broadcast radio stations will be hit first. I think the days of buying an hour of broadcast radio time for a lifestyle type radio show and reaching an audience is about over. Even taking that show to the Internet now is difficult. We are seeing so much noise online now and all our time to consume media content is getting spread too thin.
To the rescue is Personalized media and how that might work is to tell a software agent hooked up to your TV, on a website or your computer that will be an automated filter on content and make recommendations and suggestions (not search) to you on what you will most likely "Like" based on your past usage patterns. Sure this has some privacy issues, but it maybe the only realistic way we will be able to deal with the flood of media options we have today and in the future. We need our software to be smarter and make choices for us to save us time as I don't have time to sample millions of media choices.
I have been working late tonight at Zune working on getting the new spring update to Zune users. The update included the release of NBC and MTV TV show content in the Zune Marketplace. I am a little loopy now as it has been many late nights here over the past month getting ready for this release. I have been doing the content programming of these new TV shows and podcasts.
I have also been working with NBC and MTV to get the marketing pieces and content offerings together for this launch. I think this is a big step for the Zune as it moves us into competing with iTunes directly with top quality video content.
A couple of highlights for the new release:
- Zune Cards now go to the device: listen to your friends music recommendations on-the-go.
- The social is now in the client.
- Mini-feeds keeping you up-to-date on all your friends music at Zune.net.
- Enhanced friends search.
- Reputation badges for passionate promoters of entertainment they love.
- New metadata editing tools
- Gapless playback (great for live concerts!!)
- The inclusion of NBC in our launch video partner list: get The Office, Heroes and 30 Rock here!
- An incredible line up of shows from MTV, Comedy Central, Adult Swim and Vh1
- Over 800 shows at launch in the Zune Video Store
- Integration with Windows Live Messenger
Read a Wall Street Journal article - Zune Eases Sharing To Close iPod Gap
Read Seattle PI by Todd Bishop - Microsoft adds NBC, other TV shows to Zune
Read Google News breakdown on this announcement
Slashdot has a post drawing the conclusion that podcasting is now on the "Net Sidelines". I must say that from everything I am seeing here on the Zune team; working on podcast content and its distribution; it is alive and doing very well.
Sure podcasting may have declined in the hype of it and the techno-elite have moved on to Twittering areas now, but podcasts or downloadable portable media is still growing and doing very well. I do believe though that the technology of podcasting will eventually disappear from user view as better user interfaces make it easier to find and connect with this media on many always connected data platforms.
I am also hoping that this xml based revolution will transform and bring efficiency to the music, television and film industries around digital download distribution.
I have been seeing an interesting trend with video podcasting networks considering making their video episodes available to regular video download-to-own distribution sites that don't use RSS as the basis for the distribution to these sites. I am not going to be specific, but it is an interesting trend away from RSS distribution of these shows. This makes me wonder if RSS is just not going to cut it in the long-run for digital media distribution. I am seeing so much confusion and lack industry wide consistancy of RSS implementation, thus causing all sorts of ingestion issues. Everyone has its own RSS tags that create duplicate entries and proprietary tag needs in feeds.
Is this the first sign that podcasting is starting to dissappear into just "Video" and "Audio" again?
I just got back from spending all last week in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show. I worked the show floor in the Microsoft Zune area of the larger Microsoft booth in the South Central Hall. I talked to hundreds of people who passed throught the Zune area. The show was great for the Zune, as many people really liked the design of the new device players and Zune Marketplace software.
I also talked to many content companies and podcasters at CES. They all are really excited about having an alternative podcast distribution platform.
See below as I have uploaded lots of photos and videos from my trip to CES in Las Vegas.
I would like to clarify my statements from my last post in this blog about why I think the closing of Yahoo's podcast directory is a sign of a maturing podcasting industry.
I do believe that it is an industry segment that is growing in importance as more major and indie content companies join with content RSS feeds. We are seeing the formation of industry associations (ADM) and a recent round of podcast related company closures and sales. These are clear signs that an industry is maturing and consolidating. The industry is moving beyond the initial burst of enthusiasm around podcasting. Podcasting is is still the fastest growing new medium that needs to evolve into a legitimate media delivery platform. I believe that like digital media streaming that also started with huge enthusiasm back in the late 90's, the podcasting industry hype dust is settling and I believe we are seeing this now. The weaker players always get weeded out during the beginning of the maturity phase. The truth is that Yahoo did a poor job with their directory and failed to keep improving and adapting to the needs of podcast listeners. I am glad that Yahoo decided to shut it down as it was not helping listeners or podcasters. The one bad part about Yahoo closing is the perception that podcasting as a concept is in decline, which is just not the case.
I do also believe that podcast discovery and simple one-click subscription processes is the biggest problem and opportunity for the podcast industry, iTunes has been a great start but it can be done so much better with personalization technology. I am very excited to be working with the growth of RSS based digital media syndication, as I think it will be the base for all of our personal media playlist so in all of our media players in the future.
I am not surprised Yahoo has decided to close down its podcast directory site on Oct 31,2007. It jumped on a hot trend and did not have a long-term vision. Yahoo just has to many businesses to focus on and this one just did not work for them.
I just think that any podcast directory needs to be directly linked up with an easy to subscribe process and use a portable media player or mobile smart phone player to be successful. Listeners and directories need to have a one-click to subscribe and listen process. This explains the success of iTunes + iPod solution. Any other successful platform needs to have the same equation and Yahoo just did not have this connection to a portable or mobile phone player. I do think that topic segmented web-based podcast directories can be successful, but will need to eventually be merged with a simple one-button to subscribe and listen platform for them to have long-term success. I think we will see a few more directories close down or merge with other companies.
For podcasting to reach mass adoption they need to be easily subscribed to, downloaded or streamed to a internet connected media player (iPod, Zune, iRiver), car media player, TV set-top box, gaming console and mobile phone. I saw with Mobilcast that given the option - people choose 90% of the time to on-demand stream podcasts from an internet server to mobile wireless connected phone player devices. We already see streaming on TIVO with audio podcasts and most video (TIVOCasts) podcasts downloaded, but audio will most often be streamed to player devices.
I think it is very interesting that podcasting is going towards live radio at new sites like BlogTalkRadio.com. I watched a Scoble show episode with Alan Levy, CEO of BlogTalkRadio.com recently and it was like this concept was totally new online.
While I like to see this coming to life again, it is just not new and is a new as old idea. I think that seeing people getting all excited about this development is funny as it is only new to people who are new to the online radio space and don't have an understanding of the history of online radio.
The thing that is new about BlogTalkRadio.com is that it is free to have a show on the network. The earlier companies charged a fee to host a show on the network. I am sure that BlogTalkRadio.com will put these earlier companies out of business with a no fee business model.
Just visit WorldTalkRadio.com that I consulted with 4 years ago and you will see what I mean. You can also see WSRadio.com.
Please folks don't get caught by these catchy headlines of these blog posts "Internet Radio is Dead" and "Podcasting is Dead". See a portion of the Internet Radio is Dead post below:
Podcasting is dead. Even interactive podcasting with callers. Case closed. End of discussion. For that matter, compared to video, blogging is dead.
I know some podcasters get good numbers. I think I know why that is. It has nothing to do with talent. People listen for one of two reasons. Either the podcasts are so old they started back when attracting an audience was easy, OR the people making the podcasts are already established bloggers or celebrities, so they can drive traffic to their recordings.
One of the very biggest podcasts belongs to a prominent conservative blogger, whom I will not mention, because he seems like a decent guy. It's like listening to paint dry. All he does is read aloud. The copy is bad. The stories are boring. The delivery is wooden. He has no personality. But he gets an audience, because he's already well-known. I think this is a great example of the second type of podcast I mentioned above.
I would guess that with RSS included, maybe 2000 people read my blog. I can therefore send maybe a hundred people to hear a podcast, tops. If I had 50,000 people, I could send maybe 2-3000. That seems to be how it works.
Let's get real here as hype, knee jerk and unrealistic reactions like this is what got us all to this point to begin with. Portable downloadable media and blogging usage was always going to be marginal for many years, as it takes time to grow a new medium. It was never going to replace existing radio and TV like many thought it would in the early days of the podcasting boom. I do believe that RSS based syndication and distribution of digital media will continue to grow as more and more people will prefer to get content sent to them that they have subscribed to receive, store and playback on the listener and viewers timetable. The concept is already here for many already with TIVO, DVR's and iTunes. It is all about getting content the audience wants for consuming at a later time is what this is all about. Audio podcasting will grow as it is enabled to all of our cars and on our mobile devices.
Podcasting and Blogging are not Dead, but is still in a very early stage of development. I believe that those involved in these new content distribution and consumption methods are blazing the trail for a dramatic shift that is coming to all of us. The day is coming that we will be in total control of our media and content creators will be all of us and a few of us. We will all or mostly all of us will join in on the revolution of digital media and those that engage will help succeed in this new world and those that don't will slowly loose opportunities. I do believe that you need to be smart about what you do with the time you have on this earth, but expressing your personality, creativity and smarts online will always payoff if one is credible about it. Please step back and take a deep breath and don't fall for the hype or unhype about portable downloadable on-demand media. It is real and YouTube actually confirms it for us all and is not an example that podcasting is dead.
I am very pleased to hear that Nokia has decided to offer US 3G (HSDPA) support in a coming new version of the Nokia N95 in September. This is big news for those of us that have ATT's unlimited internet MediaMax data plans here in the USA on our mobile phones. MediaMax costs $19.99 per month and the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is $349. It is a perfect mobility solution. 
Now it is finally a real value to get mobile unlimited internet access and get 3G speed for $19.99 per month until ATT closes the loop hole down.
Mobilcast user logs are proving to us that downloading and storage are no longer barriers to getting content on the phone with Mobilcasting. Somehow as part of this mobile podcast listening discussion we need to focus less on downloading and storage as that is an iPod and mp3 player process and is not an always connected mobile phone experience for most mobile podcast listeners today.
Now with the introduction of the iPhone, Apple or iTunes based mobile audio and video content consumption via podcasting will begin to transfer to the iPhone -"iPhonecasting" has begun. Users will not want to wait for the content to download to the iPhones flash memory. They will want to get the content on-demand via a stream as users will get frustrated with the wait.
We should even consider dropping the use of the term “Podcast” to describe it unless you are only talking about a type of content only. We should call it “Mobilecasting” or “Mobilcasting” and I hope we do not start calling it iPhonecasting. The Mobilcast java client application has been around for over a year and a half now and we have significant usage data on the question of streaming content vs. downloading content on the mobile phone. We have offered both and streaming is winning at over 95%.
The huge benefit to getting audio and soon video from RSS with media enclosure feeds on the phone is that you can always get the latest and most up to date content available in those feeds. So all of those hourly feeds become “Personalized Radio” with potential content sources from all over the world. You are basically creating your own personalized radio station on your phone with almost real time updated content. You only get what you want when you want it. I use the application everyday of the week and my consumption of audio has exploded compared to mp3 based listening like the iPod.
Apple has too many podcasters and listeners in a form of mind control with this iPod and iTunes platform. It is not the future of podcasting, because the future of podcasting is “Mobilecasting”. Give it a try and you will see what I mean.
Updated June 29th at 6pm PST: I just got back from the iPhone release at the Apple store in Seattle at the University Village Mall. I took photos of the 600-800 people who were waiting in line to get in at 6pm. I also got in line and within 1 hour and 10 minutes (7:10pm) was able to get into the Apple store. It was very crowded and I think they had more sales people in the store then customers at any given time. I was asked 10 times while standing in the store if I needed help. See bottom of this post to see my purchase of an iPhone.
I did PURCHASE one of the iPhones. I got the 8GB version of the iPhone for $652 dollars with sales tax. Wow -that is one expensive phone.
One of the guys here reported that, "There was a line of 19 people queued up out the door waiting to buy an iPhone and one very confused looking guy waiting to buy an LG Sync (he was from Ballard). The demographics appeared to be late 20’s to early 30’s and nearly all male. The AT&T rep in the store stated that there would be 24 in-store sales reps in the store tonight when the iPhone goes on sale at 6pm. On a typical Friday evening 8 or fewer reps would be working the store. We also found out that the iPhones sold in the AT&T store would NOT be activated in the store, but instead on-line from the iTunes site."Guy Kewney of the NewsWireless.net blog is reporting that a 3G version of the iPhone is launching on Monday in Europe with Vodafone, T-Mobile of Germany, and Carphone Warehouse.
From his blog post;
"Hints of the European launch emerged yesterday when Bill Condie of the London Evening Standard tipped Vodafone to be the official carrier, which will be confirmed Monday. But Voda is just part of the picture, with Apple going for a three-pronged European strategy with carriers - again, responding to disappointment in America with the exclusive deal with AT&T/Cingular."
This is all very interesting if it is correct, because it would mean that Europe is getting a more capable iPhone in Europe before the USA gets it.
This other piece of his post has me wondering if this is really correct;
"Shipment date is still unknown, but "on course" for the year-end date predicted last October by Apple CEO Steve Jobs."
I am speculating that since the deal with Europe was done later then the deal with AT&T that it gave Apple more time to pull a better phone and carrier deal together. This European deal addresses the core two complaints about the US iPhone release. Slow data network and only one carrier/operator release.
The post also describes a possible French Telecom deal that could be in the works;
"Writer Condie quoted sources inside Credit Suisse which suggested that France Telecom was in line for a franchise. That is unlikely to be fulfilled, possibly because of Orange's insistence on "strong branding" on any handset it carries. Orange has irritated several phone makers by insisting on disabling technical and user-oriented features which didn't sit with Orange."
This news has not seem to have broken much in the USA, but it is an interesting twist to the iPhone rollout story. Keep in mind that any 3G device deployment in Europe will not work with USA 3G as it is on different radio frequencies. So you cannot buy in Europe and get 3G here with the phone, you would be back on EDGE again.
I have had a few readers of this blog comment that "A Mobilcaster should podcast or Mobilcast some content". Well, I do agree that it would make sense for me to do that and I still might do it.
I created a Mobilcaster RSS feed URL: http://www.mytalkradio.com/melodeo/rss/rss.xml and intended to do it on a regular basis. I even have my own studio in my office here at Melodeo that is right behind me and I still don't do it.
I also have a home studio with over $10K in audio equipment that has been the home studio base for two popular podcasts called WebTalk Radio and the Boston Legal TV Show podcast. All of my past podcasting has been with my wonderful wife Dana and we have been a team. We even got to do podcasts for CBS TV Network back in 2005.
I admit to becoming a podfader and letting down many listeners who have followed my radio shows since 1999.
I suppose that what I am about to write is a list of excuses, but these are realities that I have faced in keeping any podcasts alive. I have be very lucky for many years to have jobs that allowed me the time and energy to produce a broadcast syndicated radio show. I have also had large stretches of time when I was doing consulting work and focusing on the radio show. These stretches of consulting time have been the times when I had the time to devote to building the show and its distribution. Since starting to work at Melodeo, I have had less time and energy to battle with producing content for a variety of work, family and personal reasons that I will not bore you with.
Producing quality radio show content is very hard work and I just don't want to go down the path if I cannot produce a top quality program. I have had a very popular and financially rewarding radio show for many years and I know what it takes to do it right. I also admit to now having a clear vision on what content would actually work now. Podcasting has changed the Internet radio market beyond recognition and it is now dominated by major media companies that have the talent, resources, audio quality, marketing horsepower and time to make content that builds an audience. When I started back in 1999 it was wide open and opportunity was everywhere, but now it is so crowded and there is so much top quality content being produced that it would be very hard to rise above the noise of the Internet these days.
My position here at Melodeo Mobilcast and now nuTsie is very demanding on my time and energy. I also have a 3 hour daily commute to Seattle the eats away at my content production time and I am remodeling my house. I am building mobile phone podcast catalogs for mobile carrier/operators all over the world. I am responsible for localized language podcast catalogs in many countries around the world right now. This Mobilcast listening on mobile phones is growing and coming into a time when the phones and the wireless networks will make it possible for mobile phones to be a great way to get to podcast-like content. The iPod is old technology as seen by the excitement around the new iPhone.
You may see me run back up to the content fence again soon as I do have a new WebTalk Radio site almost completed. I don't see myself doing a Mobilcaster podcast on a regular basis, but could do a few episodes now and then. I do seem to be getting more and more pulled towards video. Look out as I have a face for radio.
Rob Greenlee
While I think it is great that Apple is coming out big with iPhone 1.0 this coming Friday, June 29th. It is very likely that the iPhone 2.0 will be out in 2008 and it could be much better.
I was reading a New York Post article by Seattle resident Glenn Fleishman who is also saying to not get "Hung Up on buying an iPhone" he says, "Oh, it's a technological marvel. But Apple's all-in-one handheld isn't the best cellphone - or even the best iPhone - that will be sold in the next year.
I hate to be the one to always fly against the wind of popular culture and this iPhone is a social and culture phenomena. It has been talked about and publicized so much that anything less then selling millions of iPhones will be considered a failure for Apple. The iPhone hype has set expectations very high and I just don't see how it could ever match expectations. I do think that it will sell well and that the reason for the sales will be the expectations being set so high. 
Many bloggers and print journalists have said that if you compare the iPhone smartphone to a phone like a Nokia N95 that the iPhone fails the comparison on many key aspects. The N95 has also had very high expectations and mostly it has delivered on the advanced technology promises.
This is a very interesting time as mobile devices seem to be on the edge of a big break through in capability and technology convergence of portable digital and high speed wireless Internet access.
Here is a feature and function comparison between the iPhone and the N95 super smartphone:
It appears that writing this post has convinced me that the only real thing to wait for with the iPhone is 3G support and a second generation device that has all the firmware bugs worked out. the Nokia devices also have this issue. Go wait in line this coming Friday if you must, but realise that a better iPhone is coming.
I was thinking today as I was reading through some of the answers to my open ended questions in our recent Mobile Podcasting User Survey that many core features that have been built into the Mobilcast technology is not well understood by current and future users.
Here is the Top 5 list:
1) You can link your mobilcast.com podcast playlist account to Mobilcast on your phone! After you get a simple code from Mobilcast.com and link Mobilcast phone application with your account, you will share your favorite podcasts in My Favorites between Mobilcast.com and Mobilcast phone application. Simply put, you can have the same playlist of your favorite podcasts on the web and the phone using Mobilcast.
2) Quick access to over 9,000 audio content feeds via search on the Mobilcast.com website and in Mobilcast on the phone. We have all the top and most popular content sources like ABC, NPR, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, PBS, PodShow, HBO, ESPN, Fox News and thousands of others.
3) No downloading unless you want to download.
4) The latest episodes from your favorite content provider is always available via a stream within minutes of publishing. On-phone directory that is human edited to list only the best content available.
5) Our beta v5 HiFi is available for free at http://www.mobilcast.com/mobile_center
This new "nuTsie" video is a parody on the famous Apple commercials with the PC and Mac guys. This second episode of this series is even more nuTsie then the last, but in a different way. The guys will love it... for some reason?
This new nuTsie video should be very popular. You will see for yourself.
Give it a watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE1cpegGquY
Post Update 6/14/2007:
The above video about nuTsie has had over 220,000 views and is one of the top videos on YouTube.
The Diffusion Group has just released a new research study on podcasting dated June 7th, 2007.
The results from this study show some alarming realities around the podcast name as a brand. Brands are supposed to clearly define what a product or service it and what it means in fact and socially to users, customers and business partners. This study is saying, the term "Podcast and Podcasting" as a brand has failed to clearly deliver the goods for all parties involved in it.
Here are some positive aspects of the study;
TDG reports 11% of adult broadband users (some 12 million US consumers) listen to podcasts at least once per month. TDG's latest report on new media usage, Podcast Usage Profiles and Demand Forecasts thru 2012, predicts that by 2012 this number will grow to 24% of broadband users (38.5 million Americans).
Among those that listen to podcasts at least once per month, 68% use a portable device while 49% listen to them on a PC (an interesting insight given that many define podcasting as only a portable medium);
On average, users listen to 5.4 podcasts per month on a portable device and 4.7 on a PC;
On average, those who subscribe to podcast services are signed up for 4.1 different feeds; and 70% of users rely on iTunes to access podcasts.
Straight from the report, here are some of the TDG's harshest truths about podcasting;
While the audience for podcasting continues to expand, TDG identifies two specific factors that are keeping a lid on usage:
(1) Podcasting continues to be perceived as too complex for average consumers to use.
(2) Users remain unaware of the quantity and quality of content available for podcast consumption.
The report continues; "Despite the fact that the Oxford University Press selected 'podcast' as Word of Year in 2005, most consumers have a very poor understanding of the medium or the variety of content available for consumption by podcast," said Dale Gilliam III, director of primary research and author of the report. This lack of understanding, notes Gilliam, is due primarily to the multiplicity of ways in which pundits and marketers have used the term.
Why is the definition of "podcasting" so important? Gilliam continues: "At the end of the day, the way consumers come to understand a new medium such as podcasting will strongly determine the types of experiences and value they attribute to the concept. When those in the business of articulating and promoting this new medium use language inconsistently, the power of the concept to attract and engage users is diluted."
I completely agree with this observation about why podcasting adoption has weakened over the past year. The truth is that the early adopters of podcasting have kinda moved on to the next bright trendy light. To many techno-elites audio podcasting is so 3 years ago. Now the only real hot area of podcasting is video. This area has grown quite well on the iTunes and iPod platform, but has fallen flat on any other portable player platform. The only other place this video podcast content has become successful is on YouTube and Revver, it is it a video podcast whe it is watched on You Tube?
The other area is the use of the term "podcast" and that it means something different to everyone involved at all levels from consumption, distribution and production. The word "podcast" has no one meaning to everyone. This is the core reason the the brand and word "Podcast" has no meaning anymore, because it means too much.
What is a Podcast? Can you define it to mean something everyone can agree on? No, that is the core of the problem. Listeners and watchers of podcasts think for "Podcasts" as only "content". Does it mean a show or and episode?
The word "Podcast" to creator or producer of the content means a type of distribution platform that refers to RSS feeds with enclosures tags linked to downloadable media files.
To distribution platforms the word "Podcast" means a competitive distribution platform with iTunes and the iPod. Plus to add to more confusion the majority of people who have heard of "Podcasts" think of it exclusively as a way to get content on an iPod only. Sorry to say that at this point "Podcast" the term is dead as everyone is so confused.
Early podcasters talked about this potential as it was lifting off. Now we are seeing mobile phones being used to listen to podcasts and it is even more confusing to potential users. I think the answer to this problem will take time and education by marketers who can clearly define in an understandable way all the potential ways consumers can get content. It could be on a mobile phone or a portable mp3 player. It is looking like the mobile phone is the next portable multimedia consuming platform and we just need to figure out a way to clearly communicate what that method is that takes us beyond the term "Podcast".
Michael Gartenberg from Jupiterresearch has posted a comment in his blog about "nuTsie";
Michael says, This will be something to watch. Will Apple allow this to go on? What are the legal issues of streaming content like this? But for now, it's simple, elegant and free. The phone is clearly evolving into a media and entertainment device, that like camera phones are finding their contextual niche. This is a perfect app to help make that happen faster.
I totally agree with Michael that the phone is becoming that true convergence device that everyone thought it could become. The iPhone, Nokia N-series devices, Treo smartphones and many Windows Mobile device are clearly examples of that growing trend. I am seeing more people moving over to these type of devices. These devices need content to help people see the greater value and nuTsie is clearly delivering the content that people want.
Seattle Times has posted a great story about the nuTsie announcement. This will actually help Apple extend the iTunes platform.
Everyone wins with the nuTsie service - iTunes users, mobile phone users, music artists and labels. Well, I guess Melodeo benefits as well if everyone else does.
We also hope to extend the platform beyond iTunes and also into more smartphone beyond just Nokia phones.
Stay tuned to more, but the service is live and real today. Check it out at nuTsie.com
Read the Seattle Times Post - digg it
PodcastingNews.com has posted a great article about Melodeo's nuTsie service, a new mobile music service that lets you get your entire iTunes library on your mobile phone. read more digg story
Here is another great post and analysis about the nuTsie service by Kurt Hanson from the RAIN Newsletter. It is a great read. We are taking his thoughts seriously as he has some great points on how we can improve this nuTsie beta service.
This is one of the better articles on Melodeo's new "nuTsie" music service. It talks about its potential to drive revenue to artists and labels from illegally downloaded music. This sounds like a win win for everyone. Go sign-up for the service on the web and mobile (http://nutsie.com) if you have a supported phone. Windows Mobile support coming as well.
read more digg story
Melodeo is proud announce a new mobile and web service called nuTsie beta, this currently FREE mobile music service allows consumers to get their entire iTunes library on their mobile phone and via login on the nuTsie.com website. The nuTsie free public beta (available immediately at http://www.nutsie.com), allows anyone to easily shuffle through all of their iTunes music and playlists in hi-fi quality on their mobile phone or on the Web.
Here is a fun video Melodeo has produced that simply expains "nuTsie".
You may have read here that I have been conducting a mobile podcasting user survey over the past few weeks. Well, I have some results to share that show some interesting aspects of mobile phone consumption of podcasts. I have had about 100 people fillout the online survey.
If you have used mobilcast and would like to contribute to this study, you can still do it via this link.
Do you listen to podcasts on other portable devices besides Mobilcast?
Yes, on iPod -------------- 38.1%
Yes, on other mp3 player - 22.6%
No ----------------------- 39.3%
The above is telling me that 39% percent users of mobile podcast listening is being done by people who are not listening to podcasts on an iPod or mp3 player or these listeners have stopped listening to podcasts on an iPod or mp3 player to only listen via Mobilcast.
I also asked when and where do Mobile Podcast (Mobilcast) users listen to podcasts?
In the car --------------------------------------- 29.3%
On the bus or train ---------------------------- 28.1%
At work ------------------------------------------ 25.6%
In the office -------------------------------------- 19.5%
At home ---------------------------------------- 34.2%
When I have a few minutes at various locations - 43.9%
The leading "various locations" answer (43.9%) is what we here call "Tweentime", that is times the user listens while waiting in line, at the doctors office or waiting to get on a bus. The other significate use is while excercising. The other major use area is "at home" (34.2%), "in the car" (29.3%), "bus or train" (28.1%) while communting to work.
The survey is also showing the majority age of mobile podcast listeners are between the ages of 30-50 years old. The largest percentage is between 30-40 years old (43.4%), 40-50 years old (24.1%). The 20-30 year olds use is at (14.5%).
I am not sure how this use pattern mirror the iPod or mp3 players, but this is the use pattern that we are seeing with this study. Thanks to all those who spent the time to contribute to this study.
I have been involved in on-demand portable downloadable digital media since 2000 when I first posted mp3 file downloads of my WebTalkGuys Radio show. The term podcasting has seen huge media attention that drove new content and listener growth in the first two years (since 2004). This massive amount of media attention inspired many new content creators, because they saw an opportunity for fame and fortune that was mainly fanned by MTV TVj Adam Curry (PodShow and Daily Source Code).
You must give Adam credit for driving the massive amount of attention to Podcasting, but was the hype overblown? I think looking back now it was very overblown and the expectations that Podcasting would kill radio now seem totally absured. Yes, when was the last time Adam Curry and podcasting was mentioned in the media? It is safe to say that the media and general podcasters burned out on Adam Curry and his podcasting hype. He even recently lost his Sirius deal to broadcast podcasts. He is seen now as a negative influence on the world of podcasting for many reasons related to his efforts to commercialize podcasting and to take credit at the expense of others on the Podcasting page at the Wikipedia.
I still have faith that on-demand portable downloadable and streamed digital media will continue to grow and develop, but it will happen at a DRM free level.
The news around Podcasting the past few months have been less then positive and have shown a real falling to earth. We have seen many commercial entities around podcasting fall to earth under the weight of open and non-commercial influences. In the news today of Audible's Wordcast (commercial DRM'd podcasting service is being shutdown and last weeks news of ODEO being sold, Loomia changing it's business model away from podcasting are signs of an industry in a less inflated market and one that is getting more real by the minute.
If you want to go back in time and read some of the discussion around commercial podcasting then start here with a post made by my WebTalk Radio co-host Mitch Ratcliffe, that fueled this later discussion. If you scroll down the page to the comments, you will see a few thoughts of mine back then.
Sure the hype is down and it is not as exciting to be involved in podcasting, but that is ok with me because I am here for the long-haul and I have seen this since it started. I still think that on-demand portable downloadable and streaming digital media is the future of all of our media consumption.
The term Podcast and iPod is an evolutionary step in the process to huge global adoption of consumption via mobile devices of all kinds.
I have posted a few new Mobilcast video demos over at YouTube.com. I hope you find them helpful in the understanding of how Mobilcast works on a Nokia N73 phone and gives you a view into how I use Mobilcast on a daily basis.
In-Car Mobile Podcast Listening with Mobilcast & Nokia N73
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WLpXjcoZWe8
I also created a video about my 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid that does also show Mobilcast, but it mainly is about how quiet the Camry is in electric mode. It is very cool and is quite the experience. I am finding that the older you get the more I value silence and the Camry delivers on that while driving and and at every stoplight.
Review: 2007 Camry Hybrid Driving in Silence
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pcHolwiIyoc
If you have used or currently use Mobilcast then please take the 5 minute and 10 question survey we now have online -- Click one of the links to take the survey now: http://tinyurl.com/2y6g3x or http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=702663852744
Rob Greenlee
The great slim looking Nokia N75 has just been released into the wild on ATT (Cingular) network and is the first high-end, UMTS 3G, Symbian S60 3rd Edition smartphone to launch on ATT's (Cingular) network. The news on the street says that these very cool looking N75 phones are selling like hotcakes. It looks like Nokia may have a hit here in the USA market with a series 60 smartphone.
The phone also features a 2 megapixel camera and music player. It has a full Web browser, Bluetooth support and memory card slot. The N75 has dual speakers for stereo music playback and with its DRM software it is compatible with a number of online music services, such as Yahoo Music. Best of all the N75 supports Mobilcast, as we have been testing on it for months now.
For ATT and Nokia to get together and offer this thin flip phone in the U.S. represents a major step forward in the two working to bring more feature-packed phones to US consumers. It is available today for $200 after rebates.
Nokia N75 - Specs Review Key Features include
- S60 3rd Edition - Triband (WCDMA 850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
- Dimensions - 95mm x 52mm x 20.2mm - Weight: 123.5g
The N75 is somewhat smaller and lighter than the N70 (95,9mm x 53mm x 21.8mm, 126g). And compared to RAZR (98 x 53 x 14 mm). Anyway, remember that the N75 is a smartphone with a lot of features that makes it thicker.
- Main screen is 2.4 inch (240 x 320 pixels) with up to 16 million colors
- Cover screen is 1.36 inches (160 x 128) with up to 262k colors
- 40 MB of internal memory with hotswap microSD support
- Bluetooth profile 2.0
- Infared (irDA)
- Video Capture up to 15 frames per second
- Digital Music Player supporting MP3, M4A, AAC, eAAC+, WMA with playlists
- FM Radio
- Dedicated Music Keys in the cover UI (user interface)
- Stereo Speakers with 3D Audio
- E-mail (SMTP, IMAP4, POP3), MMS, SMS, PIM, call management
- Email Attachements Viewing
- MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint, PDF and ZIP
- 2 megapixel (1600 x 1200 pixels) camera, intergrated flash, dedicated capture key, digital zoom
- On-device photo and video editor
Nokia N75 Camera
The camera has 2 megapixels (1600 x 1200 pixels), integrated flash and a dedicated capture key. The zoom is a digital one (not autofocus, which often is better). The phone has a on-device photo and video editor. Resolution of video is 352 x 288, 176 x 144 and it captures video up to 15 frames per second.
Comparison: The N70 has 2 megapixels and the N70 video is also 352 x 288 pixels and with the same 15 frames per second. Is this the same camera? If it´s the same camera quality is good.
Contents in sales package include:
- Nokia Stereo Headset HS-28
- Nokia Audio Adapter AD-41
- Nokia BL-5BT Battery
A few weeks ago we announced the release of Mobilcast 5.1 "Hi-fi Sound Quality" in our free beta release. This week we are making the new Mobilcast 5.1 "Hi-fi" available at AT&T (Cingular) and at 3 UK.
The upgrade is a major one as it dramatically improves the audio volume and quality of the audio experience. Mobilcast now supports AAC+ at 24k. This is a huge improvement over our Mobilcast 4.2 support for AMR at about 12K bit rate.
Existing Mobilcast users on 3 UK will be getting a software update notification when they launch the older 4.2 version to download and upgrade to 5.1.
Existing Mobilcast users on the AT&T (Cingular) network can download the upgrade by clicking on the “Options” function key in the application and request an over the air upgrade. All new user sign-ups and downloads will get the new Mobilcast 5.1.
The new Mobilcast 5.1 Hi-fi service at AT&T is compatible with phones that support AAC+ and includes Motorola Razr V3, Nokia E62, Nokia 6682, LG CU500 and the list will soon include the Samsung BlackJack.
Here is a video demo of Mobilcast 5.1 "Hi-fi":
I am always interested in speaking with current and past Mobilcast software users. You are a great resource for us to better understand how our software matches with your Mobilcast expectations.
I know that when you download and install Mobilcast that you have expectations about how the software will function, available content and the UI that it has.
Please take a look at this online user survey that we have pulled together that will give us some important info about your use of Mobilcast and what you think of it.
The survey is only 10 questions long and should only take about 5 minutes to complete.
This survey will be on-going and will not be taken down, so you can pass this link around to others that you know have given Mobilcast a try or are currently using Mobilcast.
Click here to take the survey
I am always shocked everytime that I see one of these Mobilcast Top 50 Most Popular Podcast lists that more technology topic podcasts are not showing up on these lists. Whenever I see other lists of most popular podcasts it almost always includes quite a few tech podcasts.
I am not totally sure why this is happening and should we be concerned about it or are we seeing a new trend evolve. When podcasting started a few years back, technology podcasts lead the popularity growth.
It has always been a goal of Melodeo to go after more of a mainstream listener base. This mainstream listener base would not be as interested in tech topics and more interested in music and entertainment content.
This trending could also symbolize a miss directed focus on our part. Should we be seeing more geeks using Mobilcast. I have always thought that we should be reaching out more to tech geeks that blog and podcast. I would like to see more of a balance in content interest with our Mobilcast users.
I think we would pickup many more Mobilcast users if we reach out more to technology geek early adopters? Would this drive faster growth with mainstream users as the early adopters discover Mobilcast as a good alternative to the iPod.
I do wonder if our lack of support for the Treo, Blackberry, Windows Mobile devices and BlackJack has contributed to our low tech content interest in our top 50 most popular lists.
What do you think? How important is early adopter geeks to a software product like Mobilcast?
Rob Greenlee
Here is the ranked Top 50 list of the Most Popular Mobile Podcast Streams in the UK for April 2007. You will notice that many of the top podcasts are music, comedy and BBC podcasts.
1 Bubba Bohacks Joke of the day
2 BBC: Best Of Moyles
3 BBC: Scott Mills Daily
4 a2z Radio: Hip Hop
5 BBC: Today
6 a2z Radio: Top Hits
7 CNN News Update
8 The President's Weekly Radio Address (Parody)
9 BBC Radio NewsPod
10 "Back Page News" with Bubba Bohacks
----------------------------------------
11 The Adam & Joe Xfm Podcast
12 Times Online UK Podcasts
13 Daily UK Weather Forecast Meteogroup UK
14 Hip Hop and Kool Aid
15 The Ricky Gervais Show
16 The Onion Radio News
17 KEXP Song of the Day
18 The Premiership Podcast
19 a2z Radio: Rock of Ages
20 IndieFeed: Hip Hop / Rap
21 Formula Pod Show
22 Tim Lovejoy: Virgin Radio
23 Asia Cast World News
24 New York Times Front Page
25 KEXP Live Performances Podcast
26 * InfoWorld Daily Podcast *
27 Mark Kermode's film reviews
28 Eighties - AccuRadio
29 Football Weekly on Guardian Unlimited
30 MTV News: Daily Headlines (Audio)
31 Radio 4 Choice
32 BBC: Chris Evans - The Best Bits
33 Irish and Celtic Music Podcast
34 Indiefeed: Hardcore/Punk
35 Wake Up To Money
36 The FADER Music
37 The World: Technology from BBC/PRI/WGBH
38 Sixties - AccuRadio
39 CNET News.com daily tech news podcast
40 World Soccer Daily Podcast
41 European Breaking News Reuters Audio
42 World News Reuters
43 Lonely Planet Travelcasts
44 Top Hits - AccuRadio
45 KEXP Presents Music That Matters
46 Pod-porn.com
47 Science on Guardian Unlimited
48 Day and Webster's Football Rules
49 Film Cafe
50 Newsdesk on Guardian Unlimited
Getting on-demand audio podcasts does not require buying an iPod or other mp3 player.
Millions have a Motorola Razr and it will get you access to your favorite podcasted radio feeds from MSNBC, NPR, CNN, ESPN and New York Times. You can also get Car Talk, TWIT, CNET, KEXP, a2z Radio, Fresh Air and many other Rap/Hip Hop music feeds.
Mobilcast has almost 10,000 of the best on-demand audio feeds in a searchable inventory.
Here are our categories in our Mobilcast v5 Beta:
My Favorites
Search
Music
Comedy
Entertainment
News
NPR
MSNBC
Tech, Biz, Sports
* Refresh
* Link to Web
You might find this a funny and interesting post, but I am putting out my Mobilcast wishlist in the hope that you will join in and agree or disagree with me. Mobilecasting represents a new media RSS-based distribution platform and it is a model that is presently difficult to grow around the iPod+iTunes platform. The iPod has such a hold on peoples understanding and awareness of portable media.
We here at Melodeo are trying to determine more things we need to do and have some more ways to make Mobilcast a faster breakout success in the market worldwide. It is presently tough for many technical and awareness reasons. We are supporting over 100 mass market phones and we have been wondering about whether moving to supporting the newer smartphone devices like the Palm Treo’s, Samsung Blackjack, Danger Sidekick, Blackberry Pearl and other Windows Mobile devices is our ticket to faster adoption of our heavy data using Mobilcast application is the way to faster adoption?
We presently support all of Nokia's N-series phones like the N70, N73, N80 and the coming N95, but those Nokia phones are just not really available in the USA much and the 3G radios in them just don't work with carriers like Cingular/ATT and T-Mobile.
We are seeing the growth of the smartphone devices as significant, but would like to hear from you on whether you would try Mobilcast on your smartphone as I am sure most of you who are reading this have one of the above listed smartphones.
I thought that it was great that VoiceIndigo was able to get Samsung to pre-install their Podcast catching application on many of their mobile phones. I even spoke to John Mayerhofer who is CEO of VoiceIndigo about his new announcement and told him that I though it was great that they got that deal. We are both working hard to build this space and understand it. We both understand the Podcasting with an iPod space, but podcasting to a mobile phone is an entirely different thing. It is tough for potential users to install the application and it can be expensive with wireless operators charging users for every KB of data delivered to the mobile phone.
I would like to find some volunteers online that are willing to try Mobilcast and give a public review about the experience and let us know what they like and dislike about the application. We need your feedback so we can fix any issues that I am sure exist in using the application.
Please send me an email to (rgreenlee at melodeo.com) and let me know how I can help you do the review and will also post some or all of it here and link to your blog or webpage.
Rob Greenlee
Paul Colligan's "Are Podcasters Slowing Down Podcasting’s Growth?" blog post brings up many sore issues with Podcasting.
This needed to be said.
13 Signs That Podcasters Might Be The Podcaster’s Worst Enemy:
If you think I include every Podcast in this list, you didn’t read the list. If you find that you resemble something on this list, … I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I do generally agree with all of the points he makes about Podcasting, but it is a reflection of human emotion and contradiction. We all say and do things that can be seen as contrary to our best interest.You can now see the the Melodeo.com launch presentation that Bill Valenti, Sr. Executive VP and founding CEO and I (Rob Greenlee, Sr. Marketing Manager, Content) gave at the 2006 Gnomedex tech conference in Seattle last June 2006. The site that you see in the video demo has changed a fair amount sense then and has actually even changed domain names from Melodeo.com to Mobilcast.com.
This YouTube video does not cover much on the mobile side as we were launching this new website. But it is an interesting view into our involvement in Gnomedex as this video was just released on April 13, 2007. Thanks to Chris Pirillo for getting this video out and available to be seen.
I have created a new video demo of our newly released Mobilcast v5 HiFi beta (you can get the beta FREE). This mobile podcast listening java client application supports AAC+ audio at 24K streaming and sounds great. We have also updated the catalog to require less screen scrolling and search is right at the top of the catalog. You can search and find podcasts audio programs that you like and add them to your My Favorites list on the phone in Mobilcast.
Embedded below is the New video demo of v5 HiFi beta that I just made of Mobilcast running in a Nokia N73 mobile phone. Watch at YouTube
Here is another video that I made last week that demonstrates the use of Mobilcast in a Nokia N95 mobile phone to listen to podcasts via in-car stereo in a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid car. Watch at YouTube
Rob Greenlee
I was surprised on the final day of CTIA Wireless in Orlando, Florida last week when two former US Presidents showed up 100 feet away from my exhibitor pod in the Nokia booth. George H W Bush "41" and Bill Clinton "42" arrived by secret service escort on golf carts and accepted free Nokia N75 mobile phones as gifts.
You can see me in the background of this below video of the Presidential visit posted to YouTube.
Below you can see some photos of Melodeo Mobilcast Pod in the Nokia Booth at CTIA.
The truth is that Java on mobile is the only economical way of building applications for mobile phones that will work on a large number of different mobile phone devices on the market. It is phone’s like the coming iPhone, Windows Mobile, Palm Treo and some very proprietary phones by Motorola, LG, Samsung and Sony that make up the 20% of the phone market that break the bank for application developers.
I am with Melodeo Mobilcast that is working to port podcasts to mobile phones all over the world and the missing support for java forces us to spend thousands of wasted dollars building device specific versions of our Mobilcast application.
The mobile industry just needs to make Java standard on all phones.
Mobilcast is available to be installed outside of most of the carrier networks with our Mobilcast v5 beta. http://mobilcast.com/mobile_center
The only carrier that will absolutly not run Mobilcast is Verizon here in the USA.
I am sorry to agree with this, but based on podcasting research just released by Edison. Podcasting as it stands today is "broken" and "flat" in the area of listener growth. Edison Media Research reported that while 37% of Americans have "heard of podcasting" but only 13% have heard a podcast and that is only up 2% from the 2006 study.
I believe that it is flat because of the overwhelming dependence the podcasting industry and everyone involved has placed on the iPod.
While this blog is about non-iPod podcasting, this confirms it for me that everyone needs to expand the thinking and potential of user-controlled digital media "podcasting" to include other listening devices besides the iPod. Hey, how about giving a little more attention to the potential of mobile phones and other mobile wireless devices that add to the accessability of portable digital media.
Tom Webster, researcher at Edison blog posted about how the mobile phone could be part of the solution to podcasting flatline and said;
"Certainly, the mobile phone may be to podcasting what cars are to radio--when it comes installed, standard, on every phone you buy, folks will start to "get it". Better yet, when all of our radios are equipped with wifi access and RSS readers, few may even realize that they are listening to time-shifted content instead of live radio. That will not happen overnight, this year or even next. But it will happen.
Consumer-controlled content is clearly the future for both audio and video, and podcasting, by whatever name you choose to call it, is the precursor to that vision of the future. But realizing that vision takes vision--and persistence."
Even broadcaster, podcaster and journalist Frank Barnako of MarketWatch "Internet Daily" podcast says;
"Even the most rabid podcast producer will concede that downloading shows is too complicated for most people. On the other hand, they will argue that while people have heard of the word "podcast," they often don't know that they are listening to one when they click a "play" button on a Web page. As a podcaster, I hope what we have here is a failure to communicate."
I think we most certainly have a failure to communicate that downloaded audio and video content is not centered around the iPod exclusively. The "Podcasting" term craze around the iPod has clouded the listeners view on the content they may want if they can easily understand and get access to the content they may not even know they want. I know you may be thinking that I am just anti-iPod and Apple in all ways, but that is just not true. I want this new digital media medium to succeed as I have been seeing it grow since the late 1999.
I just want to expand the discussion and understanding around downloadable and streaming portable digital media. I know we need a term to build awareness around and it may be too late to not use the term podcast with over 37% awareness. It may take a very long time now to expand the awareness beyond the tight association between portable digital media and the iPod with listeners.
Rob Greenlee
The dream of getting rid of the wires from mobile phone music and podcast listening headphones is still alive, but is going through some technology development growing pains right now. I have been reading blogger posts giving reviews on the current available Bluetooth stereo listening devices and the verdict so far is not good. Stay Tuned as the verdict will only get better.
The MobileBurn blog post said this:
My first experience with a set of A2DP Bluetooth stereo headphones was Motorola's HT820, which was included with the Motorola Q that we received back in May of this year. I was quite pleased with the experience overall, and was very happy about finally being able to lose those wires. But back then there were few devices available with A2DP support, so I had kinda just assumed that all A2DP headphones would work with all A2DP devices, just as pretty much all Bluetooth headsets work with all Bluetooth phones.
With that naive thought in mind, I decided last month that we should do a roundup of A2DP headphone here at MobileBurn. We matched up four pair of stereo headphones with four A2DP devices. The headphones in question were the BlueAnt X5, the Motorola HT820, Nokia's BH-601, and the Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970. Our test phones were the newly released LG Chocolate for Verizon (VX8500), a pre-production MOTOKRZR K1 from Motorola, Motorola's Q Windows Mobile 5.0 smartphone, and the Sony Ericsson W710i Walkman phone.
The results of our testing were quite depressing. No headset worked properly with all of the phones, and no phone worked properly with all of the headsets. Because of the nature of the testing, it is hard for us to determine whether the phone or headset is the cause of any particular problem, though a few issues seem consistent enough across the board that we can level blame.
Here is another article source on Stereo Bluetooth from PocketPCMagazine.com
I still keep the dream alive that stereo bluetooth will be a reliable replacement for all those pesky wires.
I think streaming audio is getting short-changed right now online, as I think streaming delivery is just changing. I have been hearing tech podcasters make quick judgements that streaming is dying a slow death online. I have been delivering audio content online since 1999 and my experience is that streaming can be much more powerful to reach a larger audience then just relying on downloads. I think that people who are heavy followers of tech like Todd host of the Geek News Central podcast show do get a lot downloads, but much of the listening online now is happening in flash players which counts as a download, but is really streaming.
I just think that as the online content moves to other genre areas besides tech, that it will see stronger growth again of stream distribution. The definition of a stream needs to be widened to include Flash players, WinAmp, Windows Media, Real and now Mobilcast with adaptive chunking streaming to mobile phones. I know the problems with streaming is complexity for the content provider and the listener as the listener need a certain player and with flash it is already installed on most computers. I am not saying that Windows Media streaming will come charging back in popularity, but that ease of access to the content via streaming is powerful. What some podcasters are really saying is that listening is shifting to mobile devices like iPods and mp3 players as the reason downloads are growing faster then Windows Media like streaming.
All you need to do is look at sites like YouTube and Google video to see the power of flash based streaming players. Streaming is happening more now with video then with audio, because of the bitrate of the media file that makes it very large to download.
I am seeing first hand with logs from growing mobile phone listening with "Mobilcast", it is streaming that is dominating the delivery platform by over 95%. We are seeing downloading of longer-form programs on the mobile phone, but it is about 5% of the mobile episode consumption. The dominant length of mobile podcasts accessed through Mobilcast is 1-2 minutes in length. I think that episode playback length with get longer as networks, mobile phones bet more media enabled.
We at Mobilcast are wanting to offer all the very best podcasts to our growing mobile listeners. Please submit your video or audio feeds to us for inclusion. http://www.mobilcast.com/ and my blog at http://www.mobilcaster.com
Podcasters should be sure to use all the available methods of delivering your program.
Rob Greenlee
Here is a link to the Mobilcast page in Singapore on the M1 Wireless Carrier website. This carrier offers Mobilcast bundled with Unlimited Data access.
Now back to the music launch announcement, Dave Dederer, Jon Anderson and I have been working to create and have now launched 5 new music feeds in Mobilcast.
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