Downtown Seattle iPhone Line Builds

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.

I know that I said in prior posts that I would not get one, but the temptation was so great. After purchasing it and diving more into the service plan changes that I would need to make and the inability to trade out AT&T sim cards on the phone with my other Nokia phones.

Unfortunately, I am going to need to either sell it or return it. I need to have a phone that will also run Mobilcast and nuTsie without me having to pay for two lines with data plans.

Fri, June 29th at 2pm PST , Many of us here at Melodeo the makers of Mobilcast and nuTsie have been visiting the Pacific Place shopping center AT&T (Cingular) store this afternoon to check on lines and demo displays for the 6pm release of the iPhone. This photo is from the same store this afternoon.

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."

I also stopped by the store and took the above picture. They also have plenty of display space open for the window and it is empty and I also saw other displays up that did not have any iPhones in them. Melodeo is buying one of the iPhones, but I am not sure if anyone else here is getting one. If Robert Scoble and his son still lived in Seattle then he would be waiting first in line here instead. Ryan from Engadget, please add this post to your iPhone multi-city post. To read more posts from the Pacific Place line read this blog. Rob Greenlee

Possible iPhone Launch Monday with 3G in Europe (UK)

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.

AT&T Boosts EDGE Data Speeds To Over 200K

Engadget has broken the news that it appears the AT&T has boosted its EDGE data speed to over 200K for the impending launch of the iPhone. I just ran the same mobile speed test three times on my Nokia N73 and it has shown 222K, 197K and 210K. It is my understanding that EDGE has an upper limit maximum of 473.6 kbit/s for very short transmission distance. This is very realistic that AT&T has done this in light of how badly they have been beatup in the press about its data speed with the iPhone. This is a boon for all those not buying an iPhone. This will really help with podcast and music playback with AT&T users of Mobilcast and nuTsie.

EDGE MEdiaNet Unlimited Data Plans cost $19.99 per month at AT&T. It will also be a great help with my Nokia N800 experience. If you want to test your speed on your mobile phone then type this address into your phone browser: http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed

N800 to support Skype VOIP and IM coming in July

This is an update post to an earlier post I made about the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet device that I use to connect to the Internet through my mobile Nokia N73 phone. It enables me to get on the web anywhere with my $19.99 per month MEdiaNet Unlimited data plan through ATT (formerly Cingular).

It has leaked all over the web that Skype for the N800 will be coming in July of '07. That is in only a week or so from now. That is great news and will really make the N800 extremely useful as a VOIP and IM device. Very Cool. (photo and source from jkontherun)

Mobilcaster that doesn't Podcast, an interesting question

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

Walt Mossberg Posts iPhone Video Review

Walter S. Mossberg the famed tech reviewer from the Wall Street Journal has finally posted his review of the Apple iPhone. He has had the phone for two weeks and is now talking about his experience. Check it out here. He likes it very much, but does not like that it does not support 3G and that other carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile and others will not be offering it.

Here is part of his review;

Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.
The Apple phone combines intelligent voice calling, and a full-blown iPod, with a beautiful new interface for music and video playback. It offers the best Web browser we have seen on a smart phone, and robust email software. And it synchronizes easily and well with both Windows and Macintosh computers using Apple’s iTunes software.

It has the largest and highest-resolution screen of any smart phone we’ve seen, and the most internal memory by far. Yet it is one of the thinnest smart phones available and offers impressive battery life, better than its key competitors claim.

It feels solid and comfortable in the hand and the way it displays photos, videos and Web pages on its gorgeous screen makes other smart phones look primitive.

The iPhone’s most controversial feature, the omission of a physical keyboard in favor of a virtual keyboard on the screen, turned out in our tests to be a nonissue, despite our deep initial skepticism. After five days of use, Walt — who did most of the testing for this review — was able to type on it as quickly and accurately as he could on the Palm Treo he has used for years. This was partly because of smart software that corrects typing errors on the fly.

The above review is an early sign that this iPhone may generally meet expectations which is a good thing for the whole mobile media industry as it will raise the bar for OEM device makers to make smart phone mobiles that are compelling for consumers. This may also mainstream the acceptance of these type of devices, but it could end up being like the iPod and other competitors have a hard time competing against the iPhone because the design is locked down in patents. I still say wait for iPhone 2.0 with 3G. I am lucky that I already have my plan with AT&T, but it would still cost me $600. I am still not going to do it as I have a N95 coming very soon from Nokia.

Coming Battle of the Super Smart Phones: iPhone and N95

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:

• The iPhone has a 2.0 megapixel camera while the N95 has a 5 megapixel camera. N95 wins.
• The iPhone supports GSM/GPRS/Edge/WiFi wireless data speed and the N95 supports GSM/GPRS/Edge/3G/WiFi. N95 wins with overall data speed with 3G support (3G support is only European).
  
• The iPhone touch screen software User Interface is unproven with users, but is very attractive visually and generally Apple users are very visual and are attracted to these clean software UI's that Apple produces. N95 is more of a conventional mobile keyboard that most users have used and is a slide out key pad. The conventional mobile keyboard works great for most people. I don't think we can declare a winner yet, but at this point Apple has the popularity lead and many tech pundits are unsure on this one as well.
  
• The iPhone comes with either 4 or 8 GB's of internal storage. The N95 and most other smartphones do not come with that much memory. The only other Nokia phone to have that much memory is the Nokia N91 with 4 or 8 GB's of internal hard drive. iPhone is clearly the winner.
  
• The iPhone screen size is 3.5 inches and has brilliant colors and sharp image resolution. N95 has a 2.8 inch screen that also has brilliant and sharp impage quality. Winner is again the iPhone.
  
• The iPhone is $599 (8GB) and $499 (4GB) with two year ATT wireless plan. N95 cannot get it with a wireless carrier in the USA and to buy unlocked is $750. The iPhone wins here as well.
  
• The iPhone supports Google Maps, but the N95 has built in GPS support. N95 wins.
  
• The iPhone does not support Microsoft Outlook Sync and N95 does support PDA features and Outlook sync. N95 wins
  
• iPhone audio playback quality is unknown at this time, but the N95 has stereo external speakers and a great clean sound processor. The iPhone is also an iPod and so you can assume that the audio quality will be very good as well. Both tie on this one.

When you compare features and function side by side like this the iPhone starts to look very good, but the things that are missing for me are significant. The missing 3G wireless data speed is important to have in the iPhone 2.0, but the N95's 3G support does not work here in the USA. I heard that T-Mobile's new 3G network will support the N95's 3G radio.

As for listening to podcasts and other portable media the iPhone and N95 are both powerful devices as the iPhone will side load from iTunes and the N95 will run applications like Nokia's podcasting application, Mobilcast, nuTsie for iTunes play list streaming and many other Java applications. The iTunes, YouTube and iPhone relationship is very powerful for music and podcasts. The N95 is much more diverse in alternative/open media application support. I tend to lean towards the more open platform of the N95 and java support.

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.

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet Great For Mobile Web Browsing and RSS Feed Reading

I have been reviewing the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet over the past few weeks and it has been a companion to my Nokia N73 phone. The photo you see to the left of this post is taken with my N73 phone on my desk in my office at Melodeo.

I have very much enjoyed this phone companion device as it has extended my phones abilities and AT&T/Cingular MEdiaNet Edge unlimited data plan that I use on my phone. This tablet has a much larger screen then my N73 and gives me a really good web browsing and RSS feed reading experience. The text can still be very small on the N800, but it has a toggle on top of the device that easily makes the text much larger or smaller. I mainly extend my mobile Internet/web experience with the device. It is like having a very small laptop with fairly fast anywhere Internet connectivity.

Though the N800 has many great features that I will expand on, it has had a few issues and shortcomings. I had to return it to Nokia and have them reload the Linux operating system as it just stopped loading after my first two weeks of using it. I got it back quickly as part of the Nokia Blogger Review program. It has worked great ever sense. I am just getting it all customized to my preferences, bookmarks and RSS feed subscriptions.

The N800 is also limited by outside software compatibility issues as it just does not support much outside software like most of the Instant Messenging software. It only supports GoogleTalk and Google Gmail. The browser is ok with the ability to play YouTube videos on the screen via a good Wifi connection. If you could get a solid 3G connection it would be great for mobile video, but on Edge it can be a really slow buffer. The RSS feed reader does a nice job, but is really basic and operates like Bloglines. The N800 has a built-in video and still camera that pops out from the side of the device, the image is a little poor. The device also can stream Internet radio stations to its two stereo speakers and play music anywhere in your house via wifi.

I have not been able to locate any podcast catching application that will run on the N800, but Google searches work great and it is very fast and is great to have if you have a Nokia phone. I did not try it with a different make of phone so I do not know if it works with Motorola, LG or Samsung phones. The N800 is great for friends and my wife to jump on the web while in the car to find and research all sorts of things while away from my computer or that are just to hard to research on my small phone screen. The device sells for over $300 dollars and is worth it if you spend a lot of time commuting on a train or bus and don't want to spend the $60 per month it costs to get 3G on your laptop.

Mobilcast Top 5 Unknown Features

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

Mobilcast on the Danger HipTop Coming

In the next few days we will be announcing that Mobilcast will be available on the the Danger SideKick HipTop device. This release will be with a regional wireless operator/carrier and be a modified version of the current Mobilcast application.

Update: Mobilcast has been release on the HipTop with Suncom.

This cool device has more names then any other phone besides HTC smartphones. Here is an older blog post from HipTop.com forum for discussion about our partnership with Danger. In the spirit of full disclosure. The HipTop does not support AAC+ audio, so the audio playback will be using AMR.

New "nuTsie" Apple Parody Video Released - episode 2

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.

Podcasting audience still grows, but name poorly defined

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".

Jupiter says; Phone is clearly evolving into multimedia device

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.

Melodeo goes nuts and takes a bite of Apple

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

nuTsie is getting people talking differently about iTunes

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.

Melodeo's "nuTsie" music service to monetize illegally downloaded music

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 Launches "nuTsie": Get Your Entire iTunes Music Library On Your Mobile Phone

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".

http://youtube.com/watch?v=apIogJrGTRw

nuTsie allows users to access all of their favorite iTunes music on a wide variety of today's most popular phone models, with no expensive device upgrade required.

nuTsie is built on Melodeo's proven high-quality, low-bandwidth mobile streaming technology that has been hardened and tested with Melodeo Mobilcast service, which is currently launched with wireless carriers around the world.

This new nuTsie service really means consumers will never again have to hassle with synching their phone to a computer, downloading music or dealing with limited storage capacity on their phone. Read more about the service.

nuTsie does not download actual iTunes song files, so there are no storage issues, sideloading hassles or piracy worries. Instead, nuTsie works by referencing a consumer's iTunes library and playlists and then making the same track titles available for streaming from nuTsie’s servers via the Web and mobile phone.

nuTsie combines Melodeo's innovative streaming music technology with an enhanced “radio rules” shuffle algorithm that ensures artists, record labels and music publishers are paid for every use of a song. nuTsie is also the only non-Apple music service to play "Fair Play" music purchased by download from iTunes.

The nuTsie service can also be accessed via a browser on any Web-connected computer. Consumers can listen to their iTunes music just about anytime and anywhere with nuTsie.

You can also follow updates to the nuTsie service by checking back here and by visiting the nuTsie blog.

Get more info about nuTsie.

Mobile Podcasting Survey Results

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.