Mobilecaster News

Ideal Podcast Show Length: Short vs. Long?

2010-08-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

I do not believe that length is a big issue at all, but is something that needs to be considered and thought about. Each podcaster needs to determine what his or her goals are for the show - overall format and depth of details covered in the recording will determine the length. You will find that half of your audience will want a short show and the other half will want a long show. So you cannot meet everyones desires.

Make the show length want you think is right for you and consider the value the audience is getting from the show based on the topic focus and segments. Do be concise, but have fun and give some of your personality over time as that creates a deeper personal connection with the audience. Over time this will create a friendship like relationship with your audience that will lead to the acceptance of longer shows. The comfort level you build over time will tend to cause your shows to get longer naturally anyway, unless you are rigid about it.

Always ask for audience participation and talk about emails or tweets they send you. Always think about what value you are offering and is it fun conversation, news or useful tips. All of these have various degrees of value based are your knowedge and talents. Most of all make a show that won't burn you out to do every week as it is common for podcasters to start a new show and podfade after 6-10 episodes then stop.

What is Zune? So Misunderstood by Journalists

2010-06-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing journalists write about Zune all the time and say that it is DEAD (see this example article in PC World). It is very frustrating because they are factually wrong as many writer or journalists don't know much about the things they write about these days.

Zune is far from dead as it is becoming THE entertainment platform for all of Microsoft properties (except for MSN). It is in Xbox, Win Phone 7, KIN phones, Win 7 Media Center, Win 7 PC Zune Marketplace media player software and now United Airlines. This fact should be obvious to anyone who is paying attention to the online media space, but many journalist now are lazy and don't do proper research before writing a story.

Many in the media just refer to Zune in connection to just the Zune media player hardware devices and it is so much more than that today.

Present and Future of Podcasting

2010-05-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

Podcasting is becoming mature after almost 7 years now and it is starting to be taken for granted - not unlike broadcast radio or TV. It is interesting as awareness of podcasts still have not quite reached half of the online user base, yet podcasting still feels mature in many ways. I also know that it is clearly early days for podcasting and it needs to evolve.

The days of podcasting hype in the media are clearly over. It must be the fact that it is not as new now and online social media activities are dominating the attention cycles now. I have been working on platform distribution (Melodeo Mobilcast and Microsoft Zune) of podcast media content for almost 5 years. It is amazing that I have been able to build a 5 year professional career on podcasting. I am continuing to see podcast content growth and much podfading as well. Podfading is a common life-span issue as many podcasts start and then slowly or abruptly stop producing new episodes or just shut down entirely. Yet, the new ones contine to come in to fill those faded.

It is unclear about the growth in audience for podcasts in the absence of significant online and traditional media buzz. We still seem to have much confusion about what a podcast is still with a large portion of the online population. I believe that one significant trend that is hindering the growth of podcasting is the resurgence of online media streaming via content provider website or apps and the difficulty of getting easy access. I think that podcasts have matured on the distribution side and have leveled off. The reason for this leveling off is because new people are just not hearing about podcasts as much and the medium has already reached those that own a portable media player and have an interest in consuming audio and video content from an RSS feed. Sure, we are coming into a time when new smart phones have the ability to obtain and playback podcasts right on the handsets. This is a still rather undeveloped area, but will be getting better over the next few years. The new Windows Phone 7 devices will support Zune podcasts as part of the core mobile OS.

Yet, the future growth lies in two new areas. One is for video podcasts and that is reaching the large TV screen in the home. For video podcasts, the key to continued growth for many years to come is free and paid subscriptions that enable automatic notification of either the download of new episodes and or the availability to stream a new video episode to any device that plays video. I think requested TV and video podcast episodes should appear grouped together in my media listing on any service. Getting to my content should be as easy as going to a single page listing of all my DVR recordings in the old paradigm. This blending of DVR recordings is not unlike a possible list of subscribed and downloaded video podcasts that come in daily or weekly. These just show up in a list with my DVR recordings all on the same screen/page to offer an easy to find my media experience.

The other key growth area for podcasts is around the often forgotten area of audio podcasts, which I believe is still a very large part of podcasting and is at root where the majority of the content is today. Audio podcasts need to be easily available in the most obvious and heavily audio usage area and that is the car. Today, getting audio podcasts to play in the car is not that hard, but is a pain to do. I also think with the dangers of handling gadgets while driving, the opportunity to better integrate podcasts access, download and playback into car audio systems is key. This is another cloud-based opportunity and one that could be setup outside of the car and then the car just gets the content and plays it via 3G, 4G, LTE or even WIFI at the home.

Many still think that the name podcast is a bad and must be changed, but I think it is way past the point that it makes any sense to change the name. Far too many people know it as podcasting and we cannot go back now. The key is to evolve the platform and take the technical aspects out of the mix and get the great content easily available in the places and on the devices that makes it the easiest to find, get and consume. I think podcasting is on that track as video podcasts are part of Windows 7 Media Center and Zune podcasts on the new Windows Phone 7 and KIN devices will easily connect to car entertainment systems. Clearly, we are on the track to connecting with podcast users in better ways, but we have a ways to go in the car to make a better system for podcasts.

One last thought, we may also see audio and video podcasts being more blended in with regular download TV and Movie store experiences. This could blend the two worlds together as one day these all could just be called Video and Audio again and not really have to use special terms like podcasts to describe them. Thanks for reading.

I will soon post my thoughts on podcast monetization opportunities and issues.

Rob Greenlee
@robgreenlee

*This is not an official Microsoft statement or position, but my own personal thoughts.

What Zune Offers Indie Podcast Content Creators

2009-12-31T03:03:00.000-08:00

Two Hours on 24 Hour Podcast

2009-12-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to my appearance on the 24 hour podcast Saturday, Dec 12th, 2009. We talked about Zune Video Podcast in Windows 7 Media Center experience. Give it a watch and at the end of the video you can see our cat "Si" make an appearance on this live video podcast.

Here is the second hour of my appearance on the 24 hour live video podcast. I talk about the latest in electric car technology - Tesla S, Nissan Leaf and Coda.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3005332

Speaking at BlogWorld

2009-10-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

I will be attending and speaking on Promoting Podcasts through the Directories panel at the 2009 BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Las Vegas on Saturday, Oct 17th, 2009 at 4:15PM. The panel presenting will also include Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice.com and BluBrry.com. We will be discussing the best ways get your podcast noticed in the podcast directories like Zune Podcast Marketplace, BluBrry.com, iTunes, PodcastPickle and many others.

Is Friendfeed the future of Podcasting 3.0+

2009-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Twitter and Friendfeed are as Steve Rubel says, next-gen blogging platforms that are gaining ground very quickly, but these new blogging platforms could be the new way all syndicated digital media files are distributed. It seems like podcasts that integrate with these platforms could have some advantages in the long-term if these platforms become more friendly to podcasters at all levels. I can see major media companies benefiting from integrating with distribution tools that have advanced real-time audience interactivity tools built-in. Podcasting has long needed better audience participation processes and functions.

The combination of Twitters - easy participation/reach and FriendFeed type threaded conversations with embedded on-demand and live audio/video make for a very interesting media delivery, subscription and audience participation service that could be delivered directly to a broadband connection flat screen TV's or portable media players and multimedia enabled phones. I believe that this is the direction that Twitter and Friendfeed will go. This then presents an interesting opportunity for the audience to really join these shows and participate at a deeper level then ever possible. The potential is great in combination with live shows. Our TV’s of the future will have this audience integration more and this could directly impact the potential of live programs (we are seeing this develop already at places like UStream) as the audience could impact the show real-time. This does come with some dangers in the area of sponsors and filtering this feedback.

The big question is how will these platforms really take over podcasting and the easy way would be for these tools to generate a new type of real-time RSS like API connection to your preferred media player, TV or phone device that would support this new interactive type delivery platform. I think the basics are in place to start doing this, but it will take a revolution not unlike the birth of podcasting to get it off the ground and this platform will need to enable screen-level playback tracking that will help enable the generation of money for content providers in a better way then has happened with Podcasting 1.0. This platform would integrate streaming with downloading and pair those together. The other major issue is the integration of paid download-to-own pay per file digital media transactions and podcast-like subscriptions in the free and paid sides. The only answer is a combination of the two is the only model that works for everyone.

I don't think we ever achieved a podcasting 2.0 as we now need a Podcasting 3.0 and I believe this could be it.

Zune Podcasting Is Alive and Thriving

2009-05-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-22T11:16:00.001-07:00

The Podcast Consumer Revealed 2009

View more Microsoft Word documents from webby2001.

Best Podcasts You're Not Downloading Yet

2009-04-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Podcast Feed Submissions Accepted from Zune.net

2009-03-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

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

Watch 24 Hour Podcast

2008-12-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

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.

Zune's Top 25 Most Subscribed Podcasts for Dec '08

2008-12-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

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.

Zune Podcast Topic Interview with Rob Greenlee at New Media Expo

2008-11-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

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.

Economic Downturn Impacting Podcasting

2008-11-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

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.

Top 25 Podcasts in Zune Marketplace software

2008-10-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

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.

Zune Delivering Real Competition in Portable Media Player Market

2008-09-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

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

Podcasts Growth Steady

2008-09-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

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

Wireless Sharing of Video Podcasts in Zune 2.5 Update

2008-06-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

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

Podcasting Needs To Become "Personalized Video & Radio"

2008-05-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Zune Springs Ahead To 2.5 Update

2008-05-06T02:18:00.000-07:00

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

Is Podcasting on the "Net Sidelines"?

2008-04-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Unpodcasting of Video Podcasts

2008-03-23T02:03:00.000-07:00

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?

Zune and Me at 2008 CES

2008-01-13T04:02:00.000-08:00

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.

Home is with the Zune

2007-11-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

After a few months off from my gig with Melodeo Mobilcast, I am now with the Microsoft Zune team. We are about to launch podcasts on the new Zune 2 devices and I am managing that process as Podcast Programming and Marketing Lead. This position is very much like the Melodeo Mobilcast position that I recently left.

If you want to keep up with what I am doing with the Zune then click on over to my new blog called Zune Insider, which is an official Zune blog.

Here are a few recent blog posts from the blog:

Zune Podcast Submissions and Directory - 11/2/07

Zune 1-Click Podcast Subscriptions - 10/25/07

We also just launched our national advertising campaign and here you can watch one of the spots. I will still post here now and then.

Podcasting is Growing Up

2007-09-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Closing of Yahoo's Podcast Directory Is Sign Of Podcast Industry Maturity

2007-09-27T02:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Coming Podcast and Portable Media Expo

2007-09-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

I will be attending the Podcast & Portable Media Expo later this week and over the weekend in Ontario, California. I am looking forward to the trip and getting caught up with everything that has been going on with Podcasting over the past year and seeing many friends. It is an exciting time for portable digital media and podcasting.

I am also about to start a new chapter is my digital media career as I will be starting in a new position with Microsoft the day after the podcast expo is over. More details to come after I actually start in this new position.

It pains me to do this because I will lose so many search engine listings, but I do not want any conflict of interest. I will actually switch this website domain over to http://www.mobilecasternews.com/ on October 2nd.

Live Radio to Podcasting Comes Full Circle

2007-09-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

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.

Podcasting Changes Could Drive Dramatic Leap Forward in 2008

2007-08-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

Podcasting will always be linked up with the iPod from a historical perspective, but devices come and go. Just think back to the Sony Walkman, a new and better device came along and replaced it called an iPod. I believe the same thing will happen to the iPod one day a better device will be seen as cooler. I think we are already seeing that day come closer with the launch of the iPhone and other truly mobile devices with wireless connections.

We shall see if Apple can keep the iPod viable in the market as more innovation comes over the long-run. I do hope that a better device does come that becomes a wild hit as I think it would be good for all of us.

I think it would be good for the podcasting industry if the Microsoft's Zune really does become a hit as it would more split the market for podcasting and would make the term "Podcast" mean more than distribution to an iPod. Making the term "Podcast" mean a type of portable on-demand content and less associated with an iPod would be a very good thing.

I do believe that podcasters can help expand the meaning of the term podcast by doing a few simple things. We need to slightly change how we all talk about and market podcasting in our blogs and to the media. This slight change in message could make a dramatic difference as I am seeing first hand that many existing and new podcasting related companies are trying to make podcasting an easier process for the listener and viewer. I also believe that content quality and selection is getting better everyday. The coming 12 months will be a very important new phase for podcasters and podcast consumers. I think the technology of easier discovery, management and anywhere delivery will make for a dramatic leap forward in 2008.

What can we all do today to start making a difference in this area and here is my to do/wish list:

1) Make podcast RSS feed links available in addition to our iTunes links on our websites
2) Promote alternative distribution platforms to other devices as much as possible in your shows and on your site
3) Submit your podcast RSS feeds to all available aggregators, mobile platforms, podcast networks to build a true online syndicated distribution strategy
4) Make sure your site visitors can listen or watch your content easily on your website
5) Reach out and talk to mainstream media and online media folks to tell them how the meaning of Podcasting is changing to go beyond the iPod
6) On all of our blogs, feeds, graphics and websites use the terms "Portable On-Demand" in as many places as possible

Portable On-Demand Cast = Podcast

2007-08-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

This will not be another gripe post about how bad the term podcast is to the long term growth of portable media. You will never again hear me bash it. It is here to stay and we need to make the best of the situation. I am hearing more and more private discussion about changing the meaning of the term “Podcast” away from a strong connection with the iPod and making the name mean "Portable On-Demand Cast". I think this makes a lot of sense because the name podcast is here to stay and it is more often then not understood to mean a piece of content and less to mean a type of distribution. This transition to the Portable On-Demand meaning will take time as most have been conditioned to connect the iPod with Podcasting in thinking about the medium.

I think with the coming support for podcasting on the Zune, we have an opportunity to muddy the meaning to mean something a little more open and less Apple centric.

The challenge to everyone in the podcast industry is to start talking about this rebranding concept. I think it is important to the future of a strong and diverse distribution ecosystem that users will understand better.

Podcasting today has a user understanding and communications challenge that can be addresses by all parties involved at all levels in the industry. I also think that it is important to move beyond the singular focus that many podcasters large and small have on iTunes and the iPod. We are seeing many new distribution platforms on mobile, coming Zune support of podcasting and other types of mobile and living room devices that will bring greater success to content creators.

Podcasters need to be sure they offer their podcast RSS feeds right on their websites and stop only linking over to iTunes.

Only Part of Podcasting that is Dead is the Hype

2007-08-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

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.

True Broadband Mobility: N95 with US 3G and N800

2007-08-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

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.

This unlocked N95 phone will give you access to 3G speeds on the N800 that would normally cost $59 per month on laptops or other PDA phone devices. This ability has been on my mind ever since I returned Cingular's 3G laptop card a few months ago, it felt crazy to pay $19.99 per month for EDGE internet access and another $59.99 for laptop 3G access. Paying $80.00 per month for mobile internet access seemed like to much to pay.

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.

The only real short comings of this solution is that you cannot edit Microsoft Office documents on the N800 and the N800 could have a faster processor.

New Blog Name and URL Coming

2007-08-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

I am planning to make some changes to this blog over the next few days. The name of it will be changing slightly to Mobilecaster News at http://www.mobilecasternews.com/. I am adding the "e" back to the mobile word that will correct the mispelling from my previous name and URL.

This blog/podcast was also nominated for a Podcast Award and the winners will be given awards at the Portable Media and Podcast Expo. I will be requesting that the name of this blog be changed on the Podcast Awards website.

The blog and podcast RSS feed URL will stay the same.

CelleCast: on-demand audio on your phone

2007-07-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

Last night I spoke with Andrew Deal. Founder and CEO of Vancouver, Washington company CelleCast.com and they are taking an interesting approach to mobile phone audio distribution. While the concept of delivering audio content via regular phone audio signal is not new, the messaging of how they are promoting it is and is worth mentioning. They never use the word "Podcast" on their site. Go check them out as they are worth watching in this space as this company does not need to have mobile operator/carriers deals to roll the service out to the market. Andrew has also managed to recruit a very experienced broadcast radio veteran by the name of Dave Van Dyke of Bridge Rating's Research and long-time radio station owner to help him as Sr. VP Operations and Media Partnerships. I have known Dave for many years and he knows what he is doing.

This is a signal of a coming change back to pre-podcasting days -- in how companies position themselves as the hype of podcasting has faded. We are getting to a point where everyone who wants to grow a company in this area needs to reach the other 62% who do not know what a podcast is, but do know what radio and audio programs are.

You may have also noticed that this blog has changed as well to be less about "Mobile Podcasting" and more about mobile phone digital media trends and companies. You will see here less bias towards Mobilcast from this post forward as I no longer work for Melodeo. I am back to producing great digital media and online content. I am looking for my next great mobile digital media opportunity that will keep my dreams alive. Please keep me in mind if you hear of great mobile digital media opportunities and if you would like your mobile digital media company featured here then feel free to send me an email to: (rob at webtalkradio.com). My contact info is also in the right side column of this blog.

iPhones begin Mobilecasting or is it now iPhonecasting?

2007-07-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Downtown Seattle iPhone Line Builds

2007-06-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-06-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-08T17:17:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-06T17:26:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-06T14:32:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-06T12:58:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

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.

What happened to the Podcast Industry?

2007-05-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Thanks for the Mobilcast Reviews

2007-05-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

I want to thank the many bloggers over the past few months who have taken the time to do a review post about Mobilcast and their experiences with the service. I wanted to give them some attention, Google juice and link love for their time and effort. I will be over the next week going through and posting these reviews and commenting on them.

Earlier this week, (Monday, May 21st, 2007) Ken Rutkowski, long-time host of KenRadio World Tech Roundup give Mobilcast a big endorsement on his show. You can hear it by visiting his show page and listening to the first 3-4 minutes of the show. He has a little flash player on the page to listen with. Ken has a huge following for his show and has been doing his daily show for 10 years now.

I also want to thank all those that have responded to the call for feedback and filled out our online survey about Mobilcast. If you would like to take the survey then jump on it now via this tinyurl --http://tinyurl.com/2y6g3x

The most recent blog review was from Matt Cuppa's blog sub-titled "My take on tea, technology and our environment".

Here is Matt's post about using Mobilcast from May 17, 2007;

"After registering on the website and setting up the application on my phone, it took about fifteen minutes to set up a list of “Favorites.” Using the “Search” feature gave me better results than scrolling through the limited list of pre-selected podcasts. I was very happy with the selection of available podcasts. I was able to find all of my usual shows with the exception of one.(Treehugger Radio, which is pretty hit-and-miss no matter what service you use.) There is a website component, which I have not spent much time with, that allows you to link you’re mobile “Favorites” to your account on the web.

The playback is surprisingly high quality. It won’t make you hang up your iPod, but for streaming data over a cellular network… wow! I expected the tinny sound of overly compressed audio accompanied by plenty of blips and stutters, symptoms of dropped packets. You’ll hear a stutter now and then, but for the most part it’s mp3 quality sound. The playback controls are intuitive, but if you forget how to pause your show, there is button map on screen. I really like that my phone’s volume control works within the application, and that playback continues even if I close the flip. This is great because I can pocket my phone and go. If you’re used to your iPod, it’s a bit inconvenient that you can’t rewind or fast forward, although you can skip to the next episode or pause your current episode. If you stop in the middle of an episode, even after quitting the app, starting the episode again will bring you to the point you that left off at.

Over the past few weeks, this application has made it onto my short list of essential mobile applications. I’ve come to love simple applications that focus on doing a few things very well. Mobilcast does just that. With it’s intuitive controls, large selection of available podcasts, and surprisingly good audio quality, I’m totally sold on Melodeo’s Mobilcast. Assuming your phone is supported, this is just an all-around good app to add to your mobile aresenal."

Wow, what a positive review and he covers all of the highlights of the application. While Matt is correct about many of the advantages to using Mobilcast, we realize that we can always improve the experience. He is correct about the blips and stutters in the playback as we must use the carrier data networks and they do have dead spots in coverage and many times because of our adaptive chunking buffering of audio the application will play right through those dead areas and then when a new chunk of audio is needed then network coverage is back.

If you are using an older version of Mobilcast then you need to upgrade and get the great new audio quality that is available in our 5.1 version. All of our carrier deployments are now on the new better sounding version.

Check back again soon to see more reviews posted here. If you have a review then please post it and send me the link and I will give you some link love and Google juice for it.

Nokia N75 Launches with Mobilcast support on ATT (Cingular)

2007-05-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

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

Mobilcast 5.1 "Hi-fi Sound Quality" upgrade is now available at AT&T and 3 UK

2007-05-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

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":

Mobilcast User Survey - Mobile Phone Podcast Listening

2007-05-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

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

Melodeo Mobilcast is a Red Herring Spring 2007 Top 100 Winner

2007-05-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

It has been formally announced that Melodeo has been included in the new Red Herring Spring 2007 Top 100 technology company list. The award is being given to us today down in Monterey, California at the Red Herring Spring event that is going from May 1st thru the 3rd.

Congratulations to the team here for all the hard work with Mobilcast and some new very cool mobile products we have coming that are yet unseen.

Looking at the list it appears that Melodeo is the only mobile podcasting related or in our case Mobilecasting company on the list. I don't see any other podcasting related company. Very interesting. Why do you think that is? It could be because we are getting Mobilcast deployments with wireless operators all over the world right now.

Update 5/4/2007: Bill Valenti, VP of Melodeo accepting the award

Here is the whole list 2007 RED HERRING 100 WINNERS:

Actimagine
LifeSize Communications
AeroScout
Limelife
Agitar Software
LiveOps
Alien Technology
Mascoma Corp.
Altierre Corporation
MediNotes Corporation
athenahealth
Melodeo (Mobilcast)
Attenex Corporation
Meru Networks
Attensity Corporation
Millennial Media
Azaire Networks
MOG
Big Fish Games
Move Networks
BLADE Network Technologies
MyPublicInfo
blip.tv
Newsvine
Blogtronix
Ning
Bynari
NorthStar Systems International
Cedar Point Communications

oDesk
ClairMail
OpenPages
CoalTek
Oxy Systems
Codexis
Pactolus Communications Software
Codon Devices
Pandora Media Inc.
ConSentry Networks
Pervasis Therapeutics
CoreValve
Plateau Systems
Covergence
Plextronics
Dabble
Pulse~LINK
Dash Navigation
Purkinje Inc.
DayJet
QlikTech International AB
decentral.tv
Rearden Commerce
EchoSign
Recordant
Enclarity Inc.
Reef Point Systems
EnteroMedics
Revision3 Corporation
EQO Communications
Right Media
Experticity
Roamware
Eyeball Networks Inc.
Satiety
Financial Engines
Scalent Systems
Firefly Mobile
Silver Peak Systems
Goodmail Systems
SimpleFeed
GreatPoint Energy
SimplyHired
Greenplum
Skytide Inc.
GridNetworks
Smart Imaging Technologies
GridPoint
Solaicx
Ice Energy
Solaria
iLike
Sylvan Source
Imperva Inc.
TeleFlip
InnerPulse
Tesla Motors
Innovalight
TransMedia
Interactive Supercomputing
VideoEgg
IPLocks
Vyatta
Jaduka
WebTrends Inc
Jangl
Widevine Technologies
jaxtr
Wikia
Kasenna
ZoomInfo

Why Is Mobile Podcasting and Mobilcast Lacking Geek Love?

2007-05-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

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

UK's Mobilcast Top 50 Most Popular Mobile Podcast Streams for April 2007

2007-05-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

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

Melodeo Mobilcast Debuts Mobile Podcast Listening in Denmark with TDC

2007-05-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today Melodeo Mobilcast announced the launch of the first on-demand mobile music, podcast, and radio listening service in Denmark with wireless operator TDC. Melodeo's Mobilcast is immediately available to more than 2 million mobile customers in Denmark with TDC.

"Mobilcast customers in Denmark with TDC will be able to listen to on-demand music and radio shows from popular sources such as Virgin Radio, Podhead.dk and DR, as well as thousands of independent programs from all over the world."

The on-phone content catalog of podcast feeds and categories are localized to the Danish language. Melodeo is doing most if not all of the localization to local language and offering mostly Danish podcast content.

The biggest benefit to users is that you don't need to download any mp3 files to be able to listen to mobile audio podcasts. You will be able to get access to the content right away when it is published via streaming to the phone.

"Mobilcast provides wireless customers with on-demand access to more than 150,000 music and entertainment programs including radio shows from popular sources such as NPR, MSNBC and CNN, as well as thousands of independent programs from all over the world. Mobilcast customers enjoy a wide selection of music, comedy, news, sports, and other entertainment programs. Mobilcast is immediately available to more than 44 million wireless customers on two continents through distribution deals with Alltel Wireless and Cingular Wireless in the United States, Rogers Wireless in Canada and British wireless operator 3 in the UK. "

I cannot recall is I posted about our below joint venture deal in China;

"Melodeo also recently announced an investment from Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group in China Access Media Solutions, the Chinese joint venture operating company started by Melodeo and Access Co. Ltd. in early 2006. The companies are working together to further develop and distribute world-class solutions for securely delivering mobile music and multimedia entertainment to wireless customers throughout China and other Asia Pacific marketplaces.

Melodeo's Mobilcast mobile entertainment service is compatible with the majority of handsets on the market. For more information, or to check your phone's compatibility, visit http://www.mobilcast.com/"

Popular Razr Mobile Phone with Mobilcast

2007-04-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

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

My Mobilcast Wishlist

2007-04-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

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

Are Podcasters Causing Slowing Growth?

2007-04-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

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:

Obsessing about free Podcasting services, events, training, and products while complaining that nobody wants to spend money in this space.
Raising panic about web streaming rates for RIAA music while claiming that Podcasting doesn’t need that top 40 crap.
Bragging that your show isn’t making money while shouting that “traditional media” should follow your model.
Preaching to the converted while snubbing noses at those who haven’t figured it out yet.
Spending hundreds$ on microphones while complaining about the shipping charges on “free” business cards.
Pounding Apple TV for not having HD while ignoring that fact that your Mom can actually use it.
Voting Tech Podcasts to the top of every list while assuring this medium is for everybody.
Begging for reviews at iTunes, the Pickle, the Alley and more while assuring us that they don’t matter.
Promising this media is for everyone but attacking anyone who tries a different business model.
Claiming your work is extremely valuable but accepting CPM rates of less than Murder She Wrote reruns.
Pushing the Anti-DRM Gospel while freaking out if your blog content was “repurposed” anywhere.
Praising Skype as the ultimate interviewing platform while forgiving the fact that it simply isn’t.
Complaining that none of the “big boys” are in this game but failing to produce a model that the big boys might be interested in.

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.

Everyday I feel pressure to ignore tech podcasts as many on the outside of our community don't feel that they should spend any time or effort at all on tech podcasts and early adopter tech geek types. They see tech content as too narrow and not a large potential audience.

Newer people to the podcast industry want to see podcasting become a mass media like broadcast and reach a huge audience and a mass market audience. I think many think this can be done by ignoring the early adopter audience, but I think that is a mistake. Many also think that this can be done by simply offering a more diverse and complete content offering. I know that I am splitting hairs on this one, but I think this approach is getting ahead of itself.
I think where we are today is still clearly in the early adopter semi-geek phase and that is where the growth still is. It is just slower growth for now until the technology, usability and compelling non-tech content appears. I think we are seeing this happen at NPR as they start getting into video podcasting as well. I also think mobile is a very important evolution of podcast distribution.

I know this is a little off topic, but I am working on the mobile podcasting piece with Mobilcast and it is expanding all around the world fast. I am working on content and operator deployment all over the world right now. You all would be amazed if you saw the list of operators moving to Mobilcast and Mobile Podcasting.

All I can say is that Music, Comedy, Entertainment, Tech, News, Talk Radio are the top content categories with everyone of these operators. These are the content areas that need to be grown and improved in podcasting to reach the masses. But I also feel that niche programming has a big piece as part of the growing importance of long-tail content, I am just seeing a lot of this content fade out.

Melodeo Mobilcast Video Demo from Gnomedex 2006 Posted

2007-04-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

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.

New Video Demo of Mobilcast v5 HiFi Beta Released

2007-04-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

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

In-Car Mobile Podcast Listening with Mobilcast and N95

2007-04-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that I made that demonstrates a very cool way Mobilcast can be used to access audio podcasts in a car. I made a short video with my Nokia N73 of my N95 running Mobilcast and playing audio via wire and 1/4 inch jack into my stereo in my 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid as I was driving down the freeway in Seattle.

The sound of the "a2z radio" music channels in Mobilcast sound like a very good FM stereo broadcast.

Watch the video.

Mobile Presidential Fun at CTIA

2007-04-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Mobilcast/Nokia Demo's at CTIA Next Week

2007-03-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

This coming Monday (26th), I am leaving for almost a week to Orlando, Florida and CTIA Wireless phone conference and exhibition. This event is very simular to my recent trip to 3GSM in Barcelona, Spain.

I will be spending most of my time at CTIA working an exhibit booth called "Forum Nokia". Yes, I will again be in the Nokia booth #2537, Hall B1 in the Music section with Audible and MyStrands all sharing two demo pods. If you are going to be in attendence at the event and would like to get a demo of Mobilcast and or discuss mobile podcasting, then stop in. If you cannot attend to get a demo then you can get one by viewing a video demo that I posted at YouTube.

I will be giving Demo's on the very cool Nokia N95 mobile phone and will have headphones plugged into it so you can treat it like a mp3 player or iPod. What is great about the N95 is that it has all the radio's to work great. It has WiFi, Quad-band, GPRS, Edge and HSDPA for fast 3.5G connectivity.

My booth hours at CTIA are are Weds, March 28th from 11am to 5pm and Thurs, March 29th from 10:30am to 3pm. This is my first trip to CTIA, but not my first to Florida as I spent 5 years in my past working on marketing and promotion projects for the Florida Department of Citrus and visited Florida very frequently.

While working for the State of Florida public agency I created the Florida Citrus Industry's first FDOC website at http://www.floridajuice.com and has the site built up here in Seattle. I also created the World's Largest Glass of Orange Juice that is still in the Guinness Book of World Records. Just a little trivia it costs over $26,000 dollars to construct here in the Seattle area back in 1998. I toured with it all over the country to trade shows and it has been featured on local and network TV over the years. It was fun times.

If you want to reach me (Rob Greenlee) at the event or before you can send me an email to (rob at webtalkradio.com) or call me on my mobile at 253-831-5632.

Apple's New iPhone Won't Run Java-based Mobilcast

2007-03-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Is Podcasting Broken? Is Next Step Mobile?

2007-03-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

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

Mobilcast: Personalized On-Demand Radio

2007-03-15T14:25:00.001-07:00

I am taking a different approach to talking about mobile podcasting or as we like to call it around here this time “Personalized on-demand radio and podcasts straight to your mobile”.

It is almost a daily and hourly thing now that I am hearing from current podcasters, wireless carriers and tech people that I have met at places like the Microsoft MVP Summit this week in Seattle and Redmond. They all say the same thing that the word "Podcast" is just not cutting it anymore as the word for the ages in the context of the evolution of "Podcasting" into the mobile realm. Mobile is trying to reach the mass user market with podcast content and I am feeling push back at all levels on using the term "Podcast".

It is a good thing that we have positioned "Mobilcast" as an alternative name and our brand in the marketplace around this alternative distribution platform for the same content currently being delivered to the iPod.

The challenge for us now is that how do we change the topic so dramatically like Adam Curry was able to do around the iPod. I just need to spark the same energy and enthusiasim as was generated a few years back around the word "Podcast".

I was part of the discussion at that time (here, podcasting precursor, broadcast early adopter)and would like to be key to starting a new burst of energy around a new term to describe a new distribution platform that has all the same and more benefits of "Podcasting" and it is "Mobilcasting".

I spend some time this week with Paul Colligan of the Profitable Podcasting Blog. Paul was also in attendence at the Microsoft MVP Summit and we attended as a Microsoft Frontpage MVP and I attended as a Microsoft Digital Media MVP.

Paul and I talked a lot about podcasting and he made a blog post about mobile phone podcasting "Mobilcast".

Here is the meat of Paul's blog post;

"Met up with Rob Greenlee from Mobilcast.com last night. I had been to their site a few times in the past but never paid much attention as my phone (Treo 700p) wasn’t on their list.

My problem with phone-based Podcast clients is the simple fact that every phone is so different that it’s really hard to plan a strategy from the whims of companies who believe customer service is all about making it easy for me to buy ringtones. The more “generic” options (I am using the Kinoma client on my 700p) just don’t seem to be worth the effort and the really cool stuff always seems to be on the network that I’m not on.

Mobilcast is a very impressive product (how could Rob not give me a demo?). The news issue I mentioned above is fixed because it brings you the latest episode (and checks hourly) when you ask for it. He showed me an NPR news update just 55 minutes old. Nice.

But the problem is this:
The phone is a crazy little platform. With our kazillion carriers over here (and almost as many handset makers) the chances of getting everyone on the same phone (and same feature set) is only likely in the corporate rollouts."

Paul, you are correct that it is difficult to support all the phones, OS's and carriers to provide a great seamless and trouble free experience. We are doing very good at performing in these areas and support for smartphones like the Treo, Blackjack, Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices is coming soon.

I also agree that we must do a better job of communicating the benefits of podcast access through a mobile phone.

One of the biggest benefits is getting access to frequently updated hourly podcast feeds from places like NPR and CNN.

It is just not practical to get access to the many hourly and even daily podcasts via an iPod as users just don't sync their iPods that often.

Appears Bluetooth Stereo Not Ready For Prime Time

2007-03-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

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.

What Happened To Audio Streaming Online?

2007-03-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

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

Singapore Offers Mobilcast via M1 Wireless

2007-03-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

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.

"Podcast" Name Not Globally Used

2007-03-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

I came across this very interesting blog post at all-podcast-secrets.com that talks about how universial around the world the term "Podcast" is used to describe the process of creating and distributing audio and video via an RSS feed.

"In German, Spanish and Dutch, several alternatives were offered. For example, the Spanish initially toyed with translations like “audioblog” and “radioblog”, but ultimately settled for the English term “podcast” although it is difficult to pronounce for Spaniards.

In French, the Canadian state of Quebec prefers the terms “baladodiffusion” and “baladiffusion” which is difficult to translate into English, but which means something like “broadcasting for walkman”. These terms can be heard on Public radio in Quebec. In France, one of its many official language commissions has recently tried to impose the term “Diffusion pour baladeur” but no one uses it. Nice Try Big Brother!

And in China? Podcasting is called 播客. Say what?! Don’t worry. It looks “worse” than it sounds. The word is pronounced “podcast” and it means “users who broadcast”.

There is one place where the term has been localized, and that is South Africa. In April 2005, the term “potgooi” was introduced into Afrikaans, and in fact, Afrikaans podcasters prefer it to the term podcast.

Thanks to Glen Verran, Fabio Bacigalupo, Bertrand Lenotre, Jose A. Gelado, Jack Gu and Jean Scholtes for contributing."

Seems the state of podcasting on a global scale has finally started to get some interest online. I am very glad to see it happen and hope to be a focal point for fostering this discussion as Mobilcast is expanding very fast across the globe.

More folks in other countries are jumping into the conversation that have been up till now dominated by USA based conversation on this topic. It is also interesting that this growing conversation seems to have a strong mobile phone component to it.

The other interesting development is the formation of the World Podcast Forum to address podcast and mobilcast issues world wide.

I am working hard to make local language content catalogs for each country. Podcasting is not all in english. This is a point that needs to be reinforced that podcasting is not just an english opportunity.

Rob Greenlee

Music Rocks Mobilcast Listening with Launch of a2z Radio

2007-03-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

Music has been growing in importance to users of Mobilcast, so we are taking action to improve the overall listening experience. The top music genres are Hip Hop and then Rock. We have just launched our new Mobilcast v5 beta that has HiFi audio quality if your phone supports AAC+ audio codec. This increasted audio quality now makes it possible for audio playback in Mobilcast to be like FM radio quality.

Update 3/6/2007 Official Announcement

See flash player below to sample some of these feeds you can get on your phone with Mobilcast.

We have also revampt the entire on-phone content catalog in Mobilcast v5 beta. It is much more compressed now with only the most popular and highest quality content.

Here is the current catalog breakdown the comes up when you launch Mobilcast on your mobile:
My Favorites
Search
Music
Comedy
Entertainment
News
NPR
MSNBC
Tech, Biz, Sports
* Refresh
* Link to Web

We are also applying most of these above changes to our wireless carrier catalogs at Alltel, Cingular, 3 UK and our other wireless carriers deployments. But each wireless carrier deployment is slightly different as some of them have exclusive content that is only available in those carrier catalogs. The 3 UK catalog has much more content from UK and Europe.

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.

Four of the music feeds are titled a2z Radio and feature Rock of Ages, Country, Hip Hop and Top Hits. These episode feeds are about 30 minutes long and are just like a streaming radio station, except for the fact that we are only playing to greatest and most popular in each genre.

Dave Dederer, who is now our Sr. Director of Digital Content and co-founder and former band member of The President's of the United States of America is starting to produce his own weekly music Mobilcast called "Dave's Picks". When his new podcast is officially announced next week he will have produced two 30 minute episodes that plays and discusses his favorite Grunge rock music from Seattle's Grunge hayday and other songs he likes to share.

Growing The Podcast Audience

2007-02-25T01:15:00.000-08:00

It is the job of every content provider, directory and distributor that has an interest in seeing the podcasting space grow. I think the industry is on the verge of a move to mobile and Microsoft is on the verge of doing something with RSS media enclosures.

I also think it is easy to think podcasting has flat lined with Odeo going up for sale, but like streaming media was 5 or 6 years ago the podcasting industry is going through change. We are coming into a time of consolidation, as we will see players in this space merge with each other this year. I believe that we cannot bank on the iPod for our long-term growth and major media is really beginning to drive our listener growth.

We need to start thinking about listener ease of access and use. How are we going to reach the most listeners as possible and grow the list of quality content being made available?

I have been working at Melodeo Mobilcast for over a year now and have been a webcaster and podcaster for a long-time with my own WebTalk Radio podcast. I think mobile phone access to all audio and video podcasts through applications like Mobilcast is the growing future for content distribution and listenership. I think this is the bigger message is that it will make less sense over time to call mobile phone listening "Podcasting".

I know that I am biased in my view on this as I work for Mobilcast, but I also have an inside view on what is developing around the globe as we roll out Mobilcast. I just got back from 3GSM in Barcelona, Spain and I saw first hand high interest from mobile carrier operators around the world for mobile podcast distribution and growing adoption numbers.

Mobile distribution for content is happening now and is not just a dream. It will only grow over the next 5 years and I do believe the devices like the iPhone and other multi-media capable mobiles will play a large roll in us reaching the mass market with frequently updated short form audio and video content delivered by RSS enclosures.

Rob Greenlee

HiFi Audio Quality Comes To New Mobilcast v.5 beta

2007-02-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

I just got back from 3GSM in Barcelona, Spain the massive global wireless phone expo. Gone working the show from dawn to dusk. Blog posts from 3GSM where just not possible. I did take some photos and I will show some here.

I spent 4 days exhibiting from the Forum Nokia booth giving demo's about Mobilcast to people from all over the world. We had many mobile operators/carriers from around the world meet with us and discuss Mobilcast deployment. It is safe to say that these operators are excited about Mobilcast and its ability to give mobile users access to a huge pool of audio and video content. The Mobilcast solution in combination with 3G networks is compelling. The speed to get to content on the phone is amazing with our new streaming/chunking platform.

While I was gone, we launched our new v.5 Mobilcast application that included a big audio quality upgrade. We are going from 12K AMR audio codec to a much better 24K AAC+ codec.

To get the new v.5 Mobilcast java client enter this URL into your phone browser:
http://zeus.melodeo.net/mc/

Mobilcasting 2007 New York Fashion Week

2007-02-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

You can hear New York Fashion Week Mobilcast audio interviews with high style celebrities using Cingular's Mobilcast all this week. These 2-4 minute long Mobilcasts are exclusively available through our partnership with Cingular.

Here is the List of Top Fashion Designers and Celebrities interviewed for Mobilcast:

Actress Lorraine Bracco, Sopranos

Carson Kressley, Queer Eye for a Straight Guy
Ken Downing - Senior VP, Fashion Director, Nieman Marcus

Designer, Dennis Basso

Aerin Lauder

Piper Pirebo
Oscar DeLarenta
Tinsley Mortimer
Todd Oldham
NigelBarker
Alexis Bryan
Coco Rocha
Gina Kelly

Ann Shoket
Irina Lazeraneau
Mickey Boardman
Rachel Zoe
Kim Catrall
Andre Leon Tally
Marc Bouwer

Alexis Bryon (vanity Fair)
Naeem Khan
Kelly Rowland
Hillary ALexander (fashion critic)

You can hear a sample of the audio available in Cingular's Mobilcast.

Rob Greenlee

Melodeo.com Being Rebirthed As Mobilcast.com

2007-02-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

We have decided to change our Melodeo.com url and name back to Mobilcast.com . No site is getting shut down, but we are building a new corporate website at Melodeo.com to be launched soon. Mobilcast.com will be dedicated to supporting our growing Mobilcast phone application for mobile podcast audio and video.

As you will see at Melodeo.com today, we have started to make changes in our branding identification. Melodeo.com as a corporate site will become a place that will explain and link to Melodeo's coming new web and mobile businesses. Melodeo is becoming much more then just Mobilcast.

More news on this coming soon.

Rob Greenlee

Melodeo Hires a President of the United States of America

2007-01-29T14:12:00.000-08:00

Melodeo Mobilcast announced today the hiring of Dave Dederer, best-known as a founding member of the multi-platinum rock band The Presidents of the United States of America.

Dederer joins Melodeo as the company’s Senior Director, Media Content. Dave and I are joining forces on Mobilcast and bringing music to the forefront. Mobilcast will still be a complete international solution for spoken-word audio and video content.

Dave’s primary responsibilities will be to bring more emphasis on music to Mobilcast, Melodeo’s mobile podcasting product, which is currently available through Cingular, Alltel and other major carriers worldwide. Dave said, “This is an extension of what I’ve tried to do as a musician, which is to help people tap into the transformative power of music,” said Dederer. “Mobilcast is a great platform for enabling people to access music they already love and to discover new music. I’m thrilled at this opportunity.” Melodeo CEO Jim Billmaier, is thrilled to see Dederer join the Mobilcast team. Jim said, “We’ve courted Dave for a number of months now and I think he’ll bring a lot to the table. He has a tremendous base of experience and contacts from many years of running the Presidents’ business, and those will be assets to Melodeo and Mobilcast.” Dave and I worked together to create his first Mobilcast audio feed: Hear his first episode and his feed URL

Here is a video of Dave performing on David Letterman's "Late Show".

Rob Greenlee

Music Content is becoming King at Melodeo Mobilcast

2007-01-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

The Melodeo Mobilcast content team is getting bigger tomorrow (Tues, Jan 3o my birthday) as you will see a fun announcement from us on the content side that will signal to the world a renewed focus on music with Mobilcast.

Our user stats have shown for months now that music is the top interest category in Mobilcast. The other interesting fact is that our music category has the largest percentage of podcasts in our catalog.

Check back with this blog to "Hear and Read" all the details.

Looking For Mobilcast Users

2007-01-29T13:09:00.000-08:00

I am on the hunt for current and past Mobilcast application users. Please if you know of someone or you are that someone who has used Mobilcast on your phone then "I Want You".

I am just kidding a little bit on this, but I do want to reach out to our 10's of thousands of users to get direct feedback on some pretty basic things about how your experience has been over the past year.

Here is an example of some user feedback we got over the weekend;

"Why did you change the New Today category in mobilcast to have so many news and weather podcasts? It used to be my favorite way to listen to many podcasts. Now is such a mess. Maybe make a different one - "News Today" for all the different versions of the same day's news if that is what some people want but put back one that has various interesting podcasts together that I can just let play one after another."

My answer to this user frustration is that we have been testing the addition of localized content with Daily Weather forecasts and Daily Horoscope audio and it has unfortunatly messed up the "New Today" category function. We are going to take action on this right away as it is a problem for me and I am a heavy user of Mobilcast.

I too want my "New Today" category back in better play again.

Here are some basic questions that I would love to get your feedback on with Mobilcast.

1) What function or feature is missing from Mobilcast?

2) How useful is Mobilcast today for you?

3) Do you prefer my Editorial Selection of Content or Do you prefer to create your own playlist?

4) Do you mostly use the "New Today" category to listen to content?

5) How important is "Search" in Mobilcast on the phone?

6) What audio content genre's are most important to you?

My email is (rgreenlee at melodeo.com) and my office line is 206-812-4327.

Give me a call and leave a message and I will call you back.

Rob Greenlee

Melodeo JV Expands Into China with Sony BMG and Warner Music

2007-01-23T15:21:00.000-08:00

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have partnered with a joint venture operating in China that develops technology for distributing music downloads and other content to mobile phones. This deal also involves Mobilcast, as part of the technology bundle that makes up ACCESS China Media Solutions.

The two music companies have invested in ACCESS China Media Solutions, a joint venture between China's ACCESS Ltd., and Seattle-based digital media firm Melodeo.

This deal is huge because it involves full-track music (downloads) and mobilcasting through Mobilcast. Read more in AP article in the USA Today

Here is the official release from Melodeo

Fox News and The O'Reilly Factor Available on Mobilcast

2007-01-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Fox News has launched a new weekly Fox News radio audio podcast that has now been included in the default mobilcast on-phone podcast catalog.

http://www.foxnews.com/podcasts/index.html

The 10 minute "Radio Factor" podcast available on BillOReilly.com is also in the Mobilcast catalog.

Rob Greenlee

Do We Really Want Unlocked and Converged Mobile Phones in USA?

2007-01-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

I think everyone would like to be part of the Nokia Blogger Review Program and get expensive unlocked N-Series phones for free on your door step. I have been very lucky to be part of that program for many months now.

I have enjoyed the benefit of having access to these powerful unlocked phones. Prior to being part of this program with Nokia I just took the free phones that the carriers gave out with minute plans.

I had never owned a smartphone until Andy Abramson sent me the Nokia N90 last winter. Prior to last December of 2005, I just had basic phones.

It must seem strange to those that have been following my WebTalk Radio past to know how mobile challenged I was just over a year ago. Getting this N90 phone was shocking to me to go from just a very basic phone to this MultiMedia computer as Nokia called this N90.

I have been a long-time user of a Dell Axim Pocket PC and that device really shaped my perceptions of what a mobile device should be able to do. In just over one year, I have gone from not needing or really wanting a smart phone to it being a requirement. Well to be fair it is pretty important for me to have one to use and test on here at Melodeo.

I have swung from one extreme to another in what I expect from a mobile phone. I also know that that based on my experience with my Pocket PC that I do want a convergence device. Many still claim that a functionally specific device will always be better. Well, I don't really agree as I am seeing the evolution of the Nokia N-Series devices and they just keep getting better and more able to do media well and still handle calls to perfection.

In the office, we just got in for testing the Nokia N95. I have already blogged about this device from Nokia as it is the one phone that takes me beyond even the Apple iPhone. Sure the iPhone is getting huge buzz, but it just does not do it for me like the N95 does.

I believe that the iPhone goes after a different user then me. Just like I have very little interest in an iPod. I find that my iRiver Clix with 2GB of flash memory is all I need to have and I also have 2GB's in my mobile phone memory.

I do like the complex convergence type devices like the N95, but the truth is that Nokia is making these phone easier to use all the time. I do like a phone that is more like a laptop then a phone. Now, I know the iPhone could fall under this heading with that big display. While simplicity and graphical interface coolness is a hallmark of all Apple devices. I just feel more akin to a mobile media computer like the N95 with a 5 megapixel still camera, built-in GPS and 30 frames per second video recording.

I also must say that I am attracted by the path less traveled and not walking the Apple path feels that way. I do think it is funny that Apple gets so much attention and buzz, but they are still very low in marketshare for adoption of a computer device like the MAC. I will be sticking with my Windows PC, Nokia or optional Windows Smartphone for some time into the future.

To get back to the discussion from above. I have pondered the question as to why anyone would want to willingly buy a locked phone. I love to get unlocked mobile cellular phones. I just wish that phone buyers here in the USA had more options to buy unlocked phones like people can do in Europe. Here in the USA the wireless carriers have such a hold on the market here, that companies like Nokia who sell unlocked phone directly to consumers here in the USA are slowly pushed out of the market and don't get new phones into the market by many of the wireless carriers.

Here is a list of USA online retailers that are selling unlocked phones.

http://www.egizmo.com
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.cellular-blowout.com
http://www.cellhut.com

The downside of the growth of direct selling of mobile phones here in the USA is that the purchase prices of the phones are at least double the usual carrier sales cost as all the carriers subsidise the cost of the phones with the 1 or 2 year contracts. We would all pay more for phones this way.

Here is a discussion around whether it is legal to unlock a currently locked to a carrier mobile phone. Kathy Gill, who teaches digital media at the University of Washington sent me a link to her WiredPen Blog that discusses a section of the copyright code that discusses whether it is legal to use third party software or unlock codes to free a locked to a carrier phone if you want to change carriers?

The Seattle PI wrote an article about this topic and the below is a highlighted area that should help expain the resolution issues.

"Unlocking a phone requires entering codes or a special set of numbers, which a cellular company may or may not share with the user. Verizon Wireless doesn't lock its cell phones. T-Mobile will unlock a customer's phone 90 days after fulfillment of the contract. Sprint won't unlock phones because it believes customers already benefit from a Sprint-subsidized phones, said Travis Sowders, a spokesman for Sprint Nextel. Cingular will do it upon request but only when a contract expires or under specific conditions, said Mike Broom, a Cingular spokesman."

I think in the long-run phone will be purchased like laptops and laptops will be more like phones. I can see a day when a wireless phone carrier is selling bundled laptops or UMPC's with their 3G/4G chips already inside the device and these carriers are also bundled with cable TV, digital phone phone, cable or fiber optic internet access.

The future is bundled and converged. Here comes AT&T and is Comcast far from AT&T's grasp. You will get a kick out of reading this article about Comcast buying AT&T in the USA Today from 2001. We may see another articl like this again you never know.
Rob Greenlee

Singapore Mobilcast Listening

2007-01-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

I have spent a few days this week working to improve our mobilcast mobile phone podcasting experience with M1 wireless carrier in Singapore. I have been working with a great source of interesting podcasts called Podcast.sg. This site is built around a group of broadcast radio stations in Singapore. They have podcasts in english and in many other local languages.

Check them out for a little international podcast listening experience.

Rob Greenlee

Technorati Profile

New Mobilcast Video Demos - Mobile Phone Podcast Listening Software Video Posted To YouTube

2007-01-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

I have created some new comprehensive video demos of the mobile phone podcast listening application called "Mobilcast" and Melodeo.com. The other videos document the process to make a Melodeo.com website playlist sync to mobilcast on your mobile phone. In the spirit of full disclosure, I do work for Melodeo Mobilcast.

I have wanted to to make this below demo for a month now and I finally got to it. The demos will give you a great feel for how our application works. Give it a Watch.

To get Mobilcast go here

Here is a direct link to this YouTube video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=T1BHuQ5RbLU

I have also created a few other videos below as well that are posted to my Windows Streaming Media Server. Feel free to share these links around.

- Here is the same as above 5 minute Mobilcast Video Demo in a Windows Media Stream.

Windows Media Stream (300K stream).
Watch - http://www.mytalkradio.com/melodeo/mobilcast-demo-5min.asx

- This video shows you how to use Melodeo.com to setup your "My Favorite" podcasts and have the same favorite podcasts available in the same "My Favorites" folder inside the Mobilcast Mobile Phone Podcast Listening Application.

Windows Media Stream (750K Stream)
Watch - http://www.mytalkradio.com/melodeo/melodeo-mobilcast-link2web-4min.asx

- This last video will show you how to enter your "My Favorites" link code into mobilcast.

Windows Media Stream (340K Stream)
Watch - http://www.mytalkradio.com/melodeo/mobilcast-webtomobile-on-phone.asx

New Mobilcaster Blog Feed URL

2007-01-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

Here is the new RSS Feed for this blog.

http://www.mobilcaster.com/atom.xml

Thanks for subscribing and being a fan of the potential of mobile podcast listening.

Mobilcast Podcast Listening Now Official in the UK

2007-01-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we officially announced our 3 UK rollout of Mobilcast.

I posted about this launch in the UK a few weeks or more ago.

Here is a link to 3 UK's great website presentation of Mobilcast.

Mobilcaster Blog is Born

2007-01-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

I have renamed this blog about mobile podcasting and mobilcast to the "Mobilcaster Blog" at http://www.mobilcaster.com

Rob Greenlee

UK's Mobilcast Top 50 Most Popular Mobile Phone Podcast Streams

2007-01-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

UK's Top 50 Most Popular Mobile Phone Podcast Streams

December 2006

Rank Name
1 Scott Mills Daily
2 BBC: Best Of Moyles
3 The Adam & Joe Xfm Podcast
4 The President's Weekly Radio Address
5 CNN News Update
6 BBC Radio NewsPod
7 The Onion Radio News
8 BBC: Today
9 Al Murray - Virgin Radio
10 Holiday Music - WhyFidelity's Podcast
11 Top Hits - AccuRadio
12 New York Times Front Page
13 Eighties - AccuRadio
14 Indiefeed: Hardcore/Punk
15 Times Online UK Podcasts
16 IndieFeed: Hip Hop / Rap
17 * InfoWorld Daily Podcast *
18 Tim Lovejoy: Virgin Radio
19 Football Weekly on Guardian Unlimited
20 IndieFeed: Alternative / Modern Rock
21 CNET News.com daily tech news podcast
22 The Best of Youth Radio
23 Lifespring!
24 KenRadio's World Tech Roundup
25 World Soccer Daily Podcast
26 open source sex
27 Radio 1's Music Interviews
28 Radio 1's Entertainment News
29 Mobility Today
30 MSNBC TechWatch
31 Lonely Planet Travelcasts
32 Mark Kermode's film reviews
33 MSNBC Business News Headlines
34 Day and Webster's Football Rules
35 The World: Technology from BBC/PRI/WGBH
36 MarketWatch Internet Daily
37 The Premiership Podcast
38 European Breaking News | Reuters Audio
39 The Ricky Gervais Show
40 National Geographic Minutes
41 Wake Up To Money
42 World Today Select
43 Radio 1 Documentaries
44 Broadway - AccuRadio
45 NPR: Holiday Story of the Day
46 Fighting Talk
47 China Business Podcast
48 Science @ NASA Feature Stories Podcast
49 Today in Parliament - BBC Radio 4
50 Sex is Fun

Rob Greenlee

Nokia Blogger Review Program Being Ethically Challenged

2007-01-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

Robert Scoble has just posted about the Nokia Blogger Review Program that gives out Nokia N-series mobile phones to Key Mobile and Tech Influencers and whether it is ethical to do so.

See the Scobleizer post:
"Nokia is giving out cell phones to bloggers just like Microsoft gave laptops out, according to Steve Garfield, who got one of the cell phones and wrote a review. These are very expensive models, too. Again, I don’t mind this."

I am part of the Nokia Blogger Review program and must say that the key to this blog review program working is the honesty of the blogger. I always mention in my blog posts about the getting these Nokia phones via this program. I also give an honest review about its abilities in the context of the topic of my blog. My current blog is about Mobile Phone Podcast Listening and the use of Melodeo Mobilcast to do it. In my blog I talk about many types of cool phones that enable podcast listening.

I also think that this program is very smart for Nokia to do. I know that these cool Nokia N-series phones get a lot of attention when I use them in public. I am in the mobile media business and thus these phones get shared a lot in the office and Mobilcast gets tested on these devices.

My teen age kids also use them sometimes and share them with their friends. The benefits of doing this program are huge for Nokia.

I don’t think any company should be bashed for doing one of these programs with key influencers. I believe that most of these key influencers are honest people that disclose. I am currently using the N80 phone and it is a small cool phone, but am dying to get the N95 as that sounds like it could be a dream smartphone with a quad-band, wifi, 3G UMTS/HSDPA and 5 megapixel camera. It is only missing an internal hard-drive like the N91.

Rob Greenlee

See Mobilcast Video Demo Posted at YouTube

2007-01-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a video review of 3 UK version of Mobilcast. This will give you a good demonstration on how the podcast application works and the on-phone podcast catalog. Give it a watch.

I am planning on making some videos of mobilcast myself of all the different mobilcast client versions as the content and catalogs are all unique.

Rob Greenlee

Saddam Execution Video Recorded from Mobile Phone

2007-01-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

Many are saying that this was a jump the shark moment for mainstream media by user-generated mobile video. Users created the video content and released it online when the major media did not do it. See this blog post from Adam Curry:

"One last prediction as we close out 2006: The Saddam Hanging video will go down in history as the Shark Jump moment for mainstream media worldwide. The “people” get what they want to see and no bureau chief or network boss can stop us. Recorded on a cellphone by a single citizen in Iraq, seen worldwide the very next day."

Another post from PodcastingNews.com:

I think they are correct that mobile video will be big for the creation and capture of moments that have up till this time been lost. The mobile phone has seen some early success as a playback platform with MobiTV, but we will continue to see slower adoption of viewing video on the mobile phone then we will see with the creation and publishing side. Look for a big push from Melodeo soon around our new mobile video publishing and viewing platform MoboFLIX.com.

Rob Greenlee

Pimp My Moto Mobile with Mobilcast

2007-01-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

You thought pimping your ride was cool from the MTV show. PC Magazine online has a very interesting to do list for customizing your Motorola phone and making it an iPhone. This process involves adding Mobilcast to listen to podcasts. The multi-step process even involves scrubbing off the carrier logo from your phone.

Check it out: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2066644,00.asp

Rob Greenlee

Mobilecaster News

Ideal Podcast Show Length: Short vs. Long?

What is Zune? So Misunderstood by Journalists

Present and Future of Podcasting

What Zune Offers Indie Podcast Content Creators

Two Hours on 24 Hour Podcast

Speaking at BlogWorld

Is Friendfeed the future of Podcasting 3.0+

Zune Podcasting Is Alive and Thriving

Best Podcasts You're Not Downloading Yet

Podcast Feed Submissions Accepted from Zune.net

Watch 24 Hour Podcast

Zune's Top 25 Most Subscribed Podcasts for Dec '08

Zune Podcast Topic Interview with Rob Greenlee at New Media Expo

Economic Downturn Impacting Podcasting

Top 25 Podcasts in Zune Marketplace software

Zune Delivering Real Competition in Portable Media Player Market

Podcasts Growth Steady

Wireless Sharing of Video Podcasts in Zune 2.5 Update

Podcasting Needs To Become "Personalized Video & Radio"

Zune Springs Ahead To 2.5 Update

Is Podcasting on the "Net Sidelines"?

Unpodcasting of Video Podcasts

Zune and Me at 2008 CES

Home is with the Zune

Podcasting is Growing Up

Closing of Yahoo's Podcast Directory Is Sign Of Podcast Industry Maturity

Coming Podcast and Portable Media Expo

Live Radio to Podcasting Comes Full Circle

Podcasting Changes Could Drive Dramatic Leap Forward in 2008

Portable On-Demand Cast = Podcast

Only Part of Podcasting that is Dead is the Hype

True Broadband Mobility: N95 with US 3G and N800

New Blog Name and URL Coming

CelleCast: on-demand audio on your phone

iPhones begin Mobilecasting or is it now iPhonecasting?

Downtown Seattle iPhone Line Builds

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

AT&T Boosts EDGE Data Speeds To Over 200K

N800 to support Skype VOIP and IM coming in July

Mobilcaster that doesn't Podcast, an interesting question

Walt Mossberg Posts iPhone Video Review

Coming Battle of the Super Smart Phones: iPhone and N95

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

Mobilcast Top 5 Unknown Features

Mobilcast on the Danger HipTop Coming

New "nuTsie" Apple Parody Video Released - episode 2

Podcasting audience still grows, but name poorly defined

Jupiter says; Phone is clearly evolving into multimedia device

Melodeo goes nuts and takes a bite of Apple

nuTsie is getting people talking differently about iTunes

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

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

Mobile Podcasting Survey Results

What happened to the Podcast Industry?

Thanks for the Mobilcast Reviews

More New Mobilcast Demo Video's Released on YouTube

Nokia N75 Launches with Mobilcast support on ATT (Cingular)

Mobilcast 5.1 "Hi-fi Sound Quality" upgrade is now available at AT&T and 3 UK

Mobilcast User Survey - Mobile Phone Podcast Listening

Melodeo Mobilcast is a Red Herring Spring 2007 Top 100 Winner

Why Is Mobile Podcasting and Mobilcast Lacking Geek Love?

UK's Mobilcast Top 50 Most Popular Mobile Podcast Streams for April 2007

Melodeo Mobilcast Debuts Mobile Podcast Listening in Denmark with TDC

Popular Razr Mobile Phone with Mobilcast

My Mobilcast Wishlist

Are Podcasters Causing Slowing Growth?

Melodeo Mobilcast Video Demo from Gnomedex 2006 Posted

New Video Demo of Mobilcast v5 HiFi Beta Released

In-Car Mobile Podcast Listening with Mobilcast and N95

Mobile Presidential Fun at CTIA

Mobilcast/Nokia Demo's at CTIA Next Week

Apple's New iPhone Won't Run Java-based Mobilcast

Is Podcasting Broken? Is Next Step Mobile?

Mobilcast: Personalized On-Demand Radio

Appears Bluetooth Stereo Not Ready For Prime Time

What Happened To Audio Streaming Online?

Singapore Offers Mobilcast via M1 Wireless

"Podcast" Name Not Globally Used

Music Rocks Mobilcast Listening with Launch of a2z Radio