Home is with the Zune

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.

Only Part of Podcasting that is Dead is the Hype

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.

CelleCast: on-demand audio on your phone

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.

AT&T Boosts EDGE Data Speeds To Over 200K

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

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

Mobilcaster that doesn't Podcast, an interesting question

I have had a few readers of this blog comment that "A Mobilcaster should podcast or Mobilcast some content". Well, I do agree that it would make sense for me to do that and I still might do it.

I created a Mobilcaster RSS feed URL: http://www.mytalkradio.com/melodeo/rss/rss.xml and intended to do it on a regular basis. I even have my own studio in my office here at Melodeo that is right behind me and I still don't do it.

I also have a home studio with over $10K in audio equipment that has been the home studio base for two popular podcasts called WebTalk Radio and the Boston Legal TV Show podcast. All of my past podcasting has been with my wonderful wife Dana and we have been a team. We even got to do podcasts for CBS TV Network back in 2005.

I admit to becoming a podfader and letting down many listeners who have followed my radio shows since 1999.

I suppose that what I am about to write is a list of excuses, but these are realities that I have faced in keeping any podcasts alive. I have be very lucky for many years to have jobs that allowed me the time and energy to produce a broadcast syndicated radio show. I have also had large stretches of time when I was doing consulting work and focusing on the radio show. These stretches of consulting time have been the times when I had the time to devote to building the show and its distribution. Since starting to work at Melodeo, I have had less time and energy to battle with producing content for a variety of work, family and personal reasons that I will not bore you with.

Producing quality radio show content is very hard work and I just don't want to go down the path if I cannot produce a top quality program. I have had a very popular and financially rewarding radio show for many years and I know what it takes to do it right. I also admit to now having a clear vision on what content would actually work now. Podcasting has changed the Internet radio market beyond recognition and it is now dominated by major media companies that have the talent, resources, audio quality, marketing horsepower and time to make content that builds an audience. When I started back in 1999 it was wide open and opportunity was everywhere, but now it is so crowded and there is so much top quality content being produced that it would be very hard to rise above the noise of the Internet these days.

My position here at Melodeo Mobilcast and now nuTsie is very demanding on my time and energy. I also have a 3 hour daily commute to Seattle the eats away at my content production time and I am remodeling my house. I am building mobile phone podcast catalogs for mobile carrier/operators all over the world. I am responsible for localized language podcast catalogs in many countries around the world right now. This Mobilcast listening on mobile phones is growing and coming into a time when the phones and the wireless networks will make it possible for mobile phones to be a great way to get to podcast-like content. The iPod is old technology as seen by the excitement around the new iPhone.

You may see me run back up to the content fence again soon as I do have a new WebTalk Radio site almost completed. I don't see myself doing a Mobilcaster podcast on a regular basis, but could do a few episodes now and then. I do seem to be getting more and more pulled towards video. Look out as I have a face for radio.

Rob Greenlee

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

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

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

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

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

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

Podcasting audience still grows, but name poorly defined

The Diffusion Group has just released a new research study on podcasting dated June 7th, 2007.

The results from this study show some alarming realities around the podcast name as a brand. Brands are supposed to clearly define what a product or service it and what it means in fact and socially to users, customers and business partners. This study is saying, the term "Podcast and Podcasting" as a brand has failed to clearly deliver the goods for all parties involved in it.

Here are some positive aspects of the study;

TDG reports 11% of adult broadband users (some 12 million US consumers) listen to podcasts at least once per month. TDG's latest report on new media usage, Podcast Usage Profiles and Demand Forecasts thru 2012, predicts that by 2012 this number will grow to 24% of broadband users (38.5 million Americans).

Among those that listen to podcasts at least once per month, 68% use a portable device while 49% listen to them on a PC (an interesting insight given that many define podcasting as only a portable medium);

On average, users listen to 5.4 podcasts per month on a portable device and 4.7 on a PC;

On average, those who subscribe to podcast services are signed up for 4.1 different feeds; and 70% of users rely on iTunes to access podcasts.

Straight from the report, here are some of the TDG's harshest truths about podcasting;

While the audience for podcasting continues to expand, TDG identifies two specific factors that are keeping a lid on usage:

(1) Podcasting continues to be perceived as too complex for average consumers to use.

(2) Users remain unaware of the quantity and quality of content available for podcast consumption.

The report continues; "Despite the fact that the Oxford University Press selected 'podcast' as Word of Year in 2005, most consumers have a very poor understanding of the medium or the variety of content available for consumption by podcast," said Dale Gilliam III, director of primary research and author of the report. This lack of understanding, notes Gilliam, is due primarily to the multiplicity of ways in which pundits and marketers have used the term.

Why is the definition of "podcasting" so important? Gilliam continues: "At the end of the day, the way consumers come to understand a new medium such as podcasting will strongly determine the types of experiences and value they attribute to the concept. When those in the business of articulating and promoting this new medium use language inconsistently, the power of the concept to attract and engage users is diluted."

I completely agree with this observation about why podcasting adoption has weakened over the past year. The truth is that the early adopters of podcasting have kinda moved on to the next bright trendy light. To many techno-elites audio podcasting is so 3 years ago. Now the only real hot area of podcasting is video. This area has grown quite well on the iTunes and iPod platform, but has fallen flat on any other portable player platform. The only other place this video podcast content has become successful is on YouTube and Revver, it is it a video podcast whe it is watched on You Tube?

The other area is the use of the term "podcast" and that it means something different to everyone involved at all levels from consumption, distribution and production. The word "podcast" has no one meaning to everyone. This is the core reason the the brand and word "Podcast" has no meaning anymore, because it means too much.

What is a Podcast? Can you define it to mean something everyone can agree on? No, that is the core of the problem. Listeners and watchers of podcasts think for "Podcasts" as only "content". Does it mean a show or and episode?

The word "Podcast" to creator or producer of the content means a type of distribution platform that refers to RSS feeds with enclosures tags linked to downloadable media files.

To distribution platforms the word "Podcast" means a competitive distribution platform with iTunes and the iPod. Plus to add to more confusion the majority of people who have heard of "Podcasts" think of it exclusively as a way to get content on an iPod only. Sorry to say that at this point "Podcast" the term is dead as everyone is so confused.

Early podcasters talked about this potential as it was lifting off. Now we are seeing mobile phones being used to listen to podcasts and it is even more confusing to potential users. I think the answer to this problem will take time and education by marketers who can clearly define in an understandable way all the potential ways consumers can get content. It could be on a mobile phone or a portable mp3 player. It is looking like the mobile phone is the next portable multimedia consuming platform and we just need to figure out a way to clearly communicate what that method is that takes us beyond the term "Podcast".

Why Is Mobile Podcasting and Mobilcast Lacking Geek Love?

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

Melodeo Mobilcast Debuts Mobile Podcast Listening in Denmark with TDC

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/"

My Mobilcast Wishlist

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?

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

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

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

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.

Mobilcast: Personalized On-Demand Radio

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.

What Happened To Audio Streaming Online?

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

"Podcast" Name Not Globally Used

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

Looking For Mobilcast Users

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

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

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

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

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