Link: BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Mobile on mobile
Andy Carvin tweets that we can listen to his NPR report on mobile blogging from our phones. Just call: 202-683-7002. This is, indeed, where content and communication merge
Jeff Jarvis just blogged about a service that America’s National Public Radio is offering — since I’m now in the States, I’m taking a great deal of pleasure in being able to simply dial US numbers without the +1 addition and an international sized phone bill.
I decided to phone up that number there — 202-683-7002. Fascinating. I was connected immediately, there was perhaps a second delay and all of a sudden, the report on mobile blogging began playing down the phone. Very, very cool. Particularly when more and more people are getting unlimited voice calls. I really like the idea of being able to listen to shows this way — it works for anybody with a handset (or a landline for that matter). No need to download application software and use your data allowance downloading podcasts.
I’m not saying I’d always want to consume media in this manner, I’d just like to have the choice.
I’ve emailed Andy to see if I can find out more about this service. I’d like to be able to call up the BBC and listen to their podcasts in this way too.
We did this in Russia about a year ago. Any mp3 published on the Net file could be listen by such way. And podcast from the leading business news paper for example is available via such a service.
Um, clever… but for some reason I don’t like the sound of it. For one, what if someone calls? OK, I can switch calls, but what if I miss some? How would I rewind? What if I walk into a store and need to pause it?
Part of me thinks that if your technically proficient enough to want to listen to a podcast then you should/would be able to bung a quick piece of software on. I suppose this could help move podcasting into the mainstream, but only as a first step. They’d use this and then want more, so they’d install the software.
Just my thoughts. And yes, I know some might argue that podcasting is mainstream : )
In response to Geoff – for those with net access from a phone, your point makes sense – it is better to have the rewind/forward/bookmarking capabilities at hand. However, not everyone has Internet access on their phone. For this reason, offering a telephone number for such services reaches the largest number of users.
NPR streams are also available via the mobile web at http://npr.org/mobile.