Bill Valenti of Melodeo and Paul Rush of FutureTrax tag team for the “panelette.”
2:15 The mobile phone market is about 2 billion units and growing rapidly. Sprint just rolled out a digital network for cell phones that runs at DSL-type speeds. Bill has a Nokia phone with a 1 Gig chip in it… it’s like an iPod that’s connected to the internet.
2:23: The content delivered to a phone is different from what you might get at your desktop or from your stereo. The phone is better for short (under 10 minute) podcasts. Paul: What’s missing from the mobile phone environment right now? Bill: The networks can accommodate it, the phones can accommodate it. Go to www.mobilcast.com and download a free client. You need an all-you-can-eat data plan. Bill: There’s no difference between this phone and a personal computer (as far as downloading & listening to audio shows.)
2:30: Paul: delivering content through the mobile carriers holds a lot of promise for monetizing podcasts. After all, these guys know how to make money. Question from the audience: how will I get my stats from Melodeo? Bill: We’ve built a very rich tracking system. Another benefit: this method helps distribute in countries where content would be hard to come by otherwise.
2:37 Question from audience: Is there any awareness among the carriers that expensive, DRM-crippled downloads are not a great value proposition? Bill: They may be slowly coming around to that realization. Paul: They may never really be in touch with reality. There’s a very entrenched cultural idea within the industry that DRM is great and it’s a good thing for the consumer.
2:49: Discussion around DRM gets a little tense. Eric Rice brings up the fact that the mobile cast model — short shows — is a good vehicle for promoting the other content that’s available. Bill: There can be a symbiotic relationship between the online and mobile worlds. Roland from Bryght mentioned Shozu.com – which provides similar services as Melodeo, including photo and video uploads.
2:51: Rogers (Canadian mobile carrier) is experimenting with $4 – $5 all-you-can-eat podcasting downloads. Bill demonstrates streaming the Onion podcast.