Hear Podcasts on your Cell Phone, on Demand

[ChrisMcConnell]

Hi--

We are finishing new software for your PC that let's you call your PC (VoIP) and tell your PC to play any podcast that you choose, all by voice command. Within seconds, your PC is streaming in that podcast, and relaying the audio to you in real-time, via your cell phone, or any phone!

We are in final beta now of Adondo Personal Audio Link (aka PAL) software, and we welcome testers from Podcast Alley. Active testers will recieve PAL Professional (commercial vesion) at no charge, plus 6 months of free VoIP softphone service.

If you are interested, sign up at www.adondo.net.

[ElNacho]

is the number protected by a pin or something, so that people cant start calling into your computer and streaming stuff while you're trying to use it, or using (i dont know how you're going to sell it or whatevs ya gonna do) your streaming minutes or osomething?

[ChrisMcConnell]

Yes, the VoIP number is protected by a user-configurable "pass-phrase" which can be as simple as "Hey PAL, it's me" or as complex (and creative) as "Hello. I'd like some information on direct flights to Katmandu." Think James Bond, or Mission Impossible.

Again, active beta testers get our software for free, plus six months of free VoIP softphone service. There are no catches.

PAL is 100% software. As a convenience, once we launch commercially, we will "pass though" and auto-provision standard VoIP service (from a choice of providers, ranging from a few dollars per month for generic service to around $15/mo for a 10-digit number in your local area code). Generally, these VoIP plans include unlimited inbound minutes (for listeing to podcasts) and a generous allotment of outbound minutes (for calling your freinds using PAL as a VoIP "bridge").

Later this year we intend to include Skype and GizmoProject, so that users can just obtain and use their own VoIP account, without needing us for that at all.

[ElNacho]

kool. what quality does it stream at (i know it's degraded further as it enters yer fone)

[ChrisMcConnell]

Right, from an audio quality standpoint the weak link is the traditional phone network. VoIP often runs at high quality, as high 48 kHz sample rates (dvd quality). However, both the cellular network and POTS (plain old telephone system) bring it down to maybe 8 kHz. That's one reason that music does not sound too great over a telephone. On the other hand, telephonic audio is just fine for interviews, comedy, news, etc.

By the way, except for highly attuned (and young-eared) audiophiles, most humans cannot detect quality differences much beyond 22 kHz sample rates. That's why many computer-generated audio streams run at 16 kHz or 22 kHz.