I had a pre-release look of the PodcastReady application a month or more ago and was very intrigued. It’s an podcatcher application that can run and reside completely on a USB Memory Stick. What the folks at PodcastReady did was form a partnership with mobiBLU and had PodcastReady preloaded on their new B153 MP3 player that is shipping to stores nation wide. This was probably the smartest thing someone has done in the podcasting space in a long time. I received the MP3 player that was PodcastReady on Monday and have been playing with it for the past two days.
When the user plugs the mobiBLU MP3 Player into the USB 2.0 port, the MP3 player is detected as an ordinary USB Memory stick even though it is a full featured MP3 player, which you can then navigate via windows explore, and residing in top level directory is the Podcast Ready application. Launching Podcast Ready loads the application it calls home and then presents you with a list pre-selected podcast. Now what is smart is that the PodcastReady application does not come preloaded with a podcast directory instead the software calls home and receives a fresh list that the PodcastReady team can update. This assures that the podcast they present are those that are valid and delivering content on a regular basis.
The user then has the option of downloading one of those initial podcast or opening up an account on the PodcastReady.com website and choosing shows from their full featured directory that is then inked via subscription to your player.
This is easier than dealing with iTunes! Here you have the first truly podcast ready mp3 player, and without a doubt will introduce 100’s of thousands of people to podcasting. It’s the first innovation I have seen in the space in a long time and I wish I would have thought it up because it is pure genius.
The MP3 player itself is pretty awesome it will play a 153 hours on a single charge and is 1/2 the size of my cell phone. The unit I tested had 2GB of storage which is plenty for loading up podcast and some indie music to listen to. The MP3 player has a very easy to use menu system, for the first time I received a MP3 player that did not require me to break out the manual. If you are looking to introduce someone to podcasting, and want to empower them with the power of walk away content this is the item that I would buy. The unit I had was available online for 129.99.
Congrats to the PodcastReady team and two thumbs up to mobiBLU which is manufactured by the Hyun Won Inc. [www.mobiblu.com] [www.podcastready.com]