• by Jonathan Blum , July 20, 2006

Place-shifting media is going mobile. Late in May, San Mateo, Calif.-based startup Sling Media rolled out software that turns mobile devices into media-anywhere hubs.

Sling Media's SlingPlayer Mobile uses cellular phone data plans to connect to its Slingbox players. The players feed media content onto the Internet for consumption on any Web-enabled device. Want to see SportsCenter on your cell phone? You'll need both the Slingbox and SlingPlayer Mobile to make that happen.

Analysts like Peter Jarich at Cur-rent Analysis say that mobile media-anywhere software should give big media companies pause. Verizon's VCast music and video service starts at $15 a month. Songs cost $1.99. By comparison, ESPN streamed over SlingPlayer Mobile costs nothing; customers already pay a $59 flat fee for phone-delivered broadband data. With Sling, customers obviously get more for less.

Still, when I tested it, my experience indicated that big media companies have nothing to worry about. Yet.

The Slingbox works as advertised. It is an attractively packaged and priced unit ($199). But the consumer who is all thumbs, technically speaking, should consider professional help. The long networking access codes might drive you nutty.

Once it's running, the Slingbox is an excellent in-home product, but the mobile applications I tested remain a work in progress. Only a limited number of phones are supported: Pocket pc units and those running the Windows Mobile Operating software.

I tested the Sling Media mobile program on a UT Starcom PPC 6700 pocket pc running on Sprint. What a drag. The SlingPlayer Mobile software must be loaded exactly right and enabled with a tricky series of Internet protocol addresses, identification numbers, passwords, and media controls. I went through two rounds of customer service over a week and half. I can't imagine the average consumer will go to all the trouble.

The portable Sling products are still in beta mode; the kinks will likely get worked out. Clearly there is a role for a large service provider to offer an easy-to-use media-anywhere service. But the dumb cellular pipe might be too dumb for such smart media.