• Wired, Tuesday, October 3, 2006 11:30 AM

While Apple Computer scrambles to sew up the right to collect dues for any product service with a "pod" attached to it, podcasters are similarly looking for ways to cut out Apple. "Remove the middleman" is the mantra of a litany of podcasting startups, and by middleman, they mean the iPod and the computer. At the 2006 Podcast and Portable media Expo this weekend, podcasters showed off devices and software that could make iTunes software irrelevant to podcast listeners. What is the new listening medium of choice? Why, the cell phone, answers Yusef Cheema, senior vice president of Liquid Air Lab, whose free Spodradio software for cell phones allows users to download and stream podcasts.

Melodeo, another startup, offers the same service over Cingular's wireless network for $5 extra a month. "This could actually replace the iPod as the experience gets better and the broadband wireless network gets better," said Rob Greenlee, senior vice president for the Seattle-based Melodeo. He points out that iPods and MP3 players cannot get real-time updated content. "They're not devices that are easily updated anywhere you happen to be." At least, not yet. Nokia, for one, is starting to sell cell phones with up to 8 gigs of memory included. Currently, they retail at a whopping $700-plus, but those prices will come down as the cost of bandwidth drops. Gadget consolidation is the wave of the future. Nokia business manager Risto Koski says the Finnish company doesn't even like calling them mobile phones anymore. "Multimedia computers" is more appropriate, he says.

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