Printer-friendly version Reader Comments

Portland-based Foneshow.com gives cell phone users on-demand access to audio content once available only through digital media players.

By JUSTIN ELLIS, Staff Writer January 28, 2008

The universal sign for "I'm busy listening to something" is typically marked by headphones or tiny earbuds with a wire tracing down to an unseen digital music player.

It can be seen on bus stops, coffee shops, trains and gyms.

But what if it was replaced by the cell phone up to the ear, otherwise known as the universal sign for "I'm busy on my phone"?

A Portland-based startup technology company is aiming to get consumers to use their cell phones more like their digital music players.

Foneshow uses cellular networks to deliver podcasts, sound clips and other short audio programs to any wireless phone.

Foneshow requires no special software, application or service plan in order to be set up or run on most phones. It operates differently than the audio files that many handsets are set up to play, in that Foneshow programming comes to the user like a regular call.

The company's founders hope their product can do for audio programs what TiVo and YouTube have done for video -- provide consumers with media on-demand.

Foneshow works by pushing audio content to phones using the same voice channel people use to take calls or listen to messages.

On Foneshow.com users can subscribe to over 900 shows, ranging from news and sports updates from ESPN and the New York Times to political reporting and commentary or movie reviews.

All shows come from partner organizations like NPR, The Washington Post, Fox News, The Onion and individual podcasters.

In most cases, the shows are pre-existing content that could otherwise be delivered via iTunes or Really Simple Syndication, a format that automatically updates content from Web sites.

Normally, audio clips and podcasts are downloaded onto a computer and played on a media player or added to a portable digital music device like an iPod.

The problem with that method is that any news shows or updates sent to you in that way are already old by the time you put them on your iPod, said Erik Schwartz, one of the co- founders of Foneshow.

"You only plug in your iPod when the battery is dead," he said.

Once someone subscribes to a series on Foneshow, they'll receive a text message notification when a new show is available. To access it, all the user needs to do is dial a number. The service is free for listeners.

Users can hit the number keys on their phone to rewind, fast- forward, speed up or send the show to a friend.

Schwartz and Nic Wolff started the company in 2006, after years of working in technology sectors outside of Maine.

Schwartz worked in California's Silicon Valley for 15 years, including Yahoo! Wolff worked for many years developing Web software and products for financial companies, including Goldman Sachs and Citibank.

Schwartz said that what separates Foneshow from other media players is that it gives the content "to the public when they ask for it, opposed to when the publisher says so."

The library includes shows produced in Maine or with Maine connections, including podcasts from Bowdoin College, the Maine Things Considered podcast from Maine Public Broadcasting Network and podcasts by Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.

"There's a huge amount of content being made available by individual podcasters," Wolff said. "Part of our strategy is to let fans or individuals add those as Foneshows."

Shows are added through the simple process of uploading a link to a podcast or program to Foneshow's Web site.

The company generates revenue through ad-sharing agreements with the publishers of shows and 4info.net. That company delivers the text messages announcing new shows with a small ad attached.

Foneshow also is working on the audio equivalent of a clickable Web ad, where subscribers can push a button while listening to an ad to be redirected to another number for more information.

MIND THE MINUTES

By using...