Podcasts and Cell Phones, Together Again

Podcasting from my phone? Not so interested. Listening to my favorite podcasts from my phone? Now you've got my attention. SnapVine has just launched their Mobile Podcasting service, which I had up and running in under five minutes.

All I had to do was create an account on their website -- the registration process was refreshingly non-intrusive -- and supply my cell phone number. After receiving a quick automated confirmation call, I entered the URLs for two of my favorite podcasts (Lost and Studio 360, which I highly recommend), and dialed SnapVine's number. Using the 1 and 3 buttons I could go back and forth between podcasts, with SnapVine automatically keeping track of where I'd left off in each. The audio was heavily compressed, but generally tolerable for voice.

The service is free, but of course you're burning up minutes on your plan and paying for long-distance calls to Iowa. Given that I already have an MP3 player, it's not really economically feasible for me to switch to SnapVine; but for someone who doesn't want to buy a player just for podcasts, or who doesn't mind paying a little extra to not have to carry around another gadget, it might be worth it.