[johnnyd]

I've found a couple start-up companies that are banking huge on the masses wanting podcasts sent to their phone instead of listening to a computer download. Here are links:

Foneshow - wide range of subjects

Cellecast - mostly radio talk

They have a point: there is a multitude out there who download stuff and never listen to them. What if it went to your headset during a commute instead? It totally eliminates a big step.

I remember once sitting down with a podcast hotshot who broke out his laptop and showed me a directory tree that would make your head spin. Scanning one, I noticed the podcasts were about a half hour long each on average. "Dude," I said, "I count three days worth of stuff in that subdirectory alone. Which of these have you checked out yet?" Only one, he admitted, and that was three months back!

So "Foneshow" offers you a wide range of shows on a wide range of subjects, some of them updated daily. If it's a daily series - NYT, NPR, sports, etc - you sign up and they send you an automatic text message with the number to dial for that show. One click and after a teeny tiny ad it begins. I've tried a couple and there is a bug or two still to deal with - like audio quality - but as a concept, does this have legs?