Orb Adds Internet Radio, Podcasts

By Geoff Duncan April 28, 2006

Orb Networks has announced enhancements to their service to enable users to play podcasts and Internet radio via any mobile device supporting Windows Media, Real Player, 3GP player, or Macromedia Flash, regardless of whether those devices connect to the Internet via 3G mobile networks or WiFi. Using Orb software, a user of a Nokia mobile phone with RealPlayer support could listen to (or record) an Orb iRadio feed of a live sporting event being broadcast to the Internet in Windows Media format

Orb works by connecting a user back to their always-on Windows XP home system, which contains their personal medi connections. Orb software on the home PC acts as the user’s personal media server, enabling users to enjoy their personal media collections wherever they are, as well as handling all the bitrate and media-format conversion issues transparently.

“The whole point of Orb is to empower our users to instantly ‘mycast’all their favorite content to themselves wherever they are,” said IanMcCarthy, Orb’s VP of Product Marketing. “Consumers demand more frommobile radio than an FM tuner in their phones or specializedsatellite-radio devices and subscription services. Consumers need to beable to roll their own programming from all their favorite audiocontent, wherever it is. Orb puts that power in the consumer’s hands.”

Orb software is free, although mobile users may have to pay any charges associated with their data plan or Internet access.

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