XDrive Streaming Music Service: Online iPod
I saw this news bit on Palm Info Center this morning about how XDrive is now streaming music to Palm devices from your storage locker online. I think this is really, really cool. Imagine having a process on your PC at home which snags new Podcasts and then uploads them to your XDrive automagically? This is the service I've been looking for on my mobile phone. In fact, I'd say that's a complete business model right there.
I'm going to talk to the Orb.com's Ted Shelton tonight at MoMo about their architecture, because I think that even though streaming from your home PC is insanely cool, having an online server store is also pretty damn useful as well. I don't know if Orb has some sort of cache, but if it doesn't it needs it. Laptops are becoming more and more popular... what happens when they're off or in your backpack and you want to listen to some music? Having your music on a server is the way to go. Like an "Online iPod."
It's a race, no? Which is going to arrive first to our mobile phones to allow them to replace the dedicated music players? Will 5GB or bigger hard drives, decent battery life and managable syncing arrive first? Or will 3G broadband mobile data speeds arrive making streaming media as simple as turning on your radio? I'm listening to Launch being streamed right now while at work, why bother with Napster or iTunes and all that downloading syncing stuff if I could get the same experience on a 3G network?
Very cool. Now if only there was a Symbian MP3 player that supported streaming. Talk about a vacuum that hasn't been filled yet.
-Russ