1. asj2008's Avatar
    Hi everyone,

    We are in test mode for a very new Blackberry service that allows you to create a "personal radio" and listen to blogs and news from
    your Blackberry Curve or Pearl, as if they were podcasts. It works on our Blackberry curves and latter Blackberry devices that can run standard Java ME apps.

    It's free, and you can first create your account here:
    voizpod.com

    Then after creating your account, just download the mobile app by pointing your mobile browser to here:
    voizpod.com/m75

    Please give us much feedback as you can as it will help us make the service a better one for everyone.

    support (at) voizpod.com

    Happy Listening and thanks!
    ASJ
    07-16-08 10:50 AM
  2. asj2008's Avatar
    Also, please add more blackberry blogs to the list on the homepage if you know one that isn't already there. There have been around 8 or so from previous users, and we've used those to populate a FEATURED LIST, but the more the better, since it gives users a larger selection of channels to choose from
    07-17-08 01:04 AM
  3. amazinglygraceless's Avatar
    Registration and installation were effortless.

    Currently listening to the CB blog entry:
    Good News / Bad News: Bold Delayed; Thunder Booms

    Only issue, is that it reads everything, and get a great deal
    of words wrong. And whenever it gets to a word with an
    apostrophe it reads it as a group of letters. And if it encounters
    something like 1-2 months it reads 1 dash 2 months.

    Will have to play with a bit more. With a bit of work this
    could be good.
    07-17-08 01:39 PM
  4. asj2008's Avatar
    Registration and installation were effortless.

    Currently listening to the CB blog entry:
    Good News / Bad News: Bold Delayed; Thunder Booms

    Only issue, is that it reads everything, and get a great deal
    of words wrong. And whenever it gets to a word with an
    apostrophe it reads it as a group of letters. And if it encounters
    something like 1-2 months it reads 1 dash 2 months.

    Will have to play with a bit more. With a bit of work this
    could be good.
    Hi,

    Thank you for trying it!

    The html parser that we are currently using is a generalized one that will be improved with specialialized parsers. This should increase the probability that voizpod pulls the correct content and not extraneous content after or before it.

    Idiosyncratic words like those with dashes should be addressed also as we encounter them.

    In general, the system reads generalized content like those from CNN much better than it does technical content, where specialized words might not be in its vocabulary and it reads it kinda wrong, as in pronunciation....

    It takes patience and time to teach a machine to read like a person!

    ASJ
    Last edited by asj2008; 07-17-08 at 03:08 PM.
    07-17-08 03:02 PM
  5. amazinglygraceless's Avatar
    Thanks for that explanation. And just know it was in no
    way meant to be a know against the program, just an
    initial observation.

    I do really like this and the concept, and the fact that you
    can save the file and listen it to it later is really nice.

    Good job so far. Would love to see how this turns out.
    07-18-08 11:02 AM
  6. asj2008's Avatar
    Thanks for that explanation. And just know it was in no
    way meant to be a know against the program, just an
    initial observation.
    No problem...the more problems people uncover now, the better so we can improve the service.

    I do really like this and the concept, and the fact that you can save the file and listen it to it later is really nice.
    I save it on a 2 GB SD Card, since the Blackberry does not allow direct save to the root directory (maybe because the app is not signed?)...the only thing I'm concerned about is the prompt that the Blackberry puts up every time saving to the card occurs. I guess signing the app would also solve this problem.


    Good job so far. Would love to see how this turns out.
    We're always looking for content providers (e.g. bloggers) and other partners who can share its rise with us
    07-18-08 08:08 PM
  7. amazinglygraceless's Avatar
    Keep up the good work. I know there are people looking
    for away to do this.

    And I did try it with CNN, much better, so you are right about
    the technical jargon being the problem.

    Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
    07-18-08 08:25 PM
  8. amazinglygraceless's Avatar
    OK here are two things I'd personally like to see.

    1) Volume control - The volume rockers neither increase
    or decrease the volume

    2) Application permissions - I set everything to allow, but I still
    get that message when opening the app. Not a deal breaker,
    just kind of annoying. I realize that may be because the app
    is unsigned.

    I really do like this app and hope you have much success.


    And if you can increase the content, I'm sure it will be a hit.
    I would actually pay for this.
    07-20-08 02:08 AM
  9. asj2008's Avatar
    OK here are two things I'd personally like to see.

    1) Volume control - The volume rockers neither increase
    or decrease the volume

    2) Application permissions - I set everything to allow, but I still
    get that message when opening the app. Not a deal breaker,
    just kind of annoying. I realize that may be because the app
    is unsigned.

    I really do like this app and hope you have much success.


    And if you can increase the content, I'm sure it will be a hit.
    I would actually pay for this.
    Hi,

    I'm not sure you realize this, but anyone can ADD to the content using the rss feed of any website.

    That's why it's called a "Personal Radio" because each person can add and listen to their own feed or channel. Just login to the website at voizpod.com and it'll have a section where you can add your own feeds or channels.

    I guess we weren't very good at saying how to do this.

    About the other things....

    1. Volume control - we can probably add that in
    2. Permissions - we'll be joining the Blackberry alliance and seeing how we can sign the app.

    Thanks again for your feedback!

    ASJ
    07-21-08 03:08 PM
  10. asj2008's Avatar
    Hi all!

    We started a new blog for the Voizpod Team. Please feel free to visit us and say hello! Btw, we've garnered more than 100 users so far and got lots of suggestions, comments, and complaints, so please keep those coming!

    To read our blog:
    The Voiz!


    ENJOY!
    Last edited by asj2008; 07-26-08 at 09:01 PM.
    07-23-08 09:51 AM
  11. amazinglygraceless's Avatar
    Got the RSS Feed thing worked out Never even saw that part.

    Getting better. Listened to the NY Times and a feed from a local
    newspaper and both were nearly perfect.

    Also is it me or did you guys clean up the "mechanicalness" of the
    readers voice. Just seems to sound better than it has.

    One question, I have maximum articles per channel set to
    10 but no channel shows more than 5, am I missing something?
    07-23-08 02:22 PM
  12. asj2008's Avatar
    Got the RSS Feed thing worked out Never even saw that part.

    Getting better. Listened to the NY Times and a feed from a local
    newspaper and both were nearly perfect.

    Also is it me or did you guys clean up the "mechanicalness" of the
    readers voice. Just seems to sound better than it has.

    One question, I have maximum articles per channel set to
    10 but no channel shows more than 5, am I missing something?
    Hi,

    The maximum channel thing is because right now we only transform into voice the first 5 entries that our parser grabs from the website. In other words, there isn't more than 5 entries or articles at any one time for each website (old content is cleared every day at mignight or so). We can move that higher to maybe 10 entries per channel, but we'll hold off until we can get a bigger server - when you're poor like us a bigger server is like THE holy grail

    Btw, did you try downloading and storing the articles to your local drive? You can't store to the root drive, but if you have an SD card you can store there. You'll need this if you want to preserve old articles because we clear them every night like i said. It doesn't matter that you bookmarked them, the actual content is gone.

    And no, we have not changed the voice quality recently. We can increase quality, but it would mean a bigger file. One person also emailed about choices in the voice used. Well, we'll also offer a woman voice in future for those who'd like some change
    Last edited by asj2008; 07-23-08 at 03:39 PM.
    07-23-08 03:11 PM
  13. amazinglygraceless's Avatar
    Again, thanks for the explanation. Your responsiveness
    is quite admirable and acquits your group very well.

    Yes I have d/l'ed a bunch of stuff to the SD card to
    listen to later. That is my absolute favorite feature.

    As to the voice, maybe I'm just getting used to it .
    A choice of male or female would be a great addition.

    And if you can make it Thandie Newton's voice, I'd pony
    up for it tomorrow
    07-23-08 04:25 PM
  14. asj2008's Avatar
    Again, thanks for the explanation. Your responsiveness
    is quite admirable and acquits your group very well.

    Yes I have d/l'ed a bunch of stuff to the SD card to
    listen to later. That is my absolute favorite feature.

    As to the voice, maybe I'm just getting used to it .
    A choice of male or female would be a great addition.

    And if you can make it Thandie Newton's voice, I'd pony
    up for it tomorrow
    Hi:

    I think it's almost essential that people be able to download to their BB. It cuts down on the lag time in playing and allows you to listen to stuff even when your network connection is bad or down. The audio sizes are less than 1 MB so you could add quite a lot of them.

    I think it would be great if people could use their own voice for the translations, but that's probably out of the question given the technology...

    I also know what you mean when you say you get used to it. We're also working on some of the trivial problems that still may bother people, like the voice pronouncing quotation marks in sentences as "end kwaaaa"

    We'll probably fix that by tonight....
    07-23-08 07:43 PM
  15. asj2008's Avatar
    As requested by one of the users, we are starting to create a series of video tutorials on how to use the Voizpod mobile. If I sound kinda dorky and nasal in the video, it's because I am kinda dorky

    Here's the first one. It shows you how to download and store articles from websites into your Blackberry.

    The zipped version (only 26 MB) if you want to save it on your hard drive first:

    http://www.voizpod.com/tutorials/voi...ownloading.zip

    The non-zipped version (it's 40 MB, so only click if you are on a fast DSL, cable or T1 line):

    http://www.voizpod.com/tutorials/voi...ownloading.mov
    07-24-08 11:06 AM
  16. asj2008's Avatar
    After a week or so of testing with users in this forum (thanks!), please note the following that have caused problems with users:

    Verizon:

    Verizon does not support Java (J2ME) apps so you will not be able to run the Voizpod Mobile on verzon. You can use the Voizpod mobile site using your browser though.

    T-mobile

    T-mobile users have not been able to access the internet through Voizpod Mobile. This is because T-mobile has the following restrictions:

    You can only acccess internet via this app if:

    1) The application was signed with a T-Mobile certificate, or
    2) The user has a $20 "total internet" plan instead of the regular $6 T-Zones one, or
    3) The handset was not bought through T-Mobile.

    We will work with T-mobile to sign the application (option #1) so this problem should be fixed later....

    Thanks again to all those testing it!!!!
    07-27-08 04:51 PM
  17. asj2008's Avatar
    Here's more on T-mobile's restriction on all third party apps:
    T-Mobile Disses Opera, Says "Get Less!" - Gearlog

    We will see whether we can get a cert from T-mobile, but I do not know how long this will take. I apologize to all T-mobile users....

    In meantime, you can use the mobile website at voizpod.com/w until we can find a way around t-mobile's, well...i don't know what to call it....

    We will upgrade that mobile site to accomodate people...
    07-27-08 09:07 PM
  18. asj2008's Avatar
    A few people have emailed about why some of their channels were not updated after an absence of several days (in one case, a week or so), and so I updated the FAQ and would like to post this here, since it is kinda essential info.

    The answer is pretty simple: The more you use Voizpod to view your channels, the more updated they will be. The reason for this is that the Voizpod server only updates channels which are being used. So, if you don't log into your account for several weeks, and none of your channels are also opened by another person, then they will be outdated when you log into your account. However, check back the next day and they should have the most current articles because you checked it the day before.

    So the best idea is to log into your account frequently so your personal channels will be updated all the time! If you log in daily, then all your channels get updated daily too!

    PS. We'll be adding "Updated: DD/MM/YYYY" info to the channels as well so when you open one you'll know when was the last time it was updated.
    07-31-08 06:51 AM
  19. asj2008's Avatar
    A new FAQ that explains the occurence of a 413 error when using the mobile app has been posted.

    413 error FAQ

    Please note that if you or your IT dept cannot fix this error, you can still use the voizpod mobile website at the voizpod mobile website to listen to your channels on your Blackberry Peral or Curve.

    Thanks...
    08-10-08 11:41 PM
  20. asj2008's Avatar
    Just wanted to bump this thread for any new members who may want to help beta-test the new service. Thanks to all those who have used it and given feedback so far!

    ASJ
    09-11-08 07:33 AM
  21. w00dy65's Avatar
    It's not the easiest app to navigate. I've had it for 10 minutes and yet to hear anything. I can't hear the default CNN feed and can't finger out how to add channels. Moodio is more direct and user-friendly, however when using Moodio you cannot listen and use the internet browser at the same time.

    Good luck cleaning up this beta version...I'm sure it's early in development and bugs exist.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    09-11-08 08:24 AM
  22. w00dy65's Avatar
    After reading some FAQ's, I get the impression that this is not a LIVE stream, but rather a recorded file(s) downloaded to my phone.

    Don't get me wrong...I appreciate and admire the service, but I would rather hear LIVE audio streams than downloading a "podcast" type of file.

    That's just my personal preference...not a big deal. But I think I'll continue to use Moodio.

    Again...good luck and have fun with your app/service. It's nice to have people, like you, out providing things like this.

    Thanks!!!

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    09-11-08 08:42 AM
  23. jayman2's Avatar
    After reading some FAQ's, I get the impression that this is not a LIVE stream, but rather a recorded file(s) downloaded to my phone.

    Don't get me wrong...I appreciate and admire the service, but I would rather hear LIVE audio streams than downloading a "podcast" type of file.

    That's just my personal preference...not a big deal. But I think I'll continue to use Moodio.

    Again...good luck and have fun with your app/service. It's nice to have people, like you, out providing things like this.

    Thanks!!!

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    I have to agree with you. I just installed the app but cannot connect to the internet through it. I get a message saying something like, "my internet connection is not writable".

    What I CAN DO is, go to the voizpod website thru my browser and stream the pre-recorded media from there. But I don't see any point in doing that.
    09-11-08 11:42 AM
  24. vestaviascott's Avatar
    Verizon:
    Verizon does not support Java (J2ME) apps so you will not be able to run the Voizpod Mobile on verzon. You can use the Voizpod mobile site using your browser though.
    I was not aware of that. I've got an 8830 WE on Verizon. Ive been able to download and install java apps, and they seem to open at least. I do see some problems when trying to access the menu systems. Is this the appropriate behavior for Java apps on Verizon?
    10-10-08 10:39 AM
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