IF you are familiar with viewing and listening to podcasts downloaded onto the computer or music player, here’s an opportunity to catch it on your mobile handset. DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, riding on the current trend of mobile Internet services, is offering its subscribers an opportunity to watch video podcasts and listen to audio podcasts on the go.

This is without having to download them onto their mobile devices and minus data charges for streaming of video or audio content. It is definitely huge savings in terms of memory space on the handset and data charges for browsing the Net.

Calling it D’podCast, the company is offering the service to subscribers at a minimum fee.

According to Noelle Tan, head of value-added services at DiGi, users can choose to subscribe either to the Daily Pass (valid for 24 hours) at a fee of RM3, or take the Monthly Pass for RM6 (valid for 30 days). The service is available to users whenever they wish to as long as there is general packet radio service/enhanced data rates for global evolution (GPRS/EDGE) connectivity.

“There are no extra charges for streaming of video and audio content. Users only pay for normal GPRS data charges when browsing WAP (wireless application protocol) pages,” she said.

This means, data charges apply when initial Internet browsing is done to access the service, but once users have access to D’podCast, there will be no data charges.

Tan added that the company is offering first-time users who subscribe to the monthly pass a one-month free trial and unlimited access to all

available podcasts.

As for content, currently DiGi is offering close to 300 audio and video shows in six categories of popular podcast content, which includes entertainment, lifestyle, news and business, recreation, sports and technology. The content will be regularly updated.

In addition to this, Tan said there are plans to offer premium contents soon, but this will be offered at a different price level.

As for local content, she said that DiGi will be showcasing them soon. All contents, she stated, will be updated regularly.

To use this service, users need to have a mobile phone that has video streaming capability. Those who are unsure if their phone is compatible can refer to DiGi’s Web site (www.digi.com.my) for an updated list of supported phone models.

If you are already a DiGi subscriber, just type DPODCAST and send SMS to 2000. You will receive a service message showing the WAP uniform resource locator/URL (http://203.223.144.215/) to the D’podCast page.

Click on the message and for future easy access, bookmark the URL. On the D’podCast WAP page, you can choose to subscribe to the Daily Pass or Monthly Pass service. Once you confirm the payment, you will have access to the service.

The RSS content is quite comprehensive. For instance, under the lifestyle video category, there are segments such as culture, education, health and music and each segment has several clips.