Locasting Directory

Stitcher Radio is an iPhone app that provides a slick dedicated podcast client. Stitcher comes deliciously close to integrating location with audio content, in this case, podcasts. The "stations" are basically search categories for the various podcasts. Stitcher's form of locasting is limited to geographic region, "stitching" together podcasts from local podcasters, including local media, newspapers and radio stations. To find the locasting area on your phone, select 'local' from the main menu. then either select your current location (first selection), or your geographic region. Regions are limited to a few major US cities, plus perhaps a dozen more international locations. Although the Stitcher has steadily released mobile clients and now support (or will support) these devices: iPhone WebOS (Palm Pre, pixi) Android phones Blackberry MyFord Touch (in-dash entertainment) The user experience is not far from listening to streaming podcasts on the web. There doesn't seem to be any streaming; podcasts are loaded completely, if you believe the status bar. Playback does begin early, but sometimes the delay was up to 20 seconds despite a good connection. There does not seem to be any preloading of the nexct podcast. Stitcher is currently ad-supported. The mobile ads take up a small area of the screen. Podcasts also have their own ads, of course. Overall, the execution is impressive: clients work, there's enough content to be interesting, and pretty much anyone with a smartphone or computer can listen. However, there's a certain lack of imagination here. The focus is content delivery, not content, so it's basically what can be 'stitched' together. The service could benefit from more focus on production and organization. Although the podcasts seem to be sorted by location to the phone, they don't often relate to the local area. It's simply whichever basement with a podcaster that's closest. Given the state of geotagging content, that's about all we could expect; oh, welll, Stitch On!