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Watching Rocketboom and User-generated Video Content using Shozu-Zucasts

What is ShoZu-ZuCasts? (background information):

ShoZu ZuCasts are part of a free downloadable application that allows users to subscribe to and view video various popular and user-generated content on their mobile phone, including Rocketboom, popular videos from Buzznet, photos from Webshots and videos promoted by media partner Warner Brothers.

Getting Started:

First, you have to go on the ShoZu website (http://www.shozu.com) and make sure your phone is compatible. Currently, ShoZu works on the Nokia 3230, 3250, 6260, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7610, E50, E70, N70, N71, N73, N80, N91 and the Panasonic X700 and the Samsung D720 and D730. You then have to make sure that your mobile account has "Internet data services" enabled. If you currently send emails from your phone, you probably already have this configured. On many networks this is separate to requesting WAP services. Then you have to make sure that your network allows you access to 3rd party Internet sites from your phone. Some networks (such as Verizon) may allow Internet access, but only to their own sites. This means that currently ShoZu cannot be used on such networks. Then you have to check your phone's connection settings and make sure they are pointed to an Internet access point. If you are unsure, you can download the correct Internet access point from your operator or from your phone manufacturer's Web site. Once you have made sure that your phone and service is compatible, you can visit the ShoZu site and sign up for the service, download the application to your phone and begin subscribing to various ZuCasts. Available ZuCasts can be found here: http://preview.shozu.com/portal/tour.do?operation=avlzc. The application and subscriptions are free. The only thing you pay is the cost of data transfer from your service provider. After subscribing to new ZuCasts, ShoZu on your phone must be updated to start receiving items. ShoZu will update automatically at least once per day. If you want to start receiving new items immediately, or you have subscribed to your first ZuCast, you can open ShoZu on your phone and use the ‘Check for Updates’ option.

Interesting Features specific to the Mobile Platform:

The interesting thing about the ShoZu ZuCasts is that the functions of the application were well designed for a mobile experience. One of the best features is the fact that the ZuCasts are delivered to your phone invisibly in the background. This means that you don't have to wait for ShoZu to finish downloading, you can continue to make calls, send text messages, etc. Also, if your phone connection is interrupted, ShoZu resumes downloading your ZuCast where it left off rather then starting over. Also, the ZuCasts are available within your ShoZu application, which means that your phone does not have to have service for you to view the downloaded media (i.e. you can watch your ZuCasts in the subway or on a plane). This is an important consideration when designing applications for the mobile platform because even in areas where service coverage is reasonably good, there can be gaps in connection strength based on a variety of factors including transferring between cell towers, obstruction from buildings, etc. ShoZu also allows gives users the option to save downloaded media files permanently. When a ZuCast is updated older ZuCast files may be automatically deleted from your phone to make space, which is a good feature considering that many phones don’t have considerable storage space. However, by allowing users to save ZuCasts it means that you don’t have to watch the ZuCasts that are downloaded immediately or within a specified time frame.

ShoZu also allows users to change ZuCast settings and specify download times and place a download limit. This means that users can be in control of the cost that there service provider will charge for using ShoZu, which is particularly helpful for people who don’t have unlimited data plans. But it also means that users with unlimited data plans can set ShoZu to update their phones more frequently. ShoZu, as aforementioned, is pre-set to update once a day. The more times that you set ShoZu to update, the more your service provider will charge because every time ShoZu updates it increases your internet usage. Once you set a download limit, ShoZu will download ZuCasts to that limit, alert you that you have reached that limit and then give you the option to continue. Another interesting feature that ShoZu recently added is support for select WiFi-equipped phones, such as the Symbian Series 60v2 and 60v3, Microsoft Smartphone 2003 and Microsoft Windows Mobile phone-type devices, including the Motorola Q, enabling consumers who purchase compatible handsets to reduce the cost of sending and receiving photos, videos and other files by using lower-cost WIFI connections. In conjunction with the new WiFi support, ShoZu has also added a new “least-cost routing” feature allowing users to request that ShoZu attempt to upload images using lower-cost WiFi connectivity before transmitting data over their mobile operator’s network. If users choose this option, ShoZu will utilize the cellular network only if WiFi connectivity is not available.

Viewing ZuCasts on your Phone (Rocketboom):

After setting up my Nokia 6682 to receive ZuCasts I subscribed to Rocketboom, a very popular online video blog that I had previously watched several times on my PC. Rocketboom is particularly famous for its low cost of production, which is particularly relevant to a mobile experience currently, since the smaller screens and smaller screen resolution of a phone make high production costs unnecessary and ultimately unprofitable. While I did appreciate the fact that ShoZu did not interrupt the general use of my phone to download the ZuCast and the quality of the video was suitable for the smaller screen and I certainly appreciated that I could save the file to watch when I didn’t have service, I could have just as easily viewed it on my PC or on my video Ipod. I also found that I missed the ability to view comments on the particular Rocketboom episode, a feature unique to viewing on the PC.

Searching for other ZuCasts to subscribe to also proved to be somewhat disappointing in that the variety of content was quite limited. Even though ShoZu pulls media from various different sources, I found that most of what was available, I wasn’t particularly interested in. I felt that they were also not placing enough of an emphasis on user generated content, providing only one ZuCast of the top user-created video from Buzznet.

The major way that I saw using ZuCasts on the mobile phone as being different, as opposed to viewing video on an Ipod for instance, was the fact that the device itself could download the requested material automatically and alert me that it was downloaded. However, in viewing content on your PC or using iTunes to subscribe to the RSS feeds of certain content, such as Rocketboom, one could easily replicate this experience with only one additional step.

Conclusion:

All in all, I found that the actual ShoZu application was easy to use and had well developed features but still lacked the necessary content to be something I would use all the time. I also thought that the level of interactivity was somewhat limited and that features, such as social sharing between organized groups, commenting on material from inside the application, creating your own ZuCasts or being alerted when a friend subscribes to a particular ZuCast may be additions that would make the application more interesting.