PodBible for mobile phones

We are trying to make the PodBible audio Bible (podcasts) available to users on mobile phones, when that project is ready it will be at https://podbible.mobi but at present that's just an experimental site. We have a problem though with MP3 files, they are still too big!

On FutureBible (the overarching project to deliver the Bible in various ways to mobile phones) David introduces us to a (to me) new file format AMR: An alternative to mp3, I have tried it, using the conversion tool David points to, and it works, a 1.11MB MP3 (at 32kbps) becomes a 218KB AMR (at 6.7 MR) which sounds "nearly" as good though till I amplified it was a bit "quieter".

However, I have two questions you might be able to answer for me:

1. What mobile phones can or can't play AMR files? So if you have a phone can you try downloading this AMR file and seeing if it plays, and report the make, model and result below, please!
2. What exactly are the licensing issues with AMR there is a link on the Wikipedia site to an VoiceAge legal page, but I go cross-eyed trying to find out what that means for ordinary non-commercial users. Any comments on that would be helpful too!
   

Does Zondervan "get it" at last?

John has a link to an interview on Christianity Today with Maureen Girkins, Zondervan’s CEO in the interview she says that Zondervan's singing and dancing all celebrity Audio Bible The Bible Experience was their best-selling Bible in 2007. That should be no surprise to PodBiblers, our un-advertised, read-by-plain-ordinary-people, Bible delivers more than 40,000 audio Bible chapters each month!

They asked her:

Can you tease out an example of how publishing will change?

Wireless phones, which didn't exist 20 years ago, have changed not only the way people communicate but also the way they live. People are going to read, and they're going to read paper for the rest of our lifetimes. But I'm convinced that different distribution for content will change the way we live. We have entered the digital world. It's not like we're just stepping our toe into it. The Bible Experience audio Bible was the best-selling Bible of 2007.

I think we can make some predictions today for how further distribution changes will alter the way we live our Christian life. The spiritual journey many of us have will be changed by the Internet and digital technology. But I'd like a little more time in this discovery process before I can vocalize how.

Now, this is cautious, but much less cautious than print-based publishers usually are! It makes projects like David's for mobile phones or our PodBible relevance visible!

(Audio?) Bible on mobile phones

David Ker, who works in Mozambique - where mobile phones are less expensive to run than NZ, and Internet less available - is putting together a project to make the Bible available in various ways by mobile phone. To listen in, or join the discussion just subscribe to the blog...

Incidentally if you have any knowledge or ideas that can help with making PodBible more accessible to mobile phone users please comment, we have the domain PodBible.mobi but do not yet really know how to use it!