.| UrbanNerd |.

I am a big Howard Stern fan. I was very excited when he went to Sirius Satellite Radio. However, once I got satellite I realized the limitations of the technology. Without a window, there is just no chance of reception. I used to listen to Howard’s show on a small iriver FM radio/mp3 player that I could wear around my neck. I would even put the earbuds in so that I could listen on my way into work while riding my Vespa. Then once I got to my desk (without window access in a large office building) I could continue to listen without disturbing others. With satellite, neither of these things is really possible. So I got creative!

I recently purchased (in December) a Pocket PC 6700 from Sprint. I switched from TMobile to Sprint because I was tired of waiting for them to have cool devices & I was also tired of waiting for high speed internet access on handheld devices. Sprint had EVDO & they were the first to have a windows mobile 5.0 device. The Pocket PC 6700 has been a dream to own, I have been using the device to surf the net, get email, post here, pay games, you name it!

So here is how I solved my dilemma: I installed Skype on my Pocket PC with one account, and installed Skype on my PC with another account. I set my PS’s Skype account to auto answer. I jacked my satellite radio into the mic jack on my pc. Viola! I now use my phone’s internet connection (which I pay a flat fee for) to dial up skype & listen to the show. I can even do this while riding on my Vespa into work! The other benefit is that is it off my employer’s network when I get into work. I am not choking their traffic & they are not tracking me.

The one caveat that you should be aware of is that this will drain your battery fairly quickly unless you configure your phone correctly. For instance, because I use the device so much, I have already set the screen backlight to it’s lowest level, and it auto shuts off no matter whether it is plugged in or not (this is a huge power saver, trust me). Also, I do plug the device into my computer’s USB connection when I get into work, other wise it will go dead in about 3 hours or less.

One other note, folks have asked me: why don’t I just stream the show out via windows media or shoutcast or something similar? The reason why is not a technological limitation of the Device, but rather partially legal and partially ease of use. Legally speaking, I don’t want anyone else picking up on a stream I have going over the Internet of Howard’s show. And, in terms of ease of use, I was able to set this entire thing up in 20 minutes. I love technology 