A method and apparatus for providing streaming content over telephones is described.
The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the
invention use allows users to place a telephone call to access the voice portal.
The user can access many different types of content. This content can include text
based content which is read to the user by a text to speech system (e.g., news
reports, stock prices, text content of Internet sites), audio content which can
be played to the user (e.g., voicemail messages, music), and streaming audio content
(e.g., Internet broadcast radio shows, streaming news reports, and streaming live
broadcasts). This content can be accessed from many different places. For example,
the content can be retrieved from a news feed, a local streaming content server,
an audio repository, and/or an Internet based streaming content server. The streaming
content allows the user to access live web broadcasts even though the user may
not have access to a computer. The system allows audio signals from multiple sources
to be combined to enhance the user experience. Additionally, the user can control
many aspects of the delivery of the streaming content. Personalization features
of the voice portal allow for an improved user experience during streaming content delivery.