TalkShoe today announced the general availability of ShoePhone, a service for unlimited group calling with anyone, anywhere, anytime. The service lets you organize large group discussions over the Internet and to record them as podcasts.

Up to 250 people can participate in a live call, which TalkShoe calls a “Talkcast”. 1,000s more can listen to a live Internet audio stream of the discussion. Users can also simultaneously text-chat, and Talkcasts can be recorded and stored on TalkShoe‚Äôs website for later listening and podcasting. Talkcasts can be done instantly, or scheduled in advance.

ShoePhone is free to use.

How ShoePhone Works

ShoePhone uses voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology to create calls. Unlike other VoIP services, though, ShoePhone users can connect with other ShoePhone users as well as to people using standard telephones, mobile phones, other VoIP services such as Skype, and 3rd party VoIP clients such as SJphone and Gizmo.
“TalkShoe and ShoePhone together are a great tool for social networking. Our goal is to bring topic-based interactive voice discussions to the masses,” said Dave Nelsen, CEO and founder of TalkShoe.

ShoePhone is deeply integrated with the company’s TalkShoe Live service, where people can simultaneously talk, text-chat, and stream audio over the Internet. TalkShoe hosts and discussion leaders are in control with features such as see-who‚Äôs-talking indication, voice muting, text-chat censoring, and request-to-talk queuing. TalkShoe also has created numerous web widgets for people to easily integrate any live and recorded Talkcasts into their social networking websites including MySpace, Facebook, TypePad, Friendster, Webwag, Netvibes and Windows Live.

“ShoePhone makes connecting with TalkShoe quick and easy,‚Äù commented Aaron Brauser, Vice President of Product Management at TalkShoe. ‚ÄúThere‚Äôs no need to enter IDs, phone numbers, or IP addresses ‚Äì just use a headset and a PC or Mac.‚Äù

The basic service is free; the company plans to make money from advanced services. Standard charges from your phone service provider may apply.

You can get more information about the company’s services at the TalkShoe site.