The printed word has its limitations, so Muzimei, the notorious online sex diarist, has turned to podcasting technology to titillate and inform. It was 9am on September 12 and the Guangdong native was chatting online with a stranger who was celebrating his birthday. What would he like to do on his special day? Make love, he said, to the 27-year-old who has earned fame, if not yet fortune, by posting on the Web intimate details of her promiscuous existence - complete with the full names and very personal details of her many lovers.
At 10am he pushed her door bell, 'and at that moment I pushed the record button on my digital sound recorder', Muzimei said. He came in, they chatted, put on music, went into the bedroom, made love, chatted for a bit more, and at 10.30am, he left. Muzimei switched off the recorder and sat down at her computer to distribute her latest podcast - a romp with a stranger - to her thousands of fans.
'I think podcasts are more objective in some cases,' Muzimei said. 'In my blog I write what I see and think; I write how I perceive things. But with a podcast, people can hear everything for themselves. They can hear the dialogue, the sound of us making love, they have a much clearer picture of the experience.'
While Muzimei has found a, let's say, somewhat unorthodox use for the technology, others on the mainland are putting it to a host of different uses that are promoting the flow of information in a highly controlled environment.
Podcasting is the creation of audio files that can be saved on a website, then downloaded and listened to by anyone with a computer or portable MP3 player. The term podcast is something of a misnomer, as the files do not need either an iPod or a portable MP3 player to be played - only a computer with a media player.
In the United States, alternative DJs are leading the podcasting charge, essentially setting up cheap and independent radio stations. But behind them is an array of others who want to be heard. Religious groups are firing out 'Godcasts', while students who debate social issues in bars have tens of thousands of people downloading their 'Beercasts'.