Videos and m-learning elsewhere

As a subscriber to the Learning Development and Innovation Moodle at Staffordshire, I've been receiving a bunch of postings to a discussion board on mobile learning. A lot of the work is being carried out at FE colleges, and there are discussions on a range of e-learning initiatives (including a rather heated debate on the merits, or otherwise, of using Second Life for teaching). One feature that is evident among the m-learning pilots is that they invariably seem to involve providing learners with the necessary devices (here, for example, students were provided with 60gb Zen Vision media players). This, in itself, creates problems regarding both replication and the extent to which such pilots reflect 'real world' contexts (although we could probably assume most students will have portable video players some point down the line). To repeat an earlier point though, my question is whether it is the rich media element or the mobility that really counts here.

At the moment, what seems important to me is that rich media facilitates access to content outside the conventional classroom, and that learners can review this content in their own time and as often as they want. This (especially the ability to review content) continues to be the aspect of podcasting which students I've spoken to identify as most useful. I'm still not convinced that the portability or otherwise of that content is especially relevant here. However, I will try to foreground this as an issue with my last set of discussions with students.