Just a Fancy Fad?
May 27, 2005 7:48 AM Subscribe
While some squabble over who is the “Father of Podcasting” (see “Bickering among the 'Pod Squad’ : Who is the 'Podfather"? And who cares?”), Seth Godin suggests that now is the time to start podcasting: “If your goal is to be an A list podcaster, today's the day to start. And invest. And persist.”
On his blog at MSNBC Will Femia states: “Speaking of shark jumping, ABC News kicks off the mainstreaming of podcasting.”
Is podcasting a “fad”, or likely a future mainstay in modern media?
On his blog at MSNBC Will Femia states: “Speaking of shark jumping, ABC News kicks off the mainstreaming of podcasting.”
Is podcasting a “fad”, or likely a future mainstay in modern media?
Forgot to finish a thought:
The reason this reminds me of the books vs. audiobooks thread is that podcasts are not random-access. You're forced to listen to the entire thing. You can't easily jump backward-and-forward to spots that might interest you. When I read a weblog, or the aforementioned page about comics compilations, I can skim til I get to a part I want to read. I can't do this with a podcast.
Then, too, there's the problem that most people don't write well. And they don't speak well. When you combine the two — a podcaster fumbling over his own poorly written words — you've got a recipe for audio torture.
On the other hand, maybe I just haven't heard a good podcaster. Anyone want to steer me in the right direction?
posted by jdroth at 7:56 AM on May 27, 2005
The reason this reminds me of the books vs. audiobooks thread is that podcasts are not random-access. You're forced to listen to the entire thing. You can't easily jump backward-and-forward to spots that might interest you. When I read a weblog, or the aforementioned page about comics compilations, I can skim til I get to a part I want to read. I can't do this with a podcast.
Then, too, there's the problem that most people don't write well. And they don't speak well. When you combine the two — a podcaster fumbling over his own poorly written words — you've got a recipe for audio torture.
On the other hand, maybe I just haven't heard a good podcaster. Anyone want to steer me in the right direction?
posted by jdroth at 7:56 AM on May 27, 2005
I'm addicted to it. I download a podcast of The Rachel Maddow Show every single day. It's perfect for me because the 37 minute show coincides with my 37 minute ride to work.
But I have to jump through hoops to do it with my Zen Touch. I think if more mp3 player manufacturers embrace it, it could get big.
posted by ignu at 7:58 AM on May 27, 2005
But I have to jump through hoops to do it with my Zen Touch. I think if more mp3 player manufacturers embrace it, it could get big.
posted by ignu at 7:58 AM on May 27, 2005
If I was the father of Podcasting, I would go out for a pack of smokes and never come back. Live in Belieze or something, send a postcard with a naked lady sitting on Santa's lap one year, with just the word "sorry" written on it, never get in contact again, die of liver failure and have my few possessions sent back to Podcasting in a Tee-Amo cigar box, probably like a cheap .32 revolver, half a deck of playing cards, empty wallet and a picture of Betty Grable cut out of a newspaper with the eyes scratched out.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:02 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:02 AM on May 27, 2005
podcasts are not random-access. You're forced to listen to the entire thing.
?????
Do you have an iPod, or some other MP3 player that doesn't allow you to fast-forward?
Granted that it takes more time to skim through a podcast than to scroll down a Web page, but this distinction seems pretty negligible. Part of the main appeal of podcasting is that it's radio you don't have to sit through all of.
I will refrain from self-linking, but there are some pretty interesting podcasts out there, as well as - just as with any medium - plenty of drek to sort through.
posted by soyjoy at 8:07 AM on May 27, 2005
?????
Do you have an iPod, or some other MP3 player that doesn't allow you to fast-forward?
Granted that it takes more time to skim through a podcast than to scroll down a Web page, but this distinction seems pretty negligible. Part of the main appeal of podcasting is that it's radio you don't have to sit through all of.
I will refrain from self-linking, but there are some pretty interesting podcasts out there, as well as - just as with any medium - plenty of drek to sort through.
posted by soyjoy at 8:07 AM on May 27, 2005
Is it me, or is "podcasting" just a stupid (albeit shorter) way of saying "I slapped some mp3s together, you can get them off my website" ?
posted by jaded at 8:07 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by jaded at 8:07 AM on May 27, 2005
Just came across this moments ago:
"So what's the opportunity (for podcasting)? Well, we're seeing it. ABC and NBC announced they'll be doing podcasts, that is they will be offering their audio content via this new technology medium. Others are doing the same. The technology will create some amazing opportunities for some folks as distribution medium but most of the amateur content won't make it over the long haul. While it's likely we'll see a few folks that would never have made the leap into the broadcasting rise as a result of their podcasts, most of the stuff out there just isn't worth listening to. In 1992 Bruce Springsteen sang about '57 channels and nothing on'. He might well have been talking about podcasts." [Michael Gartenberg | May 27, 2005].
posted by ericb at 8:07 AM on May 27, 2005
"So what's the opportunity (for podcasting)? Well, we're seeing it. ABC and NBC announced they'll be doing podcasts, that is they will be offering their audio content via this new technology medium. Others are doing the same. The technology will create some amazing opportunities for some folks as distribution medium but most of the amateur content won't make it over the long haul. While it's likely we'll see a few folks that would never have made the leap into the broadcasting rise as a result of their podcasts, most of the stuff out there just isn't worth listening to. In 1992 Bruce Springsteen sang about '57 channels and nothing on'. He might well have been talking about podcasts." [Michael Gartenberg | May 27, 2005].
posted by ericb at 8:07 AM on May 27, 2005
Is it me, or is "podcasting" just a stupid (albeit shorter) way of saying "I slapped some mp3s together, you can get them off my website" ?
A-yup. Just like "blogging" is a stupid (albeit shorter) way of saying "I slap some crap on my homepage."
We need more buzzwords for the hopelessly obvious. I think i'll start referring to my bumper stickers as "vehiculingualizing" - and my excretory functions as "fecopurging."
posted by MaxVonCretin at 8:20 AM on May 27, 2005
A-yup. Just like "blogging" is a stupid (albeit shorter) way of saying "I slap some crap on my homepage."
We need more buzzwords for the hopelessly obvious. I think i'll start referring to my bumper stickers as "vehiculingualizing" - and my excretory functions as "fecopurging."
posted by MaxVonCretin at 8:20 AM on May 27, 2005
It seems like the people who like them tend to use them as an audiobook substitute. They listen on their iPod in situations where they would normally read a book, and have no access to the Internet. I can see the value of that, though I never do that. In general, they are a poor substitute for a normal web page.
posted by smackfu at 8:20 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by smackfu at 8:20 AM on May 27, 2005
"Podcasting" is a cute name, but if you want to see why this might be more than a passing fad, consider TiVo. There appears to be only one reason why they two are viewed as different approaches to what I'm going to call program collection: TiVo pulls down programming from the mainstream media that would be broadcast even if nobody TiVo'd it, while Podcasting pulls down programming from obscure sources that would not be heard unless someone went to pull it down. The meat of the matter is the same, though, in that you're amassing a local -- and probably temporary -- collection of material for consumption at your leisure.
Set up a series of Podcast networks from "official" sources that only offer a limited subset of programming at any given moment ("air dates"), and the models match. Set up a server of television programs that can be supplied by anyone and TiVo'd on demand from a large library, and the models match.
Oh, except for that fee TiVo charges...but how long will it be before an "official" Podcast channel appears with aggregate information, searching, and reviews, and that charges a monthly fee?
posted by davejay at 8:22 AM on May 27, 2005
Set up a series of Podcast networks from "official" sources that only offer a limited subset of programming at any given moment ("air dates"), and the models match. Set up a server of television programs that can be supplied by anyone and TiVo'd on demand from a large library, and the models match.
Oh, except for that fee TiVo charges...but how long will it be before an "official" Podcast channel appears with aggregate information, searching, and reviews, and that charges a monthly fee?
posted by davejay at 8:22 AM on May 27, 2005
soyjoy: it's certainly possible to fast-forward and rewind through the mp3, but is it possible to distribute an mp3 with bookmarked spots built-in that a player can jump to at the touch of a single button? A weblog has permalinks on everything, making it easy to single out any particular piece of content (some people have even gone so far as to do "purple numbers" stuff where every paragraph can be individually permalinked) and jump directly to it. With an mp3 it's hit-and-miss as you try to find the beginning of the bit you wanted to listen to, fast-forward past it, rewind, find out you went back too far...
posted by ubernostrum at 8:24 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by ubernostrum at 8:24 AM on May 27, 2005
yeah, but that is really timeshifting radio. which I'm all about. If that counts as podcasting then I invented it in 1997 when I used linux, the command line version of realplayer and the vaudio device to automatically make cds of this american life for me every week. Timeshifting is always really cool -- record media reliably and set things up so that you can listen when you want to (or as it was in 1997 when you are underground and can't get radio.)
podcasting is more or less digital radio, but the problem is that bad radio is bad. this concept and the tech involved will democratize radio but like desktop publishing and home studios before it we will see more new bad media than good.
posted by n9 at 8:25 AM on May 27, 2005
podcasting is more or less digital radio, but the problem is that bad radio is bad. this concept and the tech involved will democratize radio but like desktop publishing and home studios before it we will see more new bad media than good.
posted by n9 at 8:25 AM on May 27, 2005
I tried to get on board this whole "podcasting" thing, thinking I had somehow missed a bus, and boy I can't agree more with what jdroth said. The amateur podcasts sounded everything like you'd expect -- amateur. There were sound level issues, slow, monotone speakers, the works.
I totally dig the idea of an easy and convenient method to download and automagically put broadcasts on my media device. iTunes 4.9 will have podcasting support internally, wahoo -- so that's a great step towards that.
But besides getting it easily, I want it to be something I actually want. Again jdroth hits it right on the head, the stuff out there is awful, weblog stuff, except I'm stuck listening to it trying to see if it's going to get interesting versus scanning through it. And soyjoy, to your point, I think the problem is there's no reference at all to what you're forwarding for. Unlike TiVo or webspace, you can scroll thru the audio file but have to stop and listen for awhile before you figure out where you're at.
Podfather? Honestly, who gives a crap. I don't. Useless bragging rights. Adam Curry did a lot to populate the idea and even if some geek doesn't like him, he was the guy with industry contacts who went to New York (he blogs, er, pods about it often) and LA to get people interested in the distribution method.
And that again is what makes it exciting for me, and why I see broadcasters picking it up, it's actually a new distribution channel. Totally unique. Time shiftable content, on the go, stick a few ads in there, its like auto-pvr'd entertainment. I think it'll be great once there is great content.
posted by cavalier at 8:26 AM on May 27, 2005
I totally dig the idea of an easy and convenient method to download and automagically put broadcasts on my media device. iTunes 4.9 will have podcasting support internally, wahoo -- so that's a great step towards that.
But besides getting it easily, I want it to be something I actually want. Again jdroth hits it right on the head, the stuff out there is awful, weblog stuff, except I'm stuck listening to it trying to see if it's going to get interesting versus scanning through it. And soyjoy, to your point, I think the problem is there's no reference at all to what you're forwarding for. Unlike TiVo or webspace, you can scroll thru the audio file but have to stop and listen for awhile before you figure out where you're at.
Podfather? Honestly, who gives a crap. I don't. Useless bragging rights. Adam Curry did a lot to populate the idea and even if some geek doesn't like him, he was the guy with industry contacts who went to New York (he blogs, er, pods about it often) and LA to get people interested in the distribution method.
And that again is what makes it exciting for me, and why I see broadcasters picking it up, it's actually a new distribution channel. Totally unique. Time shiftable content, on the go, stick a few ads in there, its like auto-pvr'd entertainment. I think it'll be great once there is great content.
posted by cavalier at 8:26 AM on May 27, 2005
boy. dave wiener is a real dick. my version of hell would be him and phil greenspun and me in a small room.
posted by n9 at 8:28 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by n9 at 8:28 AM on May 27, 2005
If your goal is to be an A list podcaster, today's the day to start
wow. the dude's like an audio anil dash.
posted by quonsar at 8:48 AM on May 27, 2005
wow. the dude's like an audio anil dash.
posted by quonsar at 8:48 AM on May 27, 2005
Divine_Wino writes "If I was the father of Podcasting, I would go out for a pack of smokes and never come back."
heh heh.
And I agree with cavalier, it has to be something worthwhile in the first place. Just because it's free and DIY doesn't make it good.
posted by OmieWise at 8:50 AM on May 27, 2005
heh heh.
And I agree with cavalier, it has to be something worthwhile in the first place. Just because it's free and DIY doesn't make it good.
posted by OmieWise at 8:50 AM on May 27, 2005
n9 writes "boy. dave wiener is a real dick. my version of hell would be him and phil greenspun and me in a small room."
I think Sartre wrote a play about that.
posted by OmieWise at 8:51 AM on May 27, 2005
I think Sartre wrote a play about that.
posted by OmieWise at 8:51 AM on May 27, 2005
For those looking for decent podcasts, the BBC expanded their podcasting trial recently.
In Our Time (podcast feed) is the best of the lot as far as I'm concerned - a superb discussion show hosted by Melvyn Bragg, covering topics from the concept of beauty to renaissance magic via The Odyssey.
I'm yet to find an amateur podcast worth the bandwidth, though, so I'd guess this will turn out to be a fad unless outfits like the Beeb continue to embrace the medium.
posted by jack_mo at 8:52 AM on May 27, 2005
In Our Time (podcast feed) is the best of the lot as far as I'm concerned - a superb discussion show hosted by Melvyn Bragg, covering topics from the concept of beauty to renaissance magic via The Odyssey.
I'm yet to find an amateur podcast worth the bandwidth, though, so I'd guess this will turn out to be a fad unless outfits like the Beeb continue to embrace the medium.
posted by jack_mo at 8:52 AM on May 27, 2005
It's worth noting there are two separate parts to podcasting worth discussing.
1. on the publishing side, yeah, it's like audio blogging. The ones where some person just rambles on are pretty boring. The ones where they play music, same thing, unless you really, really like their taste in music.
2. The software, which, if you use an ipod is actually pretty handy. You just say "I want to never miss a moment of show X" and every time the person/company publishes a new file, it'll automatically be on your ipod that day. That's pretty cool, and kind of like a tivo. This is why big radio and news is getting into it -- it lets random folks keep up with stuff they like and the big media companies don't want to get in the way (or be beaten by thousands of random yahoos like they did to an extent with blogging).
Everyone here seems to focus on part 1. I agree there are a lot of problems with the format and I'm surprised at how quickly adoption is growing, since I didn't think too many people actually have gone through the trouble of finding audio worth listening to and doing it.
But point two stands on its own. It's a cool piece of software and it handy and useful.
I think there are paralells with blogging since point 1, yeah it's just random dorks blathering on about nonsense, but point 2, it's really easy to publish on the web for the first time.
posted by mathowie at 9:05 AM on May 27, 2005
1. on the publishing side, yeah, it's like audio blogging. The ones where some person just rambles on are pretty boring. The ones where they play music, same thing, unless you really, really like their taste in music.
2. The software, which, if you use an ipod is actually pretty handy. You just say "I want to never miss a moment of show X" and every time the person/company publishes a new file, it'll automatically be on your ipod that day. That's pretty cool, and kind of like a tivo. This is why big radio and news is getting into it -- it lets random folks keep up with stuff they like and the big media companies don't want to get in the way (or be beaten by thousands of random yahoos like they did to an extent with blogging).
Everyone here seems to focus on part 1. I agree there are a lot of problems with the format and I'm surprised at how quickly adoption is growing, since I didn't think too many people actually have gone through the trouble of finding audio worth listening to and doing it.
But point two stands on its own. It's a cool piece of software and it handy and useful.
I think there are paralells with blogging since point 1, yeah it's just random dorks blathering on about nonsense, but point 2, it's really easy to publish on the web for the first time.
posted by mathowie at 9:05 AM on May 27, 2005
As I said, it is easier to scroll through visual text and jump to links than to FF through a podcast. My point was, first, that the statement "You're forced to listen to the entire thing" was untrue, and second, that in my opinion, the difference in ease of use is one of degree rather than kind. At any rate, whether you agree that it is now, that will inevitably be truer going forward, as there has been discussion among techies for months about making MP3s bookmarkable, and the practice of posting "show notes" (sorry, MaxVonCretin, I mean "a chronological outline of what occurs in the podcast with links to relevant Web content") on a podcast's site becomes standard.
posted by soyjoy at 9:06 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by soyjoy at 9:06 AM on May 27, 2005
I forgot to add that I've long thought podcasting was technology in search of a problem. I would say the same thing about RSS. It was around in 1999 and I thought it was worthless. Today, I find it pretty handy.
I suspect my point 2 is the only novel part. We just have to wait until there's something interesting to listen to.
posted by mathowie at 9:07 AM on May 27, 2005
I suspect my point 2 is the only novel part. We just have to wait until there's something interesting to listen to.
posted by mathowie at 9:07 AM on May 27, 2005
Can I ask what the fucking point is of an established news broadcaster podcasting? I mean the whole reason it exists is so normal, non-broadcasty folks can make something akin to radio shows. The idea of ABC or th' BBC doing them seems patently ridiculous to me.
posted by glenwood at 9:12 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by glenwood at 9:12 AM on May 27, 2005
I'll be a case study for your Q, glenwood.
I don't watch or listen to ABC. Maybe once in a year. I TiVo shows I like and I go to the web for my news. If ABC took one of their expose or investigative pieces, maybe on a subject I was keyword'd interested in, and allowed me to pull a show down to my iPod? I commute, I'd hit it. ABC gains another "viewer".
posted by cavalier at 9:16 AM on May 27, 2005
I don't watch or listen to ABC. Maybe once in a year. I TiVo shows I like and I go to the web for my news. If ABC took one of their expose or investigative pieces, maybe on a subject I was keyword'd interested in, and allowed me to pull a show down to my iPod? I commute, I'd hit it. ABC gains another "viewer".
posted by cavalier at 9:16 AM on May 27, 2005
Right on on 2 Matt -- I uninstalled iPodder cause it was too much like the O.G. RSS readers, I don't like clunky interfaces. I'm muy excited to see how Apple handles it in 4.9.
posted by cavalier at 9:18 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by cavalier at 9:18 AM on May 27, 2005
Despite my earlier complaints about the present state of podcasting (as I've been exposed to it), I recognize that it has potential. As Matt notes:
I suspect my point 2 is the only novel part. We just have to wait until there's something interesting to listen to.
I remember that Mena Trott did a couple of audio weblog entries many years ago (long before these so-called Podfathers). She fasioned them as This American Life-style weblog entries, and as such they were actually quite good. If the podcasts I heard were like that, I'd be impressed.
This American Life is remarkably like the weblogs I like to read: often deeply and intensely personal. (Not all weblogs are collections of links. Not all weblogs are written by angst-filled teenagers.) It's not a huge leap to imagine certain weblogs in audio form, with NPR-style production values. But the key is, there have to be some production values. The podcasters can't sit there and stammer, babbling about nothing.
I just tried to listen to Winer's podcast for today. (I've never heard him before. I've never read his site either, actually, though I've heard a lot about him.) It's the prototypical example of the lousy amateur podcast: lots of ums and uhs and nervous chuckles as he rambles about his new car. I don't want to hear that. I want to hear about your first car, the one where you lost your virginity, the one you wrecked the week after high school graduation. Remember how that hurt? I want to hear you read a polished script with this information, with bits of bumper music, with occasional in-the-field sound effects.
Maybe my addiction to This American Life has soiled my expectations.
posted by jdroth at 9:21 AM on May 27, 2005
I suspect my point 2 is the only novel part. We just have to wait until there's something interesting to listen to.
I remember that Mena Trott did a couple of audio weblog entries many years ago (long before these so-called Podfathers). She fasioned them as This American Life-style weblog entries, and as such they were actually quite good. If the podcasts I heard were like that, I'd be impressed.
This American Life is remarkably like the weblogs I like to read: often deeply and intensely personal. (Not all weblogs are collections of links. Not all weblogs are written by angst-filled teenagers.) It's not a huge leap to imagine certain weblogs in audio form, with NPR-style production values. But the key is, there have to be some production values. The podcasters can't sit there and stammer, babbling about nothing.
I just tried to listen to Winer's podcast for today. (I've never heard him before. I've never read his site either, actually, though I've heard a lot about him.) It's the prototypical example of the lousy amateur podcast: lots of ums and uhs and nervous chuckles as he rambles about his new car. I don't want to hear that. I want to hear about your first car, the one where you lost your virginity, the one you wrecked the week after high school graduation. Remember how that hurt? I want to hear you read a polished script with this information, with bits of bumper music, with occasional in-the-field sound effects.
Maybe my addiction to This American Life has soiled my expectations.
posted by jdroth at 9:21 AM on May 27, 2005
I never really "got" podcasting until I found This Week in Tech. You see, there was this cable channel called TechTV. It was pretty popular and got decent ratings. A "gamer" channel, G4, liked their viewership and bought them out. TechTV's most popular show was called The Screen Savers. The main host of the show, seeing blood in the water, quit. Others were unceremoniously fired. Six months later, the old hosts decide they still have an audience and start their own podcast. It's slightly amateurish (it's all recorded over Skype), but is actually quality entertainment. Yes, the stuff they talk about has already been on MeFi or Slashdot the previous week, but they do a good job of digesting down the top stories and doing some armchair analysis. They started asking for volunteer donation subscriptions of $2 per month and have over a thousand paying subscribers now. I'd consider that a good example of making content others don't think is viable available via podcasting, and being successful at it. Time will tell if it will sustain.
posted by zsazsa at 9:26 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by zsazsa at 9:26 AM on May 27, 2005
professional podcasting = time-shifted radio
amateur podcasting = wayne's world
posted by twsf at 9:43 AM on May 27, 2005
amateur podcasting = wayne's world
posted by twsf at 9:43 AM on May 27, 2005
Regarding Seth Godin's remark: "I think they're terrific. The user experience (take authentic, honest, informative audio with you when you do the rest of your life" - that's a confusion of form vs. content. There's nothing inherently honest or informative about a podcast, any more than they're anything inherently dishonest about a broadcast. It's an amateur-vs-professional debate, or as cricketers would say, gentlemen vs. players. Bo-ring.
posted by QuietDesperation at 9:52 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by QuietDesperation at 9:52 AM on May 27, 2005
I've tried the podcasting thing and was pretty less than impressed. It seems to me that podcasting is for people that don't like to type but still want to blather about their lives. If I wanted to listen to other people's boring universes I'd go and ride the bus.
I'm sure there are good podcasts out there, like the one zsazsa mentions about the Screen Savers original hosts (who were about fifty times better than the wanker posers they've got now). Maybe I'll give a try to This Week in Tech and see if there's something worthwhile to it.
Now, when Anthony Robbins starts podcasting, then I'll know its for real!
posted by fenriq at 9:53 AM on May 27, 2005
I'm sure there are good podcasts out there, like the one zsazsa mentions about the Screen Savers original hosts (who were about fifty times better than the wanker posers they've got now). Maybe I'll give a try to This Week in Tech and see if there's something worthwhile to it.
Now, when Anthony Robbins starts podcasting, then I'll know its for real!
posted by fenriq at 9:53 AM on May 27, 2005
it's a fad, and really just pieces of radio, talk or otherwise. Videocasting/blogging will soon be the real big thing, i think, now that broadband's getting more widespread. And cellphone cameras keep getting better too. I could totally see tons of on-the-scene newsblogging/casting, and for events.
posted by amberglow at 10:24 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by amberglow at 10:24 AM on May 27, 2005
(i'm assuming there'll be a video ipod or equivalent pretty soon too)
posted by amberglow at 10:44 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by amberglow at 10:44 AM on May 27, 2005
"Players In Emerging Internet Video [SeattlePI.com | May 15, 2005].
Here in Boston, Jeremy Allaire has founded Brightcove. With Google and Yahoo! offering video submissions, a world like that of Max Headroom might come to fruition - one in which anyone can have their own broadcast channel!
posted by ericb at 10:56 AM on May 27, 2005
Here in Boston, Jeremy Allaire has founded Brightcove. With Google and Yahoo! offering video submissions, a world like that of Max Headroom might come to fruition - one in which anyone can have their own broadcast channel!
posted by ericb at 10:56 AM on May 27, 2005
Podcasting is already a step behind. The true revolution is/was BitTorrent hooked up to RSS. With some decent filtering and a nice UI, that will change media production and consumption... Hope that the TV Torrent crack-down wont kill the technology.
posted by costas at 11:23 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by costas at 11:23 AM on May 27, 2005
costas, many podcasting aggregators already support BitTorrent, so we're well on our way towards that. Unfortunately, a lot don't seed, which is a big no-no. Azureus has an RSS plugin, too, but it's pretty bare bones. It's pretty larval right now, but once we get a killer app it'll be great.
posted by zsazsa at 11:30 AM on May 27, 2005
posted by zsazsa at 11:30 AM on May 27, 2005
MaxVonCretin: We need more buzzwords for the hopelessly obvious. I think i'll start referring to my bumper stickers as "vehiculingualizing" - and my excretory functions as "fecopurging."
I don't know. I'm trying to kick off a movement to get rid of "metrosexual" from our language, and just use the old standbys, "dandy" and "fop" which communicated the exact same thing 50 years ago without the delusion that it is some hot new trend.
costas: Podcasting is already a step behind. The true revolution is/was BitTorrent hooked up to RSS. With some decent filtering and a nice UI, that will change media production and consumption... Hope that the TV Torrent crack-down wont kill the technology.
Call me a luddite or curmudgeon, but I can't think of any media revolution since the movable-type printing press that has fundamentally changed production and consumption. Even "blogging" has it's analogies in history, but they go largely unrecognized because not only do we have to reinvent the wheel every generation, but we have to claim to have invented it first.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 11:35 AM on May 27, 2005
I don't know. I'm trying to kick off a movement to get rid of "metrosexual" from our language, and just use the old standbys, "dandy" and "fop" which communicated the exact same thing 50 years ago without the delusion that it is some hot new trend.
costas: Podcasting is already a step behind. The true revolution is/was BitTorrent hooked up to RSS. With some decent filtering and a nice UI, that will change media production and consumption... Hope that the TV Torrent crack-down wont kill the technology.
Call me a luddite or curmudgeon, but I can't think of any media revolution since the movable-type printing press that has fundamentally changed production and consumption. Even "blogging" has it's analogies in history, but they go largely unrecognized because not only do we have to reinvent the wheel every generation, but we have to claim to have invented it first.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 11:35 AM on May 27, 2005
It's no fad - but it is very immature. Give it time.
You don't need an MP3 player to enjoy podcasts. I started by occasionally downloading weekly Web Talk Radio shows and listening to them on my PC while I worked. Then I graduated to iPodder which automatically downloads new audio files whenever new ones are available. Think of it as RSS for audio.
Podcasting sounds a lot more confusing than it is. It's simply asynchronous radio. But you can listen to it when you like and (in time) you'll have a fabulous choice of audio feeds.
With blogs, Tivo and podcasts you need never consider a point of view different from your own ever again.
posted by bobbyelliott at 12:12 PM on May 27, 2005
You don't need an MP3 player to enjoy podcasts. I started by occasionally downloading weekly Web Talk Radio shows and listening to them on my PC while I worked. Then I graduated to iPodder which automatically downloads new audio files whenever new ones are available. Think of it as RSS for audio.
Podcasting sounds a lot more confusing than it is. It's simply asynchronous radio. But you can listen to it when you like and (in time) you'll have a fabulous choice of audio feeds.
With blogs, Tivo and podcasts you need never consider a point of view different from your own ever again.
posted by bobbyelliott at 12:12 PM on May 27, 2005
I listen to a few (non-amateur) pod-casts, and use a Garmin RadioShark to nab some NPR programs that aren't available in pod-cast format.
I like pod-casting, but the name is a total abortion.
posted by mosch at 12:31 PM on May 27, 2005
I like pod-casting, but the name is a total abortion.
posted by mosch at 12:31 PM on May 27, 2005
when I used linux, the command line version of realplayer and the vaudio device to automatically make cds of this american life for me every week.
Master! [falls to the ground in humility, like that scene in Kung Fu Hustle]
posted by craniac at 1:40 PM on May 27, 2005
Master! [falls to the ground in humility, like that scene in Kung Fu Hustle]
posted by craniac at 1:40 PM on May 27, 2005
"Players In Emerging Internet Video [SeattlePI.com | May 15, 2005].
Yup...i think that's the next big thing--we're a much more visual culture than an aural one, nowadays.
posted by amberglow at 1:45 PM on May 27, 2005
Yup...i think that's the next big thing--we're a much more visual culture than an aural one, nowadays.
posted by amberglow at 1:45 PM on May 27, 2005
...and my excretory functions as "fecopurging."
Way ahead of you, MaxVonCretin. I'm recording all my fecopurgings, and you'll soon be able to subscribe to my fecopurgecast. I guarantee they'll all be crap.
posted by bachelor#3 at 1:56 PM on May 27, 2005
Way ahead of you, MaxVonCretin. I'm recording all my fecopurgings, and you'll soon be able to subscribe to my fecopurgecast. I guarantee they'll all be crap.
posted by bachelor#3 at 1:56 PM on May 27, 2005
ubernostrum:
is it possible to distribute an mp3 with bookmarked spots built-in that a player can jump to at the touch of a single button
soyjoy:
there has been discussion among techies for months about making MP3s bookmarkable
You know, it's funny, I just posted in Ask on this very topic. It doesn't seem like a difficult problem. Just post a hashfile/timestamp combination to accompany a file. Whatever program/OS you use can then parse the file and create an on-device bookmark stack for you to flip through during playback.
I was giving a shout out to the Rockbox, which basically solved the user-created bookmark stack problem over a year ago. This open-source mp3 player OS (for Archos and iRiver) lets you create an unlimited number of arbitrary position bookmarks for any audio file with a single click. So as well as simple restart-on-resume, you have an option of jumping to any point in a file by basically following a bookmark hotlink. It's really, really cool.
posted by meehawl at 2:41 PM on May 27, 2005
is it possible to distribute an mp3 with bookmarked spots built-in that a player can jump to at the touch of a single button
soyjoy:
there has been discussion among techies for months about making MP3s bookmarkable
You know, it's funny, I just posted in Ask on this very topic. It doesn't seem like a difficult problem. Just post a hashfile/timestamp combination to accompany a file. Whatever program/OS you use can then parse the file and create an on-device bookmark stack for you to flip through during playback.
I was giving a shout out to the Rockbox, which basically solved the user-created bookmark stack problem over a year ago. This open-source mp3 player OS (for Archos and iRiver) lets you create an unlimited number of arbitrary position bookmarks for any audio file with a single click. So as well as simple restart-on-resume, you have an option of jumping to any point in a file by basically following a bookmark hotlink. It's really, really cool.
posted by meehawl at 2:41 PM on May 27, 2005
amberglow, I can see the logic of audio podcasting being only the foothills of the "real big thing," video, but I'm not sure. What makes podcasting revolutionary for me is not the means of production or distribution but consumption - namely, I can listen to mass-media content (or complete-amateur-who-happens-to-share-my-interest content) while I'm riding to work or walking down the street - and I do, every day now. I wouldn't walk down the street watching a podcast, and even if I were still on the bus, watching some video content on a 2x2 screen would not, for me, be a step beyond the expansive sensory universe created by audio podcasting.
hey meehawl, sounds like you have it already worked out and ready to ship... I bow to you, O BookmarkFather!
posted by soyjoy at 3:42 PM on May 27, 2005
hey meehawl, sounds like you have it already worked out and ready to ship... I bow to you, O BookmarkFather!
posted by soyjoy at 3:42 PM on May 27, 2005
sounds like you have it already worked out and ready to ship... I bow to you, O BookmarkFather
Hardly, I'm just a happy user. The people at Rockbox did all the heavy lifting. The key enabler is being able to implement your own OS and plugins on the player devices to use all your fancy user-created content tagging and bookmarking.
To that end, I expect that when the ipodlinux people get their project up to 1.0 status that great things will follow. The iPod right now is spectacularly unconfigurable from a user point of view. It's a closed box, very unexciting. But if and when they get some sort of replacement for Apple's firmware widely deployed, then there will be changes. They have already ported some of the rockbox plugins/apps to the linux iPod, and their more advanced hardware should enable them to do some fancier stuff.
The rockbox people did a port of a GameBoy emulator so you can play them on the iRiver. I think emulation on the mp3 handhelds could be very cool. Personally I think a nice little 68K Mac Plus emulator running old 80s hypercard stacks on an iPod would be a treat. Anyway, the key to exciting user-focussed development is an open platform.
posted by meehawl at 5:10 PM on May 27, 2005
Hardly, I'm just a happy user. The people at Rockbox did all the heavy lifting. The key enabler is being able to implement your own OS and plugins on the player devices to use all your fancy user-created content tagging and bookmarking.
To that end, I expect that when the ipodlinux people get their project up to 1.0 status that great things will follow. The iPod right now is spectacularly unconfigurable from a user point of view. It's a closed box, very unexciting. But if and when they get some sort of replacement for Apple's firmware widely deployed, then there will be changes. They have already ported some of the rockbox plugins/apps to the linux iPod, and their more advanced hardware should enable them to do some fancier stuff.
The rockbox people did a port of a GameBoy emulator so you can play them on the iRiver. I think emulation on the mp3 handhelds could be very cool. Personally I think a nice little 68K Mac Plus emulator running old 80s hypercard stacks on an iPod would be a treat. Anyway, the key to exciting user-focussed development is an open platform.
posted by meehawl at 5:10 PM on May 27, 2005
Here's the working link to meehawl's comment to the green.
posted by peacay at 10:19 PM on May 27, 2005
posted by peacay at 10:19 PM on May 27, 2005
wow. the dude's like an audio anil dash.
I've actually locked up the rights to my audio self, so nobody else can claim them. I invented me! I'm the mefather!
Um, more to the point, I hype blogs for a living, kinda, but I've never actually sat all the way through a podcast and I hate the word even more than I resent the word "blog". But.
It's useful as a simple way to timeshift audio content. MeFi's full of enough music fans and NPR fans to understand the value of that. Take away the unfortunate preponderance of crappy content and meta podcasting-about-podcasting stuff right now, and imagine a new generation of simpler tools, and thats' fairly interesting.
As it stands, I listen to zero radio, since I walk to work and don't have a commute and don't own a car. If my alarm clock woke me up to some news and tunes that a voice I trusted (whether that's Jon Stewart or Matt Haughey's) had created in audio format for me, that'd be better than a crappy morning show or a somnolent NPR segment.
And whatever podcasting evolves to will probably allow that.
posted by anildash at 10:46 PM on May 27, 2005
I've actually locked up the rights to my audio self, so nobody else can claim them. I invented me! I'm the mefather!
Um, more to the point, I hype blogs for a living, kinda, but I've never actually sat all the way through a podcast and I hate the word even more than I resent the word "blog". But.
It's useful as a simple way to timeshift audio content. MeFi's full of enough music fans and NPR fans to understand the value of that. Take away the unfortunate preponderance of crappy content and meta podcasting-about-podcasting stuff right now, and imagine a new generation of simpler tools, and thats' fairly interesting.
As it stands, I listen to zero radio, since I walk to work and don't have a commute and don't own a car. If my alarm clock woke me up to some news and tunes that a voice I trusted (whether that's Jon Stewart or Matt Haughey's) had created in audio format for me, that'd be better than a crappy morning show or a somnolent NPR segment.
And whatever podcasting evolves to will probably allow that.
posted by anildash at 10:46 PM on May 27, 2005
You know, I was doing RealAudio things for the Web around '97/'98. Little broadcasts with a friend called "Babblings of an Insomniac" that had attracted a small audience. (Some later broadcasts were also offered on Alex Bennett's site, Radio Free Jack.)
Would I claim myself to be a Podfather?
No. That would involve some sort of hubris that is, like Winer's, sui generis
It would be simply wrong, too, because the big factor in podcasting is the use of RSS to distribute the audio. Hence one can subscribe to podcast feeds, and have software automaticly select and load the stuff you care about.
Sure, podcasting has a lot in common with amatuer radio and all that, but the use of RSS is the critical, but apparently overlooked, feature.
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:42 AM on May 28, 2005
Would I claim myself to be a Podfather?
No. That would involve some sort of hubris that is, like Winer's, sui generis
It would be simply wrong, too, because the big factor in podcasting is the use of RSS to distribute the audio. Hence one can subscribe to podcast feeds, and have software automaticly select and load the stuff you care about.
Sure, podcasting has a lot in common with amatuer radio and all that, but the use of RSS is the critical, but apparently overlooked, feature.
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:42 AM on May 28, 2005
With Irreverence and an iPod, Recreating the Museum Tour
The rise of podcasting is now enabling museumgoers to concoct their own unofficial audio guides and tours. [New York Times | May 28, 2005]
posted by ericb at 8:36 AM on May 28, 2005
The rise of podcasting is now enabling museumgoers to concoct their own unofficial audio guides and tours. [New York Times | May 28, 2005]
posted by ericb at 8:36 AM on May 28, 2005
speaking of museums, the Accademia in Venice had an audiotour on ipod of a special exhibit (in January)--the first time i'd ever seen that.
posted by amberglow at 10:18 AM on May 28, 2005
posted by amberglow at 10:18 AM on May 28, 2005
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I used to have a site from which I could get the latest news about upcoming releases of comics compilations. The guy posted new info every couple days. It was great. Now, though, he's decided to do weekly podcasts with the info. I don't want to spend fifteen minutes listening to him ramble about stuff I don't care about just to find out when the next Thor compilation is coming out, you know? This kind of reminds me of yesterday's book v. audiobooks AskMe thread.
I'm sure there are keen uses for podcasting. The only one I've been exposed to, though, is weblog replacement (or "enhancement"), and in that regards, I think it sucks.
posted by jdroth at 7:53 AM on May 27, 2005