Podcastplayer.org news

There’s a fairly comprehensive introduction to podcasting at “iPod Lounge": iPodlounge | Understanding the Podcasting Revolution

Naturally enough, given the site, it ignores other ways of listening to podcasts and assumes listeners have an iPod. And it seems unaware of the current “no, I invested podcasting” scrap. Otherwise it seems thoughtful enough. I particularly like the way it highlights the somewhat surreal nature of hearing a familiar blogger or BB/email/IM correspondent for the first time.

More and more it seems that RSS and fresh, frequent content is the way forward in web marketing. There’s a somewhat rant-like post here: Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger, but there’s sense behind it.

I usually talk about a “rule of three” - The first time someone visits a web site, it’s all new, all fresh. The second time they visit, if nothing has changed they’ll likely give “the benefit of the doubt", and assume they’ve just caught it on a slow day. If nothing has changed by the third visit, you’ve lost them. RSS and its chums are a great way of reminding visitors that something has changed, so you can get that excitement of the new everytime you add something.

Like many people, “guanoboy” at “Grape Juice Plus” feels he doesn’t quite “get” podcasting:

I’m a bit confused about this whole phenomenon…at it’s basic level, it’s someone recording a “show” (on their pc) and allowing you to download it, right? So why the “podcasting” term? Isn’t it just an audio file that you can listen to anywhere, just like any other? I’m not dissing the idea, just trying to understand it. In some ways, it seems like it’s a new spin on an old thing. Something that is, currently, getting “marketed” really well. Don’t get me wrong,

One (or more) anonymous commenters are trying hard to clear up his confusion, and it makes an interesting read: grapeJuiceplus: podcasting is everywhere…

My personal take on this is that there is a significant distinction between listening to (mostly) speech , and listening to (mostly) music.

Listeners that already have a large music collection, and a strategy and habit of listening to it, already get a lot of “what I want, when I want it". Listening to a music collection is mostly about deciding which tracks are suitable, and playing them. Each track may be played on many occasions over time - hearing a familiar track again can be an enjoyable experience.

Listening to speech is different. Most speech audio (be it radio programs, podcasts, audio books, or whatever) is only listened to once. Listening to speech audio is mostly about things like making sure you listen to episodes in order, making sure you don’t miss a part, avoiding listening to things more than once, picking up where you left off, and skipping the less-interesting bits.

Podcasting is a powerful and flexible way to achieve most of the needs of speech listening. It frees listeners from a broadcast schedule and the whims of radio stations, allows fetching of a “back catalog” if a mid-series ‘cast catches your interest, and (usually) allows listeners to pause, resume, rewind to listen to a tricky bit again. Ever talked about a radio program over coffee or at the water cooler? If it were a podcast, you could pass a copy on to others, and they could hear it first-hand.

Based on this line of thinking, podcasting probably poses no particular threat to the music industry, but it will eat the lunch of talk radio.