Podcastplayer.org news

Darren Barefoot stood up to try and point out why he thinks podcasting is over-hyped. His article makes some interesting points, but the real meat of the page is in the comments, where a remarkably civilized discussion roams around the merits and drawbacks of podcasting.

For me, though, the original article can almost be reduced to the following quote:

Personally, I have no commute, and I find that I can’t listen to talking while I’m writing. So, that really limits the available hours for listening to podcasts.

I understand exactly where he is coming from. Listening to a podcast while doing any kind of “brain work” is ineffective and faintly ridiculous. It wasn’t until I got a portable player and started listening during otherwise “dead time” (commuting, chores, eye-time away from the computer monitor …) that I finally got the “high” from the “podcasting dope".

Many people already listen to recorded music at such times. If it works for you, fine. Podcasting is no big deal when you are already time-shifting and location-shifting your music.

Personally, I don’t much enjoy listening to recorded music, and I have never been able to find talk radio I’m interested in, when and where I’ve actually been available to listen. Podcasting neatly fills that gap.

I don’t usually listen to podcasts at my computer any more. That’s reserved for RocketBoom :)

Read more at: Why I’m Not Smoking the Podcasting Dope | Darren Barefoot

Apparently “Former Vice President” Al Gore and “entrepreneur” Joel Hyatt are manning the PR pumps for their new internet/TV venture “current":

Current will invite audiences to move beyond their roles as viewers to become active collaborators, encouraging them to help shape the network’s content and fulfill its mission – to serve as a TV platform where the voices of young adults can be heard.

“We want to transform the television medium itself, giving a national platform to those who are hungry to help create the TV they want to watch,” said Al Gore.

This sure sounds a lot like plain old public-access TV to me. Expect a lot of “Wayne’s World", if anybody can be bothered.

It also sounds a lot like some of the “put podcasts on the radio” ranting I’ve complained about in the past.

From the media creator’s point of view: When people have the freedom to create and publish whatever they want, and have it available to anyone in the world with an internet connection, why bother with the last step of giving it to a TV company (where they’ll probably gut it to meet broadcast decency requirements, or pad it with commercials).

From the viewer/listener’s point of view: Why be a slave to someone else’s playlist choice when you can pick and choose your own perfect blend?

Read more at Daily Wireless - Video Blog TV Channel

The Washinton post has a short aticle about getting into podcasting. Unlike lots of others it’s not just from the listener’s point of view, but actually encourages readers to make their own, complete with hardware and software recommendations:

BUILD YOUR OWN (CYBER) RADIO STATION. What’s a pundit without a mouthpiece? You’ll need one to get heard

The article hits a lot of the right buttons, but skips over the importance of RSS, leaving podcasting as just recording a rant and putting it on the web.

Read more at Create Your Own Podcasts (washingtonpost.com)

Astute readers may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything for the last few days. I’ve been away at a conference without net access. Which means, of course, that I have returned to a mountain of email and RSS to sift through.

At least I got to listen to some of the podcasts that I had downloaded, even though a load more have come in in the meanwhile.