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Indie Podcasters vs. Big Radio 148

Posted by Zonk from the i-shall-call-you-trumpy dept.
skepticality writes "The weekly news and business magazine BusinessWeek has an article coming out in this weeks edition that highlights Skepticality, Coverville, AMP, and other indipendant podcasts and podcast networks. The article explains how a small number of indie podcasts are holding their own against the corporate and big-radio shows in the iTunes top 20 rankings." From the article: "In one of the shortest trajectories yet for a new Internet technology, podcasting has gone from the hands of indie developers to media giants in less than a year. Credit Apple. With typical finesse, it has created a centralized, easy-to-use service on iTunes that makes it a snap to find and listen to podcasts, the audio recordings that can be downloaded from the Net and played on a computer or portable music player. Apple also put out a new version of the iTunes software, which makes it easy for people to create their own podcasts, and invited all to post their creations on the site. Indie podcasters such as Kempenaar and Hallgren rejoiced, ready for the mainstream to embrace the technology they had championed."
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Indie Podcasters vs. Big Radio More

Indie Podcasters vs. Big Radio

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  • Big Radio and Australia (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dysprosia ( 661648 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @06:55AM (#13263164)
    Seems like some "Big Radio" stations in Australia are embracing podcasting; ABC Radio National at least is offering some of its programs as podcasts here [abc.net.au], and it appears to be going very well for RN...
    • triple j [abc.net.au] too.
    • Every science geek should listen to Dr Karl's podcast on triple j [abc.net.au]. Dr Karl has degrees in physics and medicine and is great at answering all those science / medical / engineering questions we all have - and his answers are entertaining to boot (if I had kids, I'd force them to listen to it - and they'd love it too). Brilliant stuff - it's on my iPod every thursday morning. (he's also on five live in the UK an hour after his triple j show, but noon Aussie time translates to 3am UK time unfortunately). To qu

  • Indipendants (Score:3, Funny)

    by elronxenu ( 117773 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @06:56AM (#13263169) Homepage
    In radio, nobody knows your spelling sucks.
    • Ya know, I'm beginning to think that the editors aren't even trying anymore...
      • Were they ever?

    • Re:Indipendants (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by elronxenu ( 117773 )
      Actually, it was probably a pun on "indie" which just went over my head. My excuse is that I had just come from reading The Australian [news.com.au], and one of their headlines was "Furst London Bomb Charges Laid". I kid you not. At first I thought it was a typical stupid newspaper pun headline, like "How the west was one" (on the page currently) or "Strange powder in the mail sparks jumbo panic" (also on the page currently); maybe somebody named Furst had been arrested.

      And then I realised the horrible truth. Their so-

  • Dont call them podcasts. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 07, 2005 @06:59AM (#13263178)
    Can we please stop calling these things 'podcasts'? They're downloadable mp3s, when did iPods start supporting only mp3? Why not call them rivercasts, or zencasts?

    • True definition of podcast (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Podcast: a pretentious form of audio streaming peculiar to people who unquestioningly digest new buzzwords in the same way that Mac users butts digest fresh cock.

    • Re:Dont call them podcasts. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JeffTL ( 667728 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @08:08AM (#13263341)
      Same reasons I've seen certain academics say "blogosphere" with a straight face when I know they know as well as I do that there is already a name for the connected totality of HTML documents served over the Internet on HTTP servers -- the "World Wide Web" comes to mind.

      It makes some Guardian (from whence the word came, according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]) and New York Times readers feel satisfied that they've read some technology and mass media news for the week.
    • Can we please stop calling these things 'podcasts'?

      Why not? This just like calling a paper tissue kleenex..

    • Podcasts refer to Mp3 or Mp4 files downloaded via RSS.

      The reason podcasts are called podcasts because the "podfather" or creator of the first program that downloaded mp3 files via RSS made it automatically add to iTunes and then sync to an iPod staight after the mp3 was downloaded.

      • Podcasts refer to Mp3 or Mp4 files downloaded via RSS.

        In fact they could be any file format, as long as the players support it.

        As to the Podcast name - it roles off the toung much easier than some of the other alternative names.
    • They're directory file listings, when did Linux start supporting only ls? Why not call them riverlists, or zenlists?
    • an we please stop calling these things 'podcasts'? They're downloadable mp3s

      "Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature - Asian American, please...

    • Congratulations. You've just recited a point that comes up in all the podcasting forums at least once a week.

      The answer is always the same: it's catchy, it's simple, and the media picked up on it. If you can come up with an appropriate name that's catchier, you're welcome to try to change things. No one's succeeded yet.

    • The same way that anything Microsoft releases is immediately an "industry standard": they own 90% of the market, ergo everything they do is a standard. Whenever iRiver or the Creative Zen's market share goes above single digit percentages, then they can get cool jargon, too.

      If it makes you feel better, the word "pod" existed before the iPod. Of course, that probably makes all the listeners "pod people"...

  • The irony of podcasting (Score:3, Interesting)

    by the_unknown_soldier ( 675161 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @06:59AM (#13263179)
    The irony of podcasting is that it was created to circumvent big media companies. The itms top 20 suggests that as much as people love to tell themselves "I hate those clear channel motherfuckers" When it comes down to it, thats all people really want.
    • it is more that most people wouldn't be able distinguish between a their own ass and a hole in the ground, much less an indie podcast vs a clearchannel one. (besides the obvious polis and production value differences. to the average consumer, what does content matter when wighed agains slick unintrusive production?
    • > The irony of podcasting is that it was created to circumvent big
      > media companies.

      says you in your naivete. look at the name ferchrissakes it is "podcast". If that's not a creation of Apple Computer then I don't know what is. It might look like it's not directly linked to Apple but with a name like that you can bet Apple was pushing for it in the background. check the money trail I bet you can see where it leads and it's not kansas.

      a fake grassroots movement designed to look anti big media and all t
      • Why would Dave Winer need money from apple?! He is a fucking millionare who doesn't have a job because he doesn't need one! And for that matter, what the hell kind of money trail will there be? Podcasting costs nothing! I'm all for cynicism, but you're looking for a conspiracy where there isn't one to be had.
        • With undying loyalty like that it's no wonder nobody looks for the trail :-)

          freedom of informaiton is only good if you use it. doesnt mean anyone will give it to you on a platter.

          but if you want to be that loyal to big money so be it.
        • > Why would Dave Winer need money from apple?! He is a fucking
          > millionare who doesn't have a job because he doesn't need one

          Why does Donald Trump keep making money in business? he is a fucking billionare! People will always want more power, more money and sink to new lows to get it.
          • Bad example. Donald Trump is smoke and mirrors. He gets money from Asia to invest and then has to pay it back. His businesses are going broke so he choose to do a TV show as the only way to save himself from complete bankrupsy.
            • but Trump's already been completely broke AND declared bankruptcy. It doesn't seem to have hurt him much.

              I am disappointed with how much of a coward he's turned out to be lately though. According to his showvertisment, he never does anything "small" yet he criticizes designs for world's largest buildings as being terrorist targets and even scaled down his own mega-skyscraper to avoid being such a target. Was I the only one hoping for an impressive giant skyscraper to rise from the ashes of the WTC, dwarf
              • He probably had some insurance company people pay a visit behind closed doors and tell him they'd triple his insurance costs on a building in NYC if it was bigger than the surrounding skyline. Shiny new big buildings do make nice targets.

                It's not like businesses as big as his happen in a bubble. The underwriters control his ass, no matter how much money he has. If he can't insure the building, he's sure as hell not going to build it that big. Just business.

                As far as wanting a mega-skyscraper to replac
      • says you in your naivete. look at the name ferchrissakes it is "podcast". If that's not a creation of Apple Computer then I don't know what is. It might look like it's not directly linked to Apple but with a name like that you can bet Apple was pushing for it in the background. check the money trail I bet you can see where it leads and it's not kansas.

        Show me the proof. You can make bets, state claims, but in the end, it isn't true unless it is true, the only way to know for sure is the claimant must actua

        • Show me the proof.

          Such a strong denial response. You don't need to be shown the proof. You have the proof. This is not denial. This is incredulity. Until the parent made their post you were certain you had hidden the evidence where no one could find it. Now you're shocked that someone figured out the scam and you're hoping to God they don't have the proof. You're thinking, right now,"If they do have the proof then I'm fscked."

          It works the same way in political debate.

          It works the same way in debat

    • Market research (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jurt1235 ( 834677 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @07:10AM (#13263207) Homepage
      That is why big stations do market research so that they can target their broadcasts and podcasts to the consumer. A successfull podcaster will have to address the same group (compete) or a group which is now not addressed since it is commercially not attractive. To compete is tough, you have to fight big money, so yes, the big ones win again with this.

    • Re:The irony of podcasting (Score:5, Insightful)

      by An Onerous Coward ( 222037 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @09:06AM (#13263536) Homepage
      It simply doesn't matter if 19 of the top 20--or even 99 of the top 100--shows are the product of "big media". The point isn't that podcasting provides an alternative to big media. It's that it provides alternatives, full stop. If your neighbor wants to do a show wherein he spends an hour each week just talking about his dog, Fifi, he can do it, and reach just about anyone in the world who wants to tune in.

      Ten years ago, nobody could choose the Fifi Variety Hour. It isn't surprising that big media can garner the name recognition, advertising clout, market research, and (let's face it) talent to keep a large majority of people choosing their product. Podcasting is still a great leveller, because now they have to compete with every no-name garage DJ on the basis of product quality, rather than on the basis of "I have a radio station and you don't."

      If some people only want to use podcasting as a convenient way to listen to radio programming, who cares? It doesn't detract from your ability to produce your own show, or my ability to listen to it. As the systems for matching people to interesting content improve (and boy will they ever), big media is either going to have to expand its offerings to cover a wide variety of new niches, or watch their audience reject them in favor of content that more precisely reflects their own interests.
      • If I had any mod points, you'd be gettin' em.

        I'm not surprised that the iTunes top 20 is mostly taken up by commercially-produced shows, and really anyone who is, is a bit naive. But the important thing is that 20th show, which isn't commercially-produced, and is up there too.

        This technology gives people choice, and levels the playing field between independent and corporate radio. Which one people pick is their own business, but the point is that they have a choice.

        Furthermore, the integration into iTunes o
    • The irony of podcasting is that it was created to circumvent big media companies.

      What the fuck do you think Apple is becoming? The company is doing it's very best to transform itself the whore of every media giant in the world, distributing the same ol' shit in a fashionable, new, hip way for the young and shallow. Ignorance and hypocrisy have never been more profitable, especially to Apple.

      Apple doesn't give a shit about you, or "indies", or whatever the hell you think they were up to when they came up w

  • Too much praise... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thelost ( 808451 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @07:03AM (#13263188) Journal
    for iTunes. I'm sorry but the iTunes top 20 is hardly representative of the current health of indie podcasts. The most recent version of iTunes with podcast support has only been around a short while; I've been using it and it is functionally quite satisfying but I certainly wouldn't trust it's charts as a reasonable way to measure any kind of health in the indie movement.
    • and the ITMS top 20 is not a function of the most overall subscribed to feeds, it is weighted for speed of adoption for new feeds, and other sundry variables.
    • The iTunes interface for searching and subscribing to podcasts isn't even all that great yet. Search for something, 'subscribe', then try to go 'back' to see the rest of your search results? Nope. At least, not as far as I've been able to work it out yet (and generally, if you don't see a way to do something in the first 30 seconds or so in an Apple interface, you just can't do it).

      The ipodder program, for as basic an interface as it is, is just as good. iTunes obviously has more recognition, but I'm wa
      • While I don't disagree that Apple can ALWAYS do a better job with their talent -- I would also say that iPodder is hardly acceptable compared to iTunes. iPodder is a total abomination and extremely confusing for users. iTunes doesn't bring podcasting mainstream simply because of its numbers -- it does so because it lets people finally say, "Oh, THAT'S how this shit works!"

        Put an average person in front of iPodder (or any variation -- and I've used 'em) and they will either fall asleep or slit their wrists.

        O
        • Copy URL. Paste URL into obvious address bar and click "add". Profit! erm... listen to the podcasts which will now download when available. Hell, it'll even automagically create iTunes playlists (although frankly it doesn't let me control how it does it and I don't care for the manner in which it does create them).

          iPodder is in no way hard to use. Personally I would say that iTunes and iPodder are about the same right now although iTunes admittedly has more built-in search whereas with iPodder you'll need t
    • but the iTunes top 20 is hardly representative of

      Especially since many of us don't use itunes for listening to free'n'indie streamed radio feeds, Oh, wait, some people don't know what those are: you know, they are kinda like podcasts, but unlike the latter, they've been around for quite a long time and well, the words describing them... have a real meaning ? :P

      The whole "podcast" "blogosphere" etc. word buzz made me remember a review someone wrote about the TRON movie on its anyversary not so long ago.
    • The reason everyone pays attention to iTunes is because it's the biggest visibility channel for podcasts that exists right now. The number of listeners grabbing podcasts with iTunes dwarfed the number grabbing them with specialized podcatching clients (iPodder, Dopper, etc.) almost immediately. So if a show's in the iTunes Top 100, you know there are a lot of people subscribed to it. There's no other public yardstick for that right now.
  • This is proof that people are looking for something original apart from the usual tasteless commercial soupe.
  • Now we are in for a week of Adam Curry simultaneously taking credit for and bemoaning this development.
    Still I listen to each new episode....

  • Am i the only one... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by imsabbel ( 611519 )
    who hates the fucking "podcasting" name?
    Its shitty audio streaming, not something one would expect to hear during some voyager technobabble.

    • Re:Am i the only one... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tx ( 96709 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @07:16AM (#13263221) Journal
      I'm with you on that one. Though it's syndicated downloading rather than streaming. But yeah, definitely needs to be called something else.
      • For that matter, am I the only one tired of "independent" being shortened to "indie"? It just reeks of pretentiousness.
        • You mean indipendant?
        • Speaking of which, I really *hate* when people shorten "the Internet" to "the Net". It positively reeks of faux-hip. And why do people use "googling" when they really mean "looking something up on Google". Don't they know it makes it sound dirty?

          Don't have a cow, man.* "Indie" is not a problem, and it conserves two syllables every time it's used. You wouldn't badmouth somebody for driving a Prius, would you?**

          "Podcasting" seems like an acceptable word to use to describe publishing content in such a
      • success or failure for mass marketted stuff often comes down to its "hypability".

        give it a name that evokes mental links with other hyped up buzz words and you can sell it more readily...

        googles pods blogs.. they're all nice rounded names and they all allude to some culture/club (not culture club) that people feel they might want to be a part of.

        ipods are the pogo sticks or yoyo's of today... (hell.. probably for the very kids who grew up with them only to buy an ipod at age 30)

        We might as well just get use
    • Why did the parent get marked Troll? The podcasting name is the worst possible name giving Apple and iPod the automatic marketing advantage.

      In addition, there is nothing worst than free radio being censored because it is associated with a corporate entity that can be sued. Now Apple can filter whatever they deem inappropriate.

  • From the article: Cinecast movie review show was one of the site's featured offerings. The exposure...sent their show...up the iTunes' list of the top 100 podcasts, peaking at No. 13... Then Roger Ebert showed up...Within a few short days, Ebert & Roeper climbed to No. 2, while Cinecast dropped to 72.

    I don't know if a direct connection can be made here. It's more likely that Cinecast got an initial bump from the first downloads and then only a percentage of people decided to keep with it. Same with

    • Re:False Logic (Score:3, Funny)

      by stego ( 146071 )
      I mean stuff like loooong intros and spending literally half the show talking about how you can contact the show.

      I'll second that exact observation.

    • Re:False Logic (Score:2, Interesting)

      by RikF ( 864471 )
      Actually the logic is far more false. The itunes rating shows *new* subscriptions, not ongoing ones. So any show that gains a following will peak and then drop down the ratings. It's like saying that 'Band X' is more popular than the Beatles because they have a song in the charts and the Beatles don't any more....

  • Wow.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by QaBOjk ( 614183 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @07:30AM (#13263248)
    Streaming audio, i never heard of this before.. Apple thinks of everything!!!
    • It's not streaming audio, and Apple didn't invent this. Perhaps you should do at least a *tiny* bit of research before trying your hand at a witty reply.

      • Re:Wow.. (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 )
        I do understand the main point though. While internet audio shows are nothing new, look to Slashdot's Geeks in Space, circa seven years ago.

        What makes "podcast" new is that there are now several easy to use programs that will automatically grab the latest audio shows that you listen to and automatically put it in your media player, and even automatically put them on your portable media player.

        The old means of audio show distribution was more like standard TV distribution, it is there but you have to get it
        • Now it looks like commercial interests might be pushing out the independents.

          I see no reason why that has to be true. It should be all about the content anyway. If the independents are making compelling content, they should be ok. If the commercial interests are making compelling content, that is ok too.

    • It's not even streamed, it's downloaded (AFAIK). I can't understand what's the big deal with this podcasting stuff... since when downloading mp3s is big deal?

  • Has to be said... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Darth Maul ( 19860 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @07:33AM (#13263252)

    Podcasting, like a lot of other deployments of technology (think the Web), was a lot more useful before The Man got a hold of it. Before the new iTunes came along, we had places like iPodder.org and podcastalley to list podcasts, and on those sites it was all about indepedent podcasts. There were a few more "official" ones from radio stations and whatnot, but they just weren't as popular.

    Now with iTunes it's back to the same techniques using marketing and flashy graphics for the iTunes banner thingy for a particular podcast, so the same masses that tune into clearchannel will click on these new links. And the worst part is now everyone thinks there "in" because they listen to a podcast.

    I think it's sad to see the iTunes top 20 - it's mostly corporate overproduced junk. To me, the whole point of podcasting is to listen to what I want to listen to, not just have another medium for corporate radio junk. Most of the podcasts I listen to aren't even on the iTunes list at all because (oh, the horror) they might play material that is not properly licensed because of copyright issues. It's almost like I feel I have gone "underground" to listen to the *real* podcasts.
    • um, podcastalley and ipodder.org hasven't gone anywhere, have they?

    • Podcasting, like a lot of other deployments of technology (think the Web), was a lot more useful before The Man got a hold of it. Before the new iTunes came along, we had places like iPodder.org and podcastalley to list podcasts, and on those sites it was all about indepedent podcasts. There were a few more "official" ones from radio stations and whatnot, but they just weren't as popular.

      [...]
      Most of the podcasts I listen to aren't even on the iTunes list at all because (oh, the horror) they might p

      • Re:Has to be said... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by HiThere ( 15173 ) *
        That's all true...so far.

        The glory of the early days of the web was in development. It was easy to develop software, because there wasn't any competition. Now it's a bit more difficult. The danger is...centralized control.

        Perhaps you aren't considering, but centralized control, while it may make things "easier and slicker" creates vulnerabilities of the precise sort that the new was originally designed to avert. This is too significant a "good thing" to discard without much thought.

        Personally, I'd prefe
        • This is all true, but has little bearing on the podcast market. The great thing about podcasting being an rss service is that, while you can make any given directory its own centralized service, it's trivial to make additional directories. Apple just happens to have theirs packaged nicely up with a program a lot of people use.

          However, with the new URI protocol for podcasting allowing you to easily subscribe to a podcasting feed using whichever client you want to default to, it makes it easier to have multip
    • Most of the podcasts I listen to aren't even on the iTunes list at all because (oh, the horror) they might play material that is not properly licensed because of copyright issues.

      I really don't see this as being reasonable.

      First, you have to understand that listing podcasts that play unlicenced media will reflect badly on Apple. You might not have an issue, but providing listings to illegal media is probably going to cause problems. The iTunes software will still let you subscribe to those shows, though I
    • And the worst part is now everyone thinks there "in" because they listen to a podcast.

      Isn't the worst part really that those that considered themselves "in" before now might feel they are just part of the mainstream?

    • The point isn't that they explicitly support the independents, but that they don't hold any group higher than any other. The top 20 is unbiased, generated solely on statistics.

  • Podcasting or something else will do it (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bgfay ( 5362 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @07:36AM (#13263260) Homepage
    Big radio is a dinosaur.

    I have a radio in my car and one in my kitchen. Both are tuned to NPR and never go to any other station. The reason is two-part: One, I can't handle the advertisements, annoying personalities, and repetitive play of commercial radio, and two, I like NPR. Either way, I'll probably never listen to any of the mediocre programming elsewhere on my dial. I doubt I'm the only one.

    Satellite radio will be part of the change. My guess is that Podcasting will also be huge. It's the radio's version of the Internet with TiVo. Users decide what they want to listen and when, they do it mostly without commercials, and they get to comment directly to programmers of the media.

    Why would I want to listen to some schlock programmed by record company execs, peopled with screaming buffoons who can't stop laughing at toilet jokes, and peppered with advertisements for used cars?

    Big radio is dead.
    • Big radio is dead.

      But not in the world of talk radio. Care to explain why Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks are doing very profitably from their nationally-syndicated radio talk shows? Yes, a lot of people may disagree with the views of Rush Limbaugh, Jim Rome, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and George Noory/Art Bell/Ian Punett on Coast to Coast AM, but you can't deny the Premiere Radio shows have become enormous financial successes for everyone involved.

      Note that FM stations have taken to the Morning Zoo non
      • I can only assume based on his comment and assumed musical tastes (NPR, etc.) that when he spoke of "big radio," talk radio probably didn't even occur to him. Just a theory.

        But anyway, you're correct, talk radio is huge and doesn't show any signs of weakness. Also, by nature it doesn't lend itself to recording and later playback: who wants to listen to Rush rail about last week's issues?

        I have this vague feeling that as commercial music radio has sickened in the past few years (decades perhaps, although I c
    • "It's the radio's version of the Internet with TiVo."

      When did ClearChannel and Infinity Broadcasting start developing data infrastructure?
  • "Having said that though, a lot of indie podcasts, even the top ones, suffer from a distinct lack of professionalism. I don't mean just lack of a radio voice or something like that, I mean stuff like loooong intros and spending literally half the show talking about how you can contact the show. There's a real lack of understanding about how to keep people interested. A lot are good though, but to keep up with mainstream media, indicasts are going to have to minimize the boring stuff." now spending half of
  • Right now, perhaps one of the highest-visibility media companies heavily involved in the Podcasting idea is Clear Channel through its Premiere Radio Networks division.

    However, Premiere Radio won't put their stuff on iTunes, mostly because the current version of iTunes (Version 4.9) does not support subscription-based (e.g., you have to pay a monthly or yearly fee) Podcasting downloads. As a result, Premiere Radio Networks is forced to use its own customized software package. I expect this situation to chang
  • I don't see what the huge deal about Podcasting is. People have been putting compressed audio files on the internet for years. Hell, I've been listening to 2600's "Off The Hook" in downloadable format for a LONG time now.

    Nonetheless, many of these indie podcasts lack the professionalism of a real radio show. If I want to hear a talk show, I'd like to hear something worth listening to... not a bunch of laughing 14 year old boys huddled around a microphone talking about political things they don't understand.
    • "try tuning into a smaller market radio station. They tend to be less strict in their programming choices than huge-market megacorporation stations."

      The Internet is even less strict than that. There are so many different podcasts out there that you don't have to listen to "14 year old boys." Its the whole principle of "if you don't like it, change the channel."

      That being said, I agree with you that "program quality comes before audio quality," but just because a local broadcast radio station is what it

  • The /. effect seen on the iTunes service (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FunWithHeadlines ( 644929 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @08:49AM (#13263460) Homepage
    So we have a /. article that highlights Skepticality. Probably the server hosting the article is being hammered as usual. But I also went to the iTunes Music Store and looked at the Top 20 Podcasts list. Sure enough, Skepticality is up to #2 for the day. The /. effect moves to new technology!

  • The key to "indie podcast" survival (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Creosote ( 33182 ) * on Sunday August 07, 2005 @08:50AM (#13263468) Homepage
    In one word: quality.

    Of course there's an element of luck, too, as well as the '49er effect: that is, the ones that get there first stand a better chance of getting rich. But if you get there early and have a good product, you have a chance of attaining the critical mass that attracts not only listeners but collaborators. Slashdot as a tech website is an example. Among blogs, Daily Kos [dailykos.com] would be another. And I would put the Skepticality [skepticality.com] podcast in that category, potentially: it is well produced (decent recording, excellent editing and pacing, smart format), intelligent, has likable hosts, and has started attracting some well-known interviewees like James Randi. It's here to stay, I'd bet.

    The distinction between corporate and indie is less important, I think, than the question of how an excellent late-comer can crack the barrier of the existing hierarchy. (The one heartening thing is that firstcomers tend to drop off the top of the pyramid when people realize they're just not that good or interesting, witness Adam Curry's drop in the rankings.)

  • iTunes rankings (Score:4, Informative)

    by gozar ( 39392 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @09:10AM (#13263555) Homepage
    The rankings are based [digg.com] on how many new subscribers the show has received, not total subscribers for a show. That means established shows will probably have a larger listener base but might not be in the top 20.
  • OK, so who feels threatened by this format?

    Why the need for this denigration?

    Unlike broadcasters podcasters have to pay for every listener (yes, there is blog torrent but it does limit the audience)

    I live in a town (Canberra, Australia) which is off the map as far as music producers are concerned, yet nothing can get on the air if it hasn't come from the big studios.

    So we gather around a condensor mic once a week. We drink some beer, we talk some crap, and we get local musos to come in and play their stuff.

    We like how it sounds, quite a lot of audio snobs like how it sounds.

    A few hundred people around the world like it enough they send us postcards.

    Where's the harm?

    We belch, fart, spark up, talk in away that would get a broadcaster thrown off the air and we ask nothing of you at all. So where's all this agro coming from?

    To anticipate the next question the feed is here:

    http://the-riotact.com/?cat=39 [the-riotact.com]

    A summary of the content is here:

    http://loadedog.com/pod/pod.shtml [loadedog.com]

    (and quietly scope my karma and user number before accusing me of being some kind of shill)

    To return to the point, some podcasts will be crap, some (ok a very few) will be good. Much like blogs. But as no-one is forcing you to listen, or blasting it through the local spectrum, what'ss the problem exactly?
  • ... that I like best about podcasts. The professionalism lauded by other posters is the worst way to go. In this context quality is ONLY about knowledgable and/or enthusiastic presenters (The Rock and Roll Geek Show, Linux Linc Tech Show, LUG Radio) who can share their passion with the listeners. Worrying about what sponsors, bosses, Adam Curry ;) and iTunes think about a podshow will kill it.
    I guess I have a different viewpoints for US readers because here in the UK the BBC dominates the radiowaves and the

  • Blahcasting (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Orp ( 6583 )
    As others have stated "podcasting" is nothing but people putting audio files online. What a revolution! Remember how the WWW was going to change the world when everybody with a computer could become their own publishers for pennies and a vast wealth of creativity and quality would reshape the world of publishing etc. blah blah? What happened was there sure was a glut of "publishing" but 99% of it was pure crap.

    And so goes podcasting. Just because I can buy a $5 microphone and free-associate into an mp3 file
    • "If you don't have a local community radio station, see if you can find streaming audio of one." Or you could take that audio with you (i.e. away from the computer -- ::dodges rotten fruit::) by subscribing to a podcast, which can be downloaded automatically. The "pod" is not going away. I don't like it either (to the lay person, it implies that you need an iPod), but I've accepted that it's a sexy term that the non-techie culture can easily latch onto.
    • Podcasting is a little different to just putting an audio file on-line. As with so many things, they aren't really used until they become automated. With the podcasts being downloaded and synced to your player automatically they suddenly take on a new usefulness. Instead of trawling through websites when I get up in the morning looking for files to download and then sync over, it happens during the night, or while I am cleaning my teeth etc. I grab the player and leave for work. As far as using a stre
  • ...But I can't wait until my favorite podcast is absorbed by a conglomerate so its format can be changed to "Jack"!

    In case you're not frmo the US or Canada, "Jack" is a radio station format that is sweeping the nation. Much like the "All 70's" and "All 80's" stations you heard in the 90's, "Jack" is sweeping across the nation, replacing successfuly formats on some of the largest stations in America (including WCBS/New York, WJMK/Chicago, and KCBS/Los Angeles...

    Essentially, the idea is a "format with attitu
  • Don't know about the rest of you, but I have a lot of dead time in my life -- waiting on my wife, waiting in traffic, waiting at airports and of course flying itself. I used to spend a lot of time assembling CD's and later mp3's to listen to. Lately, however, I listen to podcasts and audiobooks. For audiobooks there's nobody like Audible.Com [audible.com] as their subscriptions are very good value for money. For podcasts, I listen to Keith and the Girl [keithandthegirl.com] if I'm in a belligerant mood, or the Screenwriters Podcast [screenwriterspodcast.com] if I w
  • Podcasting is another of the field leveling technologies that the internet allows. Prior to my friend mentioning the concept of a Podcast to me in March, I hadn't heard of them. Now I'm amazed at the selection. Most of it is chaff, but there are some good ones out there.
  • OMG OMG OMG OMG. Streaming fvsking audio! What a major innovation! Yeah, go ahead and mod this a troll... my karma's unshakeable.
  • Visit PodcastAlley.com and you'll find a lot of disgruntled podcasters. iTunes4.9 created a caste system for those in the iTunes directory and those who were not. Being in iTunes doubled and tripled subscriber bases. Being left out of the directory meant obscurity. There's a lot of resentment out there.

    1) People on /. who don't own or like iPods seem resent the label "podcasts" for audio blogs. Get over it. Suggestions that podcasts be called irivercasts and zencasts are laughable. "pod" rhymes with

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