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Podcasting: Still Not Going To Change The World

Some of the strongest reactions I’ve encountered to my opinions have occurred when I’ve dared to challenge the iPod industrial complex. I don’t want to be misinterpreted on this topic, however, given the passion levels of so many, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to clarify my position.

I have nothing against digital music players. In fact, I had one of the first Rios, with a whopping 32 megabytes of flash memory. But they’re not revolutionary, nor are complete single file audio programs.

The great thing about a podcast (as they’re called now, but they have been around in various forms for years) is that they, in combination with a player, allow for time shifted programming. Like Tivo, they give the consumers far greater degrees of control over a program, and eventually may do to radio what DVRs are doing to tv, that is, disrupt traditional advertising backed models in favor of some sort of on-demand hybrid. But that’s more or less the only great thing about them. That one can download the file just isn’t all that significant, not in a networked world where programs are always available. It’s a stop-gap measure. Similarly, the argument that they’re offering up a new medium of self expression doesn’t hold much weight, the rules of limited attention span still apply. Just because one records it, doesn’t mean anyone is going to listen.

Which brings up the real and most important reason podcasts are just not that big a deal, time. There’s a reason people listen to the radio in the car, or when they’re doing some other activity, rather than in the office or at home, and that’s because it’s inefficient. I read the news, rather than listen to it, because in the time it would take me to hear a single story, I could be done with most of the paper. (And yes, I know TV is inefficient too, but a. people are turning away from TV as a news source, and b. it provides a much higher entertainment value than an audio stream) Sure if there’s something particularly worth hearing I’ll tune in, or I’ll download something I missed from NPR or the BBC, but listening to that program takes a hefty chunk of time, one I’m not so willing to give up without some real promise of worth. While I might read five blogs in a day, there’s no way I’m going to listen to five people drone on for twenty minutes apiece. My mental bandwidth, as well as everyone else’s, is limited, and podcasts by and large just don’t fit through the pipe.

Posted by Jeffrey Feldman on December 29, 2005 at 11:53 PM | Email this post Permalink

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Comments

Audio can't match text when it comes to searchability and ease of classification (tagging, especially) - not to mention monetization. You're right - podcasts won't replace most text posting. Rather, they might supplement them or come as an extra option - but I think text articles will always be around for most, if not all, companies.

Posted by: Easton Ellsworth | Jan 4, 2006 4:49:53 PM

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