According to Answers.com, podcasting has been around since 2004, when Internet business man Adam Curry coined the term. Blogs had posted audio before. In fact, I had for a brief time published audio versions of my blog Thought Press. I was podcasting and didn’t even know it. While podcasting really hasn’t been around for long it took off very fast. Feedburner.com, a popular feed publishing service, hosts almost 30,000 podcasts. And, Libsyn.com hosts more than a thousand.
But what about old-fashioned blogs?
They’re here to stay. There’s something about reading an article or entry that doesn’t compare to listening to it. My blog began as just that, a blog. But I saw the positive differences (and fun) of podcasting so I switched my medium! While creating my own “radio style” program gets people listening, blogs and their RSS feeds just are a slightly different animal. At first, I began listening to podcasts all the time in the car. I loved the radio on demand idea. Some called it “TiVo for radio.” But, for me, listening to podcasts wasn’t keeping my attention as much as I thought it would. Some podcasts would go on too long, 45 minutes, an hour, even longer. And, some podcasters never stop talking or they ramble on. I made sure I kept my podcasts to about 20 minutes or less. While podcasts are great because they have no time constraints, they do have the invisible attention-span-constraint. Bottom line, blogs and podcasts have positive and negatives.
Podcast Professionalism
Podcasting has gotten the Joneses recording shows. It’s gotten old time radio popular again, wonderful content anyone can grasp. iTunes 4.0 opened the world to podcasting. We heard podcasts by amateurs and professionals. What are we likely to see in the future? Amateurs are likely to become professionals and be given commercial air time. Podcasting may slow down a bit. Many don’t have that many listeners. I had a little more than 100. Depending on how popular you, your topic, or your podcast is, your listenership could reach into the hundred thousands. Just like average bloggers, podcasters too get tired after a while. I found that the time it took for me to write my show, record it, and publish it took me away from other important things, so I stopped for the meanwhile.
An On-Demand World
I see podcasting changing into a vehicle for simple on-demand radio. Broadcasters that podcast like NPR, Infinity, ABC, and others are likely to expand their programming and take advantage of the technology. There will always be amateur podcasters, what some may say are the core of Podcasting. They may become the new Howard Sterns or Adam Currys. The Dawn and Drew Show has me wondering why people want to listen to two “ex-gutter punks” that talk about sex, porn, taboo topics, and their life. But, for some reason they’re huge. They even broadcast on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. I just hope it doesn’t fall into a “reality” or voyeristic medium. Podcasting is going to adapt as people succeed and fail. You will start seeing things narrow down while staying diverse.
As TiVo changes TV, podcasting changes radio. You’ll be able to choose everything and get it when you want it. Our busy lives just don’t have time for these content schedules anymore. We watch and listen and read on-demand. Radio networks like NPR can now attract more listeners by making their programs podcastable, or on-demand. Now, services like RadioTime emerge as a way to TiVo your favorite radio programs and then listen to them whenever you decide. I always loved TiVo’s original tag, about how you can create your own television network. You do the programming. TiVo was right. Everything is becoming personalized. Soon, cable television may be personalized to only the channels you want.
So…
I think Podcasting will fade after a while in the sense that “bad’ podcasts will be weeded out and professional, well produced podcasts will emerge stronger. Commercial broadcasters and other companies will use it to it’s advantage. Finally, good old blogs will stay strong and possibly compliment regular podcasts.
Read the article on Gather.com…
4 Comments
17 Dec 2005 at 00:33
I agree that the “bad” podcasts will be weeded out. I am an avid podcast listener. I subscribe to 25-30 podcasts, give or take a few, and have made my own decisions as to what podcasts have been “weeded out” of my iPod. What I don’t agree with is the idea that, “Commercial broadcasters and other companies will use it to it’s advantage.” I think that you are failing to recognize that the podcasting medium is regulated by the listeners. If podcasters, professional or “indie”, decide to load their shows with advertising and make the listeners feel like they are being taken advantage of, people will just stop listening. Unlike FM or AM radio, there a thousands of podcasts out there to choose from. On traditional radio you are limited to the stations that are in your area. With podcasts, you can listen to shows from around the world because there are no geographical limitations to the podcasting “signal”. Podcasting is here to stay. Those of us that fail to recognize this are just burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the fact that this is our chance to make a difference in the world. We now have a choice. We can decide to listen to awesome shows that are produced by people that still have passion for the things that they are podcasting about, or we can choose to turn on the radio and listen to the same boring commercial filled loop every hour of the day. I know what my choice is, what’s yours?
17 Dec 2005 at 09:00
What a great comment. Thanks. Commercial broadcasters have already taken advantage of podcasting. It’s almost expected now. They’ve used it to expand their listener base. Yes, amateurs and indie podcasts will always be, they are the core of it. But, you’ll see the amateurs become professional. Look at Dawn and Drew and some other podcasters who’ve been given professional contracts, or at least broadcast airtime. I agree podcasting is here to stay, even though it’s still fairly young. My bottomline is this: If you go to the iTunes podcast directory you’ll find a lot of garbage. I don’t think that will be there forever. Better podcasts will rise to the top (as they are) and podcasting becomes a more polished medium. I don’t think it will always stay 100% amateur.
19 Dec 2005 at 23:26
[...] We know it’s changed the world, but will Podcasting ever settle down? I read this post and just couldn’t help but leave a comment. What a great post though. This could turn out to be a great discussion… (tags: Blog+Comments) [...]
30 Dec 2008 at 21:20
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