The problem with Podcasting ...

Don't get me wrong - Podcasting is really interesting and a really cool distribution mechanism but .....

Maybe it is just because we still have a quality of speech radio against which to compare Podcasts here in the UK, that seems to have been largely lost in the US, but most of the podcasts I have listened to are overindulgent and unfocussed. They could all do with a bit of editing.

One of the things that made blogs work was being able to point to a particular post within a blog, even if the rest of that blog was awful. The trouble with Podcasts is that you can't point to items within a Podcast, and thereby achieve the editing process yourself, you have to listen through to all of it.

[Later] Doc IM'd me to point out that Jon Udell has a way of pointing to parts of podcasts. I'll keep quiet now.

Comments

[John S. Rhodes]

I just wrote an article about podcasting and usability. I made the same point about linking in podcasts, but I had several others as well (e.g., you can't easily search podcasts). Here's the article summary:

"The first part of this article will help you decide if you want to create podcasts and audio content. Assuming you want to dive into podcasting, then the second goal is to help you do it right; usability applies to podcasts."

http://www.oristus.com/resources/podcasting.html

Enjoy!

By the way, keep the "complaints" coming. The only way to improve podcasting is by attacking it and poking it. To work out the bumps, you have to find them first.

[Euan]

Nice one John - thanks for the link.

[brian moffatt]

It seems to me, Euan, the whole idea of podcasting is being attacked back asswards. I have always been blown away by the ordinary Joe's desire to be recorded, to get on air, to do voice work.

Getting a TV gig is easier.

On the one hand anybody can do it. And on the other hand not everybody can do it.

Still, I agree: EDIT!

Better to take forty minutes of real time to render one minute of podcast, methinks.

I guess radio in Saudi America really is that awful, I mean they have to send in the Marhshalls to shut 'em down.

http://p076.ezboard.com/fpoliticalpalacefrm34.showMessage?topicID=1002.topic