2/21/2006 - Future giants of podcasting
I can't see a good reason why media giants won't eventually be significant players in the podcasting world, but they aren't yet. As far as I can tell, all of the most popular podcasts are goofy independent labels run on little money and less producing.
It's not that the giants haven't tried to break in, just that they haven't figured how to deliver "got to have" content. Of course, they face the additional barrier that the goofies are willing to give their content away for free, making it a little less worth the effort. But I would definitely pay $0.10 for a rebroadcast of a radio program or even $1.00 for a 30 minute installment of a serial (maybe).
After playing around with some of the goofies, I was disappointed with the hit or miss quality and decided to go fishing among the existing media giants. Here's a few examples of what I have found.
NPR. I'm a little worried that I'm dealing in contraband, but I have found some NPR re-broadcasts on ODEO. It's not that NPR ever charges for their broadcasts, as far as I can tell (except indirectly through their XM station) but all of the official NPR links to content on line I have found have been streaming. ODEO has downloadable mp3s. It feels wrong. On the other hand, it makes me feel better about my donations to NPR, given that I listen so infreuqently to their stations these days (too much time spent on podcasts).
Newsweek. Newsweek has a decent 40 minute news survey. They dive into pieces from their magazine and get interviews and stories. It's not bad; probably the best original content I have seen from media giants on podcasts (NPR doesn't count since they are simply transferring radio shows to mp3).
CNN. Just terrible. Well, their news headlines are terrible. It's kind of like getting AP headlines + teasers - anything else. For example:
"Republicans are thwarting President Bush's attempts to transfer control of 6 ports to Dubai. The White House says it has 3 good reasons why the sale should go through. In other news a puppy got stuck in a tree..."
Still, it's fun carrying my radio shows with me for whenever (they fit on my cell phone). I'm happy to give up quality for convenience... for now.
10,000 critical steps today. Cheers,
It's not that the giants haven't tried to break in, just that they haven't figured how to deliver "got to have" content. Of course, they face the additional barrier that the goofies are willing to give their content away for free, making it a little less worth the effort. But I would definitely pay $0.10 for a rebroadcast of a radio program or even $1.00 for a 30 minute installment of a serial (maybe).
After playing around with some of the goofies, I was disappointed with the hit or miss quality and decided to go fishing among the existing media giants. Here's a few examples of what I have found.
NPR. I'm a little worried that I'm dealing in contraband, but I have found some NPR re-broadcasts on ODEO. It's not that NPR ever charges for their broadcasts, as far as I can tell (except indirectly through their XM station) but all of the official NPR links to content on line I have found have been streaming. ODEO has downloadable mp3s. It feels wrong. On the other hand, it makes me feel better about my donations to NPR, given that I listen so infreuqently to their stations these days (too much time spent on podcasts).
Newsweek. Newsweek has a decent 40 minute news survey. They dive into pieces from their magazine and get interviews and stories. It's not bad; probably the best original content I have seen from media giants on podcasts (NPR doesn't count since they are simply transferring radio shows to mp3).
CNN. Just terrible. Well, their news headlines are terrible. It's kind of like getting AP headlines + teasers - anything else. For example:
"Republicans are thwarting President Bush's attempts to transfer control of 6 ports to Dubai. The White House says it has 3 good reasons why the sale should go through. In other news a puppy got stuck in a tree..."
Still, it's fun carrying my radio shows with me for whenever (they fit on my cell phone). I'm happy to give up quality for convenience... for now.
10,000 critical steps today. Cheers,
posted by jgfellow at 8:30 PM
1 Comments:
Podcasting is largely an "anti-radio", anti-establishment function. It will be quite ruined when the establishent takes it over, or more likely it won't work very well for the establishment.
Establishment Radio today is just not the key media enterprise, and it's not going to attract the best talent. Good radio broadcasts of the 1930's and 40's - where you will find all the best performers, writers and musicians in the country - are generally far better than almost all podcasts. It's not easy for the goofies to oompete with the likes of Jack Benny, George Burns, Al Jolson and their writers, although occasionally the pocasters will do equally well.
- precision blogger
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