Podcasting is here. The froth of excitement is foaming over the lip as a new paradigm (Can we bring back that word to the cool side of the fence? It really is a good word — honest.) of radio broadcasting is upon us. It's really not so much about the iPod, the iPodder program, RSS enclosures or mp3's. It's about timeshifting. It's more influenced by the Tivo revolution really. Cable operators opened up the glorious channel count competition to the masses and Tivos (and other DVR's of course) tamed it. And now, we can't live without our timeshifted television. Show me a person who hates their Tivo, and I'll show you a liar.
Radio programming, or multitask-consumable content as I like to think of it, is next.
The Current Timeshifting Dilemma
Sure there are programs that will effectively timeshift your burgeoning radio appetite, but they are limited. Not by any flaw of their own design, but by the inherent nature of the medium they are addressing. It takes real-time content and shifts it to consume-on-demand. The disappointment lies within your three options for receiving the content — Over the air radio, satellite radio or internet radio.
As we all know, over the air channels are a horrible, homogenized mess of vanilla-picked-by-someone-else radio. Terribly tiny circle of (bad) content and it's not inherently on-demand. This option is by far the worst for getting our commuting fix.
Internet radio fares better, but it's plagued by technical issues (DRM, competing formats, streaming bandwidth, etc.) but the content offered is wide and deep. Unfortunately, there is also a pattern that applies to the deep internet ready audio that's out there: The more niche, fringe and interesting the content is, the worse its technical hurdles become. The more readily available to the unwashed hordes (we consumers) a piece of internet audio is, the more genericized, edited and mainstream it becomes. So, you're either downloading the latest .swf, .ram, .wma, .ogg, .mp3, ad nauseum file from hugely disparate sites or you hit the one stop shop — "Would you like Eminem or the latest Clancy novel?" With a high tolerance for poor sound and a great piece of audio-shifting software, this option can work. Kludgy, but it'll work.
Satellite radio is much more elegant. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the breadth of content internet radio does, but it doesn't have the high-availability of over the air radio either. As much as I hate to admit it, satellite radio will die off before it even gets warmed up. It suffers from the same "600 channels but nothing is on" problem most people have with cable. That's helped somewhat by a third party DRR (digital radio recorder. I just made that up, but I'm sure it already exists out there somewhere) to timeshift your guilty radio pleasures. I just don't think they will catch on to what Tivo's explosive channel (that's selling, not station) marketing group has already proven out. Get in with hardware partners. If they haven't built the DRR into a satellite radio device, they need to.
Ah, but alas, it will be quite in vain. Free software and a $20 headset can turn any would-be radio enthusiast into the next Walter Cronkite. The Podcasting revolution is upon us. It will be wider and deeper in content than standard internet radio, yet, through RSS based subscriptions, it will have the accessibility of the over the air stations and it will be delivered to any device you have in your home. Radio programs you want, when you want, how you want. Automatic DRR!
You Say, "So What?"
We are realizing amazing things in this current stage of the internet. Broadband proliferation is high. Penetration is high enough communities are forming not only around common areas of interest, but also around their geographical location. And self-publishing has been actualized. This collision of happenstance points to phenomenon like on-demand audio recordings of the local town meeting (thrilling!) or (more likely) the play-by-play for the local high-school football game. It will open up possibilities not seen since the glory days of the ham radio. We just need to get it out through the geek door and into the land of everyman.
Podcasting, subscribing to radio shows on demand, is going to storm the globe because it is standards-based for broad support, conceptually understandable thanks to the likes of Tivo and hot in the transition of the "pull" content revolution we see going on. Today's portals (Yahoo!, MSN, AOL) are going to turn into giant XML aggregators and everyone with an account will have access to literally millions of amateur and professional broad... err... Podcasters. Yahoo has already started big in this direction.
That's where ipodcast.com comes in.
A Podcasting Network!
We are here to help separate the wheat from the chaff. Right now, the pickings are slim and that's why we're introducing a show or two in the coming days and weeks. Currently, most of the Podcast "airtime" is devoted to the technology behind podcasting. We're looking to change that. Our first show, Everyday Joe, will be targeted at your everyday working stiff. Interesting topics, just fewer acronyms. More great programming will follow.
And, as folks start branching out from geekdom into more accessible topics — history, sports, politics, etc., we'll be syndicating those programs here too. We understand that you only have so much time in your day so, we'll try to pick quality programs that are informative or funny without being dull or feeling unedited. And, honestly, how many shows about RSS do you really want to listen to?
So, please fellow Podcasters, heed my plea! Tell us about your hobbies too! Not just your work. And, by all means, use up all of our newly valuable commute time doing it!
