iTunes 4.9 Podcasting Support. . . Yeah, whatever.
I don't know about you but after downloading and installing the latest update to Apple's iTunes (v. 4.9), I've spent a LOT of time futzing around with Apple's implementation of podcasting. My first impressions? It'll do for a start. . . but just barely.
I was hoping for a more of a v. 1.5 implementation from Apple's engineers and what we got is something short of version 1.
Without doing any formal tests and making copious notes about every little thing, I've tried to put the new iTunes through its paces. I've found it to be rather klunky (with a capital K, actually) in every podcasting aspect.
Somewhere, somehow, I'd like to see an alphabetical directory of all podcasts, not just the top 100.
Why? It's simple, really: So many podcasts defy description and categorization that I may not think to search for a Madge Weinstein or a More Hip Than Hippie on my own. But with a directory of podcasts - paired with a brief description - I just might find myself sampling a Catholic Insider (no, I'm not a Catholic) or an IT Conversation (nor am I a technologist/programmer/geek). Normally, I, as someone who is neither spiritual nor religious, would pass by a program hosted by a Catholic priest, and as a creative type I'm not terribly likely to take the time to eavesdrop on tech talk for wireheads (I use that term in the most loving way, I assure you).
However, I'm an infinitely curious chap who can give a sponge a run for his money. Yeah, I know. . . sponges are asexual. . . but if I can just jump in and wallow in the muck, like the magnificent metaphor mixer that I am, I'm confident that this swine will find a pearl. (I swear to God I must have been on acid to write this paragraph!)
The thing that Apple is wonderful at is creating order from chaos - a look a their product line is evidence of this. The thing that Apple doesn't seem to get - and let's focus on podcasting, now - is that podcasting isn't ready to be orderly. No way. Podcasting, for the next however-long-it's-going-to-take is messy. It's still the WWW - the Wild, Wild West - and efforts to tame it in one fell swoop will likely fail.
I realize that I'm digressing from the main point I raised at the head of this post that the new podcasting features in iTunes 4.9 is something less than what the hype might have suggested. I think Apple is grappling with a beast that does not yet want to be tamed. It's my belief that the most Apple or Adam Curry or Dave Winer or anyone connected with podcasting can hope for is that podcasting matures quickly and that its adolescence is not too painful.
Podcasting, like any new phenomenon, must go through a number of phases before it matures into a slower-growing, steady, predictable industry that many (if not, most) podcasters and pundits want it to become. Trying to form it into its final shape before it has reached its own natural maturity is akin to trying to bonsai a child or a puppy. Sure, they're adorable. . . but would you want a person or a dog to be perpetually frozen in a state that is cute and cuddly. . . only because you know they'll eventually grow out of it?
I was hoping for a more of a v. 1.5 implementation from Apple's engineers and what we got is something short of version 1.
Without doing any formal tests and making copious notes about every little thing, I've tried to put the new iTunes through its paces. I've found it to be rather klunky (with a capital K, actually) in every podcasting aspect.
Somewhere, somehow, I'd like to see an alphabetical directory of all podcasts, not just the top 100.
Why? It's simple, really: So many podcasts defy description and categorization that I may not think to search for a Madge Weinstein or a More Hip Than Hippie on my own. But with a directory of podcasts - paired with a brief description - I just might find myself sampling a Catholic Insider (no, I'm not a Catholic) or an IT Conversation (nor am I a technologist/programmer/geek). Normally, I, as someone who is neither spiritual nor religious, would pass by a program hosted by a Catholic priest, and as a creative type I'm not terribly likely to take the time to eavesdrop on tech talk for wireheads (I use that term in the most loving way, I assure you).
However, I'm an infinitely curious chap who can give a sponge a run for his money. Yeah, I know. . . sponges are asexual. . . but if I can just jump in and wallow in the muck, like the magnificent metaphor mixer that I am, I'm confident that this swine will find a pearl. (I swear to God I must have been on acid to write this paragraph!)
The thing that Apple is wonderful at is creating order from chaos - a look a their product line is evidence of this. The thing that Apple doesn't seem to get - and let's focus on podcasting, now - is that podcasting isn't ready to be orderly. No way. Podcasting, for the next however-long-it's-going-to-take is messy. It's still the WWW - the Wild, Wild West - and efforts to tame it in one fell swoop will likely fail.
I realize that I'm digressing from the main point I raised at the head of this post that the new podcasting features in iTunes 4.9 is something less than what the hype might have suggested. I think Apple is grappling with a beast that does not yet want to be tamed. It's my belief that the most Apple or Adam Curry or Dave Winer or anyone connected with podcasting can hope for is that podcasting matures quickly and that its adolescence is not too painful.
Podcasting, like any new phenomenon, must go through a number of phases before it matures into a slower-growing, steady, predictable industry that many (if not, most) podcasters and pundits want it to become. Trying to form it into its final shape before it has reached its own natural maturity is akin to trying to bonsai a child or a puppy. Sure, they're adorable. . . but would you want a person or a dog to be perpetually frozen in a state that is cute and cuddly. . . only because you know they'll eventually grow out of it?
posted by Tanguero at 3:25 PM
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