We've Moved!

Visit Podcasting|Dallas from ProperGate Studios at our new location. Just click on the banner below.

Breaking In Line

Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if podcasters -- and I speak mainly of Adam Curry and his partner, Ron Bloom -- have not made an arrangement that will be the undoing of their efforts up to this point. (Notice that I deliberately refrained from calling it a deal with the devil. I'll do my best to exhibit that same restraint hereafter.)








I write, of course, of the recent embrace by Apple of podcasting, at the urging of Mssrs. Curry and Bloom. Before the release of iTunes 4.9, which added podcatching features to the mix, podcasters, good and bad, pro and am, were predominantly of the independent variety.

Now that the Podcasting Party has grown in size and scope to a point that it has reached a critical mass that can't be ignored, the big boys in broadcasting are breaking in line because it's the cool thing to do, it's the scene to be seen and heard in.

And, disappointingly, Apple is saving them a place in line and pushing its newfound friends -- the pioneers of podcasting -- to the rear. Not since the first couple of days after the release of iTunes 4.9, you'll no doubt have noted, have the "Indie" podcasters (all eight of them) been featured as a distinct category.

Oh, sure, you'll still find a few on the Top 100 list but they're fading fast as new listeners come onstream to check out this "podcast thing." Why? Because as new listeners who have no point of reference begin checking out the podcasts available, they're more likely to gravitate to names they already know and with whom they are familiar: e.g., Disney, ABC, Nightline, ESPN, Public Radio stations, etc. It's a natural thing to do, so you can't blame the listeners.

On the other hand, I do point a dirty, nailbitten finger at Steve Jobs. For the first time that I can remember, Steve just doesn't "get it." The reason is, in my opinion, that Apple has arrived late to their own party. I get the distinct impression that they didn't even want to come to the party, except it was being named after one of their own. How could they turn it down, right?

So, instead of recognizing that this was a grassroots thing started by and for "the rest of us," SJ got on the horn and invited some of his top-down friends to meet him at the party. "We'll bring the iPods! Free subscriptions for everybody! Woo-hoooooo!!!"

Don't get me wrong: I'm no Apple-basher. Hell, I bleed in six colors when cut. But Apple forgets: They're just the roastee at this party. The event was planned long ago -- okay, less than a year -- and the event planners were planning to "dance with the ones that brung 'em." Now, it looks as though Apple has not only invited their own friends, but they've changed bands and now they're calling the (i)Tunes.

It's still early. Stay subscribed. This could get very interesting.

I'll Take Mine Foamy, Please

This podcasting thing has me a bit frothy.

It's been almost 18 years since I last set foot in a radio station as an employee. I swore up and down that I'd never crack another mike again, so help me. . . blah-dee blah-dee blah blah blah. . . .

As much as I am on the internet, I'm surprised that I didn't hear about podcasting much sooner than I did. But once I heard about it, the first thing I did was to check on the existence of a local podcasting Meetup group. [Ed. note: Please don't make us explain Meetups, too. We're barely over the stress of explaining podcasting.] Not finding one, I immediately organized the Dallas Podcasting Meetup Group here in Dallas.

Podcasting -- the thoughts are rushing at me so quickly that it's hard to slow them down enough to grab just one. . . . Podcasting is everything radio used to be, long before I ever got out of the "biz." What I mean by that is that it's about communicating -- really connecting with people -- in a way I haven't seen since the late 60s to early 70s, but not in a way that even resembles the radio of that time. After that it just became a corporate rat race and, of course, you see what it's become today as a result of deregulation.

It's also about fun and sharing. When's the last time someone took you on a sound-seeing tour of their neighborhood? In the rain? And you didn't even have to get wet?

Podcasting allows everyone to step up to the mike and have their say. No one has to listen. . . but no one ever has had to listen.

Which brings us to content.

Who knew that there might actually be some untapped reservoirs of content (not necessarily the same thing as talent) out there that had never even been considered as something anyone would ever want to hear? A catholic priest reporting from Rome about the passing of the Pope. An odd young married couple living in southeastern Wisconsin sitting around the kitchen table talking about nothing in language that would make a sailor blush. An ex-VJ rambling on about how podcasting is going to change the world and sharing every belch, cough, and groan caused by drinking overly-acidic coffee. Who knew?

As podcasting becomes more "mainstream" -- whatever the hell that means -- the content will grow up, it will change and settle in to something even more people are comfortable listening to as they jog the mp3 highways. To be sure, there will always be odd podcasts and I think that's a good thing.

Mike O’Connor, of the very laid back Sex and Podcasting podcast, made an interesting point on his show, "NPR vs CPB:" When a more conservative "regime" [gotta love the way a liberal uses the language], such as the Bush administration comes into power, funds previously budgeted for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting tend to be cut. But, he says, that is no longer the horrific scandal [my phrase] that it once was because the liberal voices who claim that they're being silenced or censored now have podcasting to turn to. Why? Because the barrier to entry is almost non-existent. Hence, you may notice a much louder, stronger presence in podcasting of liberals than their traditionally less strident, less vocal brethren from the other side of the aisle. I've casually noted about a 5 to 1 ratio of liberals to conservatives in my daily search through the podcast realm.

Obviously there's not a 5 to 1 ratio of liberals to conservatives in the country or we'd have a whole different set of problems to deal with than the ones we have. However, I think It serves to remind us that we don't all speak with a single voice. . . and that every voice, regardless of how different from the rest, can be heard and find an audience. For that reason, I think podcasting will help to counter the movement toward group identity, for which liberals are largely responsible, with a swing back to honoring the power of the individual. And not a moment too soon.

Let's Talk Turkey

Okay, here are some specific problems I've got with iTunes. Many are also noted elsewhere, I'm sure, but perhaps someone else can add to the dialogue.

These are presented in no particular order:

• Downloaded podcasts simply disappear


• Smart Playlists don't work with podcasts downloaded from Apple


• Podcasts play one at a time and stop, not moving onto the next


• Can't sort podcasts by Time or Size


• Can't mark as "un-read" and podcasts don't get marked as played


• iTunes apparently counts a podcast that has only partially been listened to -- that is, merely sampled -- as PLAYED. Depending on your Preference settings, this could automatically delete unheard podcasts.


• There's no way to create a playlist of podcasts AND to change the order in which podcasts are played except by playing each one manually.


• Podcasts which show up as availabel for download in iTunes often will not DL except on the podcast website.


• Dave Winer's podcasts dont even show up!

Let me say before I go any further that I'm happy that Apple has suddenly run to the head of the parade and is offering its services as Podcasting Grand Marshal.

What I didn't expect was for Steve Jobs & Co. to rush to market a product as flawed as iTunes 4.9 seems to be simply to be the first really big player to join the fray.

Were they to have stuck to their original schedule and not released version 4.9 for another 3 weeks or so, the present problems might have been mitigated, reduced in number, or even eliminated entirely.

In short order, I'm sure, Apple will release iTunes 5.0 (or 4.9.1, 4.9.2 and 4.9.3) and most, if not all, of these problems will be corrected.

My question is, Why? Why release early and put users through a needless exercise in futility and frustration? Was there a chance of a competitor releasing their podcatching software prematurely and overtaking iTunes as the dominant audio delivery platform in a mere three weeks?

Anything is possible, I suppose, but it's about as likely as flying monkeys leaping from Hillary Clinton's butt and carrying her away to the White House.

Oh. Right. Bad analogy.

Let's just say that it wasn't very likely and leave it at that.

By the time the originally intended release date for v 4.9 is upon us, we'll have downloaded an update from Apple and all will be right with the podcasting world.

Then, we'll be on to something else to fill the Internet with blogs and podcasts about things that really don't matter in the long haul.

Kirk's 7 Rules-A Good Thing™. . . Mostly

I first heard about Kirk McElhearn's 7 Rules of Effective Podcasting in a podcast called Podcast 411, hosted by Rob W. . . whose last name I cannot find on his website.

Rob made it very clear that he not only doesn't think much of Kirk's rules, he doesn't think much of rules of any kind for podcasting. His website lists, if I recall, about 40 podcasts, which, in podcasting years, is like being in middle school (or what I grew up calling junior high). That said, and judging from the extensive advice on creating podcasts hosted on his website -- good stuff, by the way -- I'd say Rob is in deep denial of the need for rules to be creative.

That's appropriate, really, because most middle schoolers think they have the world by the tail and don't much like rules of any kind and can't or won't admit that they're wrong.

Kirk's rules are really not much more than good commonsense guidelines for creating a quality product. If you object to the word "product," you probably don't like rules, either -- much like Rob of Podcast411. But the truth is, podcasts are a product -- a work product, an intellectual product, a product to be hawked in the marketplace of ideas and entertainment.

To say that there are no rules in podcasting is not only shortsighted, it's indicative of an intellect that simply does not grasp that structure is created by parameters, by guidelines, and by rules. And creativity is nothing if not structure. Yes, there ARE rules for podcasting, just like there ARE rules for radio. Rules, not Commandments. Don't like Kirk's Rules? That's fine. Make your own. In fact, I daresay that it's impossible to do a podcast of any kind without following, or creating on-the-fly, some set of rules.

Anarchy is an interesting concept for about 5 minutes. However, rules are the outside influence that Newton referred to in his 2nd Law of Thermodynamics: Without an outside influence, everything turns to crap. (I'm not sure if that's an exact quotation; I'm paraphrasing.)

Want to play, be creative? Define a space for it. Without rules, we might have playgrounds built in the middle of freeways.

Using Kirk's Seven Rules of Effective Podcasting are a good start at defining your podcast playground. Are they the best rules? Or the only rules? Can't say that they are. I would probably replace #7 with one of my own because I think Kirk's #7 smacks too much of being a "rule" instead of a "guideline."

My Rule #7? Be consistent. People tune in and return to a podcast (or, in my experience, a radio program) because it's dependably consistent. Does that mean you can't ever change? No. But once you establish the theme or format of your podcast, you should make changes only incrementally and judiciously in order to maintain your audience.

Now, go make YOUR rules, and make good podcasts, too.

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?

The Hottest Thing Going In Radio

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, on Monday, June 6, debuted the next version of iTunes (4.9) which, he announced, will support podcasting.

Based on the brief demo he gave of iTunes newest feature, I'd say that iPodder and iPodderX may not have much useful life left.

I've never been a fan of iPodder, and iPodderX, with the new version 3.0 is so slo-o-o-ow on my Mac that it's hardly usable. I've been longing for a decent podcatcher for some time now and iTunes seems like the perfect point at which to insert the podcatching function.

But this whole podcatching issue brings up another discussion -- making podcatching easy for the listener.

PodCASTERS, are, by and large, a bit on the geeky side; they love to roll around in the mud of all this technology and come up with a s**t-eating grin when they're done. PodCATCHERS, on the other hand, tend to have real lives and may only dip their big toes into the technology pool on the odd occasion.

That's why the iTunes podcatching solution is such a coup. Whether Apple initiated it or the ubiquitous Adam Curry whispered in Steve Jobs ear that it might be a good idea, the winner is the listener. No more having to open up a slow or confusing application (which will go unmentioned -- from this point on, anyway) -- to subscribe to a podcast and move it into iTunes where you can listen to it or download it to your iPod or one of the remaining 24% of mp3 players out there.