Tuesday, May 24, 2005

An essay on the economics of the developing podcast industry.  

Le Monde supports RSS. Via JY. 

Om Malik: "Like a man in love, I just cannot get enough of Bit Torrent." 

Paolo: "I must admit I am still not completely sold on tags." 

Rick Segal: "One talk -- two perspectives." 

Scoble: "I spent some time today interviewing the Virtual Earth team. This is MSN's answer to Google Maps, coming in July 2005. As you see in the video MSN Virtual Earth goes noticeably further than Google Maps or other mapping services." 

Tim Jarrett: "The good news in this scenario is that customers are getting a choice, as Microsoft feels the sting of competition. The bad news -- for customers and for its investors -- is that the most highly capitalized software company in the world isn’t capable of turning all its resources into bringing products like this to the market faster." 

Business Week: "Yes, the pace is slow, much more suited to a long stretch of highway than a morning commute. At one point in the show I listened to, Winer got up, walked across the room, and poured himself a cup of coffee. You could hear his voice in the distance. His point: This is a relaxed conversation, not traditional radio." 

It's nice to see a review of podcast styles. Why not slow down and take a look at what makes this medium different from others. Maybe there's more to it than radio; maybe, like blogs, it has something to do with the telephone? Small scale instead of huge. Maybe it's silly to ask how many people listen to your podcast, as it would be silly to ask how many listen to your phone conversations? (Hopefully only one!) Also, podcasting is clearly not a conversation, even more than a blog, it's one-way. I've never bought into the idea that a blog is a conversation. I think that came from the always-more-influential Doc Searls's observation that markets are conversations. That doesn't mean everything is a conversation. Hehe. Okay, imho a podcast is less a conversation than a blog is because one listens to a podcast away from the computer, and you have to remember to respond. That doesn't mean I didn't hear what was said, quite the opposite. When I'm walking or driving, there's less to interfere, I hear better than I do when reading a blog or an email, where there is so much competing for my attention that I skim for comprehension. Podcasts can go deep. 

OhMyNews covers BlogNashville. 

Tod Maffin is looking for Canadian podcasters. 

News.Com: Your chance to meet Bill Gates. Doc Searls would love this. Microsoft has no taste, they love the junk created by users. Meanwhile Uncle Steve is "trying to help in some small way" by sending bloggers to jail. Doc called it, in 1997. "The influence of developers, even influential developers like you, will be minimal. The influence of customers and users will be held in even higher contempt."