1. We're seeking out commercial information all the time. When you look up a movie review, or choose a plane flight, shop for an apartment, pick a restaurant or review your stock portfolio, you are seeking commercial information. So, therefore, there's nothing particularly bad about commercials.
2. Most TV and radio commercials are ANNOYING. By design. They're forcing commercial information on you that you DON'T WANT. This is bad.
3. So instead, create commercial information, in any form you like and make it available. This is very different from sneaking it in, or being annoying. Make it available. Then you have a responsibility to be: Informative. Respectful. Entertaining. Wouldn't that be nice?
4. Sometimes commercials are all that. Then I don't skip over them on my TiVO, in fact, what I do is play them over and over on my TiVO. So all the new media does is change the rules. Instead of being intrusive assholes, be entertaining informers.
5. Unfortunately for people who are intrusive assholes, there's not much they can do. Hopefully they made a lot of money in the last century and can retire and be totally puzzled by the way things turned out.
# Posted by Dave Winer on 3/15/05; 2:50:35 PM - --
On the podcasters mail list, Steve Eley writes:
I seem to be missing something here. I'd love it if you all could help me.
There's all this buzz about these new "professional" podcasting sites. Odeo's written up in the New York Times, Podshow.com's taking out ads, Audible's apparently putting a dog in this race too. Everyone's up to something.
But what? You go to Odeo and Podshow and all you see are "Sign up for news!" buttons. Can anyone who's not bound to an NDA tell me what the business model's going to be for any of these services? Is this being talked about in some forum I'm not reading?
I echo Steve's curiosity. I've not signed any NDA's, and admit I have no idea what the various commercializers of podcasting are up to. Do you have a clue? If so enlighten the rest of us! 
# Posted by Dave Winer on 3/15/05; 12:10:54 PM - --
