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The end of podcasting hype and the power of language

Updated: I have toned down the title following views in the comments

This is from Ivan Pope’s End of Podcasting post on Vecosys:

You know that Podcasting is over as a bankable concept when companies start rebranding themselves to escape the word.

Too true – looking for the hidden meaning in language is both fun and instructive, and Ivan is bang on here.

I’ve never been a fan of using audio to communicate data – awesome for music (obviously) but most content is simply best consumed in the written format. That was something that got a bit forgotten for a while.

The other thing is I’m a believer in streaming – as networks get more pervasive and we are connected all the time then streaming becomes a better model than download. Not good news for podcasts either.

He was talking about podcasting company PodZinger relaunching as EveryZing.

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June 20th, 2007 | Category: Content, Music
  • The trouble with Podcasting is it's based on technology designed for music tracks and thus delivers a very limited user experience and horrible economics for the content owner. It therefore just scratches the surface of the potential Personal Audio Information(PAI)space.

    PAI is generally not a replacement for reading. It's about multitasking (eg driving) and learning. A classic long tail of millions of niches.
  • nic
    Dave - audio has it's place, no doubt about it. My only point was that the hype got ahead of that.
  • Congratulations on writing an inflamatory piece. Audio is so much better than text. TONE OF VOICE. I don't have to do stupid stuff like type in CAPS to ACCENT stuff.

    Time Shifting vs streaming. OK, now you're being silly. I can listen/watch my favorite programs while I work out, drive to work, etc. Or I can chain myself to a streaming computer and hope I arrive in time. C'mon?! I suppose tivo sucks too right?

    I had just as many subscribes to an email list for four years as I have to a podcas t now. I've been podcasting since 2005 (2 years). The number of my books that have sold in 2 years of podcasting is far greater than the number I sold during the four years of an ezine.

    Podzinger's name change is not a signal to the end of podcasting. Quit being silly.

    Dave Jackson
    www.schoolofpodcasting.com
    Personal Podcast Coaching
  • nic
    All of which leaves it as quite niche alan
  • The attraction of audio is its possibilities in "downtime" when other media re not easy to use (driving etc)....question is whether people are up for "serious" content then (I think prob yes for % of pop'n if we define radio 4 level as "serious", but for the main it seems most people prefer "aural bubble gum" in these times.

    The other application imho is the business world where you may have no other option but an audio feed (eg on large industrial sites, warehouses etc)
  • nic
    Well put Erik. You are bang on that audio is better for all things emotional and not just music.
  • Text is great for data.

    Audio is great for emotional connection.

    That goes way beyond music. Political messages. Post game analysis from sporting events. Comedy.

    While music radio is essentially dead, talk radio (sports and politics primarily) is booming in the US.

    That said, audio will fail if it's on the desktop, it needs to be on a mobile device. It will also fail if it is not streamed, timeliness is everything, downloads don't lend themself to being timely.
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