Comments on: Podcasting: The Fax Machine of ‘06 http://joeldowns.com/2006/08/16/podcasting-the-fax-machine-of-06/ Media, Marketing, Technology, and a tune-up Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:55:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: peter b http://joeldowns.com/2006/08/16/podcasting-the-fax-machine-of-06/#comment-21 peter b Thu, 17 Aug 2006 00:31:58 +0000 http://joeldowns.com/2006/08/16/podcasting-the-fax-machine-of-06/#comment-21 I always associated podcasting to flycasting in fishing -- those podcasters, they reel in their listeners one at a time... and often times, they don't reel in anybody. I read somewhere, the average podcast has less than 2 dozen listeners. I would have had more when I huddled around the microphone with my friends all those years ago -- but, I didn't come from a big enough family. Joel... I'm with you... it's a damn mp3 for chrissakes, and it's usually binary: suitable for listening to zero or one times. But marketeers have a hold of this word, so it really doesn't have anything to do with anything, except hype. I always associated podcasting to flycasting in fishing — those podcasters, they reel in their listeners one at a time… and often times, they don’t reel in anybody. I read somewhere, the average podcast has less than 2 dozen listeners. I would have had more when I huddled around the microphone with my friends all those years ago — but, I didn’t come from a big enough family.

Joel… I’m with you… it’s a damn mp3 for chrissakes, and it’s usually binary: suitable for listening to zero or one times. But marketeers have a hold of this word, so it really doesn’t have anything to do with anything, except hype.

]]> By: joel http://joeldowns.com/2006/08/16/podcasting-the-fax-machine-of-06/#comment-20 joel Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:51:39 +0000 http://joeldowns.com/2006/08/16/podcasting-the-fax-machine-of-06/#comment-20 The dictionary definition of broadcast still implies that the transmission is not initiated by the user - that the publisher is sending it out "for public or general use" and that the public may use it or ignore it (as they do a television program.) By your definition, iTunes is a broadcaster, as are YouTube and Napster, and I doubt many people would agree with that. Yes, we will have to wait until phones catch up to iPods in terms of storage and interface, but as I said, this is an evolution and the race isn't over yet. Give it a few years for the storage and download rates for phones to increase. You can already get phones with as much storage as a iPod Nano. Within a couple years, 10GB (or more) will be standard storage on a cell phone. Eventually, wireless bandwidth will be higher as well, so storing files on portable device will gradually become less important because you'll be able to stream them from anywhere. The dictionary definition of broadcast still implies that the transmission is not initiated by the user - that the publisher is sending it out “for public or general use” and that the public may use it or ignore it (as they do a television program.) By your definition, iTunes is a broadcaster, as are YouTube and Napster, and I doubt many people would agree with that.

Yes, we will have to wait until phones catch up to iPods in terms of storage and interface, but as I said, this is an evolution and the race isn’t over yet. Give it a few years for the storage and download rates for phones to increase. You can already get phones with as much storage as a iPod Nano. Within a couple years, 10GB (or more) will be standard storage on a cell phone. Eventually, wireless bandwidth will be higher as well, so storing files on portable device will gradually become less important because you’ll be able to stream them from anywhere.

]]> By: jhaddad http://joeldowns.com/2006/08/16/podcasting-the-fax-machine-of-06/#comment-19 jhaddad Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:31:53 +0000 http://joeldowns.com/2006/08/16/podcasting-the-fax-machine-of-06/#comment-19 Definition of broadcast: To transmit (a radio or television program) for public or general use. Doesn't have to be distributed simultaneously. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/broadcast I don't think that being on-demand invalidates it as a broadcast. We will have to wait till phones are good enough to replace ipods as people's music players of choice. I like having all my music with me, so I'll continue to keep using my iPod. I wouldn't be surprised if they keep calling it podcasting even after it's streaming to the phone. Definition of broadcast: To transmit (a radio or television program) for public or general use.

Doesn’t have to be distributed simultaneously.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/broadcast

I don’t think that being on-demand invalidates it as a broadcast.

We will have to wait till phones are good enough to replace ipods as people’s music players of choice. I like having all my music with me, so I’ll continue to keep using my iPod. I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep calling it podcasting even after it’s streaming to the phone.

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