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Podcasts

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3 Comments
2 years ago on December 12, 2005

"Podcasts? Meh." That has been my typical response to podcasts up until now.

For something that seemed to me to be a rather niche technology I have been surprised by the number of companies embracing podcasts. From it's prominent placement in iTunes to Tivo integration and sites such as Odeo, podcasting is appearing in relatively mainstream areas. However, I did not see it as a compelling technology.

I think a major reason for my skepticism is the fact that many of the podcasts themselves are not really interesting to me. A large part of this is the fact that many podcasts do not seem to make a lot of sense in the audio medium. For example, one of the most popular podcasts is the movie reviews of Ebert & Roeper, but their reviews work much better when accompanied with clips from the movie.

Ricky Gervais

However, this weekend I subscribed to the Ricky Gervais podcast on Guardian Unlimited after reading about it on the BBC and MetaFilter. Subscribing through iTunes and syncing to my iPod was straightforward and I listened to the first episode during my commute this morning.

Now San Francisco has it's fair share of mentally disturbed individuals who cackle to themselves, but this morning I was laughing out loud and receiving some very strange looks while listening to the podcast. It is absolutely hilarious and I highly recommend it - you can even just download the MP3s rather than subscribe to the podcast. Episode two came out today so I cannot wait to sync it to my iPod tonight and embarrass myself on public transport again tomorrow morning!

This is not to say that I am now sold on podcasting as a mainstream technology, but it makes a lot more sense when the content is compelling.

3 Comments

Jon

2 years ago

December 21, 2005

There's a ton of good content for web developers. Try the Web 2.0 show and the Ajaxian podcast. All of the NPR content works wonderfully in an audio medium. If you love music there's no end of good podcasts (I like http://www.thesoundsinmyhead.com). Check out some great talks at http://www.itconversations.com (I enjoyed http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail252.html)

The content that isn't a good fit for audio is already moving to video podcasts anyway.