Dec 14
Then why the snappy name? In reality “Podcasting” melds MP3 players, Internet radio and RSS and it’s all the rage. At least according to Stephen Humphries at the The Christian Science Monitor. Maybe I’ll get around to doing a PowerPage Podcast one of these days…
One Response to “Isn’t Podcasting Really Just Time Shifting?”
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December 29th, 2004 at 4:41 pm
Jason,
I think the concept of podcasting is different than time shifting. Surprised this has not generated more comments.
When I time shift with my VCR, I am capturing streaming video content, real time, to archive or watch content at another time more convenient to me. Time shifting is needed because the streaming event is one time - miss it and it is gone.
It is a pain because of all the setup hassle and the fact that it must be captured real-time - 2-hour show takes 2 hours to capture and you need uninterruped connectivity the whole time.
Media business models evolved to support the big capital needed to support the broadcast over-the-air and cable distribution, production and presentation infrastructures. Content is altered to draw the mass audiences and advertisers needed to support the industry.
The idea in podcasting (if not the current implementations) is that the content is actually packaged with downloading and time shifting viewing in mind. Music, video and text can be published and delivered to your pod for viewing as you see fit. The 2 hour-long talk show takes 1 minute to download. It is sort of like a magazine subscription, but with a fraction of the production and delivery costs.
In theory cheaper production costs can let more people in the game producing and selling content. With low barriers to distribute, no defacto lock-outs by the ClearChannels of the world. Even PowerPage can play. Already there is a PowerPage daily e-mail summary, a kind of podcasting in itself. Why not email a text summary version ready to read on my pod or palm on the subway? Why not have Jason read the thing on an MP3 so I can listen on my driving commute? And I’ll probably be too lazy to fast-forward through the revenue generating ads
that will help Jason pay for more toys.
For example, I like to listen to Terry Gross, but the show is on at 2PM when I am slaving at the office. There are many ways to record the show, but all require setup and real-time streaming recording. If I could set up an automated download of a podcast file, I could regularly listen to it, along with Jason’s PowerPage stuff in the car on the commute home. If I hear a reference to an old interview, I could download that whenever I get connectivity. So podcasting can support both push and pull distribution and products. Works for music and video too.
The concept of podcasting is big enough to really bust things open. Hopefully podcasting won’t be treated by the industry the way the record labels attacked MP3s.