Audio blogs redux
As Matt said, what if audio blogs are the Next Great Thing, and we curmudgeons missed it? So as to be able to snidely comment on this phenomenon from a position of knowledge, I pulled down yesterdays Daily Source Code by Adam Curry, and put it on the taco, my trusty N-Gage.
OK, step one was accomplished, and I didn’t need those near-obligatory accessories, a $300 iPod and a $1,500 Mac. That’s nice, because I can’t afford either.
I started listening on my way home (5 minute walk, 35 minute subway ride, 7 minute walk). The taco is a nice enough mp3-player, but it lacks a fast-forward feature. I pressed pause to avoid looking like a zombie and read a book instead, but when I tried resuming, it started from the beginning. Obviously, an iPod would handle this better, as would any dedicated mp3 player.
Adam is involved in iPodder.org which he intends to turn into a centre for podcasting. Well, that’s all well and good, but if he wants creating and listening to podcasts to become mainstream, he’d better get a better, less iPod-specific name. Now you get the impression that it’s only for Mac + iPod users. Also, Apple’s lawyers may have some things to say to him.
The post itself was entertaining, I’ll say that. It sure beats trying to find new music to listen to, and fills a niche that FM radio perhaps can’t fill. But still, the Net is about TEXT, goddammit. Audio is all well and good for music and entertainment, but for information, the bandwidth is wasted. I may be able to read articles and blog posts “interstitially” at work, filling those blank pauses when I task-switch from one issue to another, but I can’t multitask enough to listen to speech.
Also, the barriers to entry are pretty high, both for producers and consumers. A blog poster needs to be able to handle a web form and a keyboard. An audioblogger needs mics, audio software, BANDWIDTH, and audio nous, not too widely available. Lots more talented writers than talented radio artists, but that may change as podcasting becomes more popular.
Consumers need: a fast net connection, an mp3-player, a modern computer, an intimate knowledge of RSS (version 2.0, no less), and weird and wonderful “iPodder” software, which, despite it’s name, is not tied to an iPod. Go figure.
Who’s the audience? The web is available to perhaps 20% percent of the planet’s population. Of this percentage, maybe 15% wander outside MSN et al. Of these, 10% read blogs. Perhaps 5% of these listen to podcasts. But I bet 99% of these are white, and male, and live in the US and Western Europe.
However, for all its flaws, audio blogging is much much better than that next scourge, videoblogging. That will be scary. Until then, I’ll stick to text, thank you very much.
Posted on Wednesday, 2024-10-06,
in the comm » weblog category.
