The Podcasting Blogpsphere is abuzz with criticisms that Apple has failed to tailor their iPod and now iPod shuffle to podcatching. Interestingly enough, their problem with the ‘Pods are symptomatic of one of the problems with podcasting itself.
We’re only about fifteen minutes into the podcasting phenomena, so for the trend to have an impact on Apple’s iPod UI is a little unrealistic. What’s more, the primary complaint - that it is hard to navigate long podcast “shows” on an iPod - points to one of the most annoying attributes of podcasting - the shows’ length.
Follow me here: I track about 30 news sources via my blogroll. In about four updates a day of about fifteen minutes each I get my daily dose of blogs, news and updates (once again, from thirty sources) spending less than five minute at any given site. So why in the world would I want to take half an hour or more to listen to a single source?
In fact, long podcasts (I’ve never listened to an entire one) step outside the purpose of RSS and the idea of meta data. The XML framework of RSS gives you the opportunity to break up and focus short and specific content to a particular audience. The ideal podcast by this formula is not an hour long epic, but a series of short, frequent and topically specific recordings.
My experience in film taught me that brevity can be a virtue. I would wager that 5-15 minutes is the ideal length for a relevant, interesting ‘cast.
Now I’m not going to touch the problem of podcast programming quality or the lack of a workable revenue model. Those topics will have to wait. But for now, it’s safe to say that podcasting has some growing up to do before it begins shaping product development.
As a side note, I thought the shuffle’s auto-resume function was actually podcast friendly. Hmm.
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January 16th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
I completely agree. The problem with Podcasting is the length and average choice of content, which is exactly same problem with radio broadcasting. These things are long. And, if you thought that reading two or three paragraphs of someone’s opinion was enough to drive you insane, you should try listening to a Podcast. I admit, I’ve never listened to a Podcast on my ‘Pod, but I have in iTunes. Why? Because I spend most of my free time at home. But this leads me to be picky, very picky, about my Podcasts. When listening to a radio broadcast, I have to make a choice of who I want to waste my 3PM hour on. The same is true for Podcasting. Sure, you can listen to a Podcast whenever you want, but none of us have 24 hours/day of free time to listen to 24-48 Podcasts. In fact, you’re lucky if America averages 2 hours to spend listening to Podcasts. Key Point: This is not an expanded version of your blog presented in audio format, this is a radio broadcast. If you have interesting content that you can express in an efficient manner, do so. If all you plan on doing is rant about your existence for an hour, the exit is to your left.