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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.
It's an election year, which means words like "liar" spout from left and right. I'm not sure it if is war-time angst or bitterness from the closeness of the last election, but this election has seen all kinds of resentment from both sides.
To make things more interesting, a group who call themselves the Swift Vets for Truth have put together a damning spot accusing Kerry of lying about his service record, including lying about an incident witch earned him a Bronze Star.
The commercial is available on the group's website, SwiftVets.com in QuikTime, Real, Windows Media and MPEG and is airing in several states. If you find it more informative than a Michael Moore flick, I suggest you donate the price of a movie ticket (or more) to the group to keep the spot on the air.
Update: Comments are for, well, comments. Comments containing only URL's will be deleted as comment-spam attempts to boost page rank. Legitimate comments will contain a valid contribution to the content of the post.
I take personal offense at things like this because I am a filmmaker. Film is a medium of manipulation, so when an obnoxious filmmaker claims to present the facts without manipulation in a documentary, he's the last person you should trust.
Manipulation is also a matter of motives. The motive here? Money. The bottom line here is that, issues, elections and responsibility aside, Mikie Moore is in it for more ($). Make him rich if you'd like, but know what's really going on first.
Another filmmaking note: juxtaposition, one of Moore's most used techniques was first used in communist propaganda films.
How about last week?
Oprah turned 50.
Oprah earned national celebrity by debunked the popular "fat and happy" myth, proving once and for all it's much better to be "rich and happy".
Blogger Feeds Atom
Blogger introduced news feed to their free service. This did happen last week, but it will be several more before the new Atom feed format is supported broadly. The Blogger Founders aren't worried, they use Movable Type.
Music Match Maker
Coke shocked us all, announcing an internet music givaway with Music Match. Executives detailed their future marketing strategy as "whatever Pepsi does, but with a second-rate partner".
I missed the Patriot's fabulous win yesterday. In related news, I didn't back over anyone in my SUV or lose my shirt to Justin Timberlake. I'll call it a wash.
How about last week.
There are hold-ups for the iTunes Music Store in Europe. Apparently they're having trouble meeting with compliance requirements or something. One thing making the Euro-iTunes easier: genre. Only two to worry about, Techno and Dance.
It's expected that if Howard Dean loses the New Hampshire primary, his concession speech will include an endorsement for Bush's space exploration plan: "We're going to the moon, we're going to Mars, YEAHHHHH!"
And then there was ipodland.com. If you can't beat them, be sure and moan about it.
I'm not committing to a schedule, but look for more PostScript news...
For those of you following my Windows XP saga, you know there have been more than one let down along the way. Well, as my XPerience progresses, I am finding out more and more about the world's most unexplainably popular OS.
I, as you may expect, am a digital man. One of my many digital appendages is an HP digital camera. I found on HP's web site that, lucky me, I did not need any additional drivers to use my camera with Windows XP.
Now you can guess that it didn't work, or I wouldn't be mentioning it. But, what's more is the reason. After doing some further research on HP's web site, I found that the reason my camera does not "plug and play" with XP is due to XP's 32 megabyte size limit in handling flash cards.
That's right, while the camera worked with its 64 MB card in Windows 98, the man that said that "640k would be enough memory for anybody" has decided 32 Megabytes are more than enough for your digital camera. Is it possible that Windows has gotten dumber with time?
Discuss...
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been wrestling with the Windows XP installer for the last couple days.
And, I am happy to report, the rituals worked. Now, not only does my wife's laptop sport Windows XP, but the neighborhood is mysteriously free of stray cats.
There are some things I learned through this experience. First is that it takes a lot of Glade to cover the scent of burning hair. Next is that there is a method to the madness that is Microsoft software.
My first hint came doing an Access project for my IS class. I would be on the brink of giving up all hope that my database query would work at all, and then I would run it and it would work, without explanation.
Not only was this mysterious effect evident in every problem of my Access homework, but also became the key to my XP install. You see, Microsoft software thrives on desperation.
Last night I was able to deduce though my Mac troubleshooting skills that the installer script was screwing up my installation and failing to restart the computer. So, brave and a little stupid, I edited the script several times in WordPad. No dice, until desperation set in...
It may have had something to do with my watching "Survivor". About to give up and call tech support, I decided to randomly delete half the installer script. And it worked. Interesting...
So, where are we now? We know that such software is not bound by the laws of reason, it in fact laughs in the face of logic. It, not unlike Survivor, rewards thoughtless, random acts of desperation. And now I have XP on my laptop. If I could only get the singed cat hair out of the keyboard, I'd be set.
I'll admit this because you all know of my undying dedication to the Mac platform.
My school, Oklahoma State, has reached a bulk licensing program with Microsoft by which all students are able to download Office (for Mac and PC) and Windows updates free of charge.
So, I burned XP to a disk to install on my wife's (not mine, of course) Dell Latitude. Why does my wife have a Dell Latitude and I no PowerBook? Good question, but that is another issue.
Before I chronicle my installation (which is still not done) from last night, I'd just like to point out that never in my experience, and I mean never has a Mac OS installer failed an installation.
So, as I gear up for my second disk and 6th attempt at upgrading the Latitude from Windows 98 to XP, I am no longer attempting to apply logic to the process. I am resorting to voodoo.
Wish me luck. The incense may burn the house down, and the neighbors might call the police, but I will have XP on that laptop...
Art wants to be free, record labels are thieves, college students are stealing music and Metallica is the last bastion of Internet morality. It's a frightening world isn't it?
In 1995 I left for college with a PowerBook 150 under my arm. I had a couple tracks of my favorite tunes - stored as AIFF files, and a few in MIDI. Then came MP3.
Now, everyone has woken up to the fact that the music industry may be the country's largest legal rip-off, passing along 12% or less of its revenue to the actual artists.
Music downloaders just like you and me went from cutting-edge to criminal in 6 months, and 12 year olds are being sued by monstrously large corporations.
ISP's have become the last line of defense, but perhaps the most ironic role that has been filled in this entire situation is that of the poor victims. When I hear sob stories from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I have a hard time finding any pity for them. And how embarrassing is Metallica's whine about illegal downloads. What happened to anarchy, injustice and revolution, guys?
What I'm getting at here is the interesting role-changes that have emerged from this situation. I don't advocate illegal downloading. I also don't advocate buying music from immature never-had-to-work-a-day-in-their-life bands or music labels.
What should have happened, and still can is the emergence of 'net artists free of the restraints of record labels. The Internet is the ultimate publishing system: death to the middle man.
Call it the MacMerc Model. We don't get paid. We work for the sake of expression. I think we'll see more of this as the 'net matures.
Until then, I'll take my iTunes Music Store. At least there, Apple gets the first cut, and who's to say that someday online distributors won't be able to leverage record labels down to a reasonable profit margin.