podcasting -- rarely a quality product
Oct. 14th, 2005 02:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearThere are two types of podcasting.
the latter is often rambling, even if its of the interview variety, and editing a ramble down to a listenable product requires time to edit (bloggers never edit, in general) and with that the tolerance of hearing your own voice (most people don't like their own voice and rarely go back to such productions just because of the cringe factor).
the result? unless you know the podcaster, podcasts will not be worth the download in 99% of the cases. even if you do know the caster, consider that unlike skimming a blog entry, its impossible to "skim" audio and still know that you got the point. people read at their own pace; people have to listen at the pace at which the recording was made.
in this age of information overload, people need to feel in control of their inputs. podcast-blogs restore control to the blogger at the expense of the audient's sense of control. very quickly, people will find they simply don't have the time to listen to everything they've been asked to listen to and still find the time to listen to and/or watch that which they already wanted to listen to before the podcast was made.
the podcast blog will die a silent death, very loudly i'm afraid.
- making your own "radio shows" where you play DJ, as an alternative to setting up a Live365 account with all of its 24/7 support and/or otherwise incurring the wrath of the record industry by distributing pirated material -- podcasts right now are too independent so they don't yet show up on record industry radars.
- a blog in audio because talking is easier than typing
the latter is often rambling, even if its of the interview variety, and editing a ramble down to a listenable product requires time to edit (bloggers never edit, in general) and with that the tolerance of hearing your own voice (most people don't like their own voice and rarely go back to such productions just because of the cringe factor).
the result? unless you know the podcaster, podcasts will not be worth the download in 99% of the cases. even if you do know the caster, consider that unlike skimming a blog entry, its impossible to "skim" audio and still know that you got the point. people read at their own pace; people have to listen at the pace at which the recording was made.
in this age of information overload, people need to feel in control of their inputs. podcast-blogs restore control to the blogger at the expense of the audient's sense of control. very quickly, people will find they simply don't have the time to listen to everything they've been asked to listen to and still find the time to listen to and/or watch that which they already wanted to listen to before the podcast was made.
the podcast blog will die a silent death, very loudly i'm afraid.
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granted, those with "nothing to do" may listen...
Date: 2005-10-17 04:05 pm (UTC)again, the competition for one's ears is fierce. it'll take something very VERY good to take my ears away from that which already makes them comfortable.
Re: granted, those with "nothing to do" may listen...
Date: 2005-10-18 12:05 am (UTC)That said, I'd have to agree with you in theory about audio blogs. They have no interest for me, but if someone was to seriously attempt one, they'd have to make themselves pretty darn interesting.
The few podcasts I listen to are primarily informational in nature. If not professionally produced, they're at least produced by amateurs who are attempting to achieve professional results and are passionate enough in their subject matter to come close.
Although my biggest criticism to date is with the professionally produced podcasts: too much title music. Even if I've got an hour to listen to a podcast on a tech subject, that doesn't mean that I have 3-5 minutes to listen to a "theme song" about the show with absolutely no content.
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