Podcasting is taking off with amazing speed and this is a very exciting development. I am convinced this will be the future of Internet audio, at least until digital streaming to cell phones comes along. An article in the Wall Street Journal points out that Apple and Microsoft are both going to build podcast readers into their operating systems and that personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken are recording podcasts. There is so much to like about podcasting that it’s hard to believe that the move to this offline audio broadcasting won’t be dramatic and very disruptive to convential broacast media.
I’ve been a fan of offline audio for nearly 10 years. I subscribed to the Wall Street Journal on a service called Audible.com since 1996, and I feel an emptiness in my day if I don’t get my WSJ fix.
Yet I don’t think podcasts will send terrestrial broadcasting into the toilet or shake up people’s behavior in the short term. Podcasting is in the hype tornado right now. All kinds of media outlets are jumping on board and individual podcasters are testing this newfound electronic pulpit. But the fact is that most podcasts are really pretty awful. While listening to someone get up and pour himself a cup of coffee in the middle of a podcast may be novel and cute at the moment, in the long term the audiences will migrate to the more polished programmers. Like blogs, podcasts will give a voice to those who choose to use it, but the most successful podcasters will be the most polished. Still, expect that the podcasting movement will produce a few new stars.
The real impact of podcasting — as of any new medium — will be felt years down the road. Terrestrial radio has its work cut out for it as more and more of the two million MP3 player owners discover they can effectively program their own radio stations. Podcasting is to radio what TiVo is to TV, and broadcasters must adjust.
If you’re an IT pro or if you just like following the industry, check out Doug Kaye’s excellent IT Conversations podcast site. He’s posted hundreds of interviews and speeches from major technology conferences, including speakers like Lawrence Lessig, Clayton Christensen and Steve Wozniak. Doug isn’t trying to make money with this site. He just wants to share this wonderful stuff. Send him a donation.