I’m sure many of you have heard about podcasting and know what it is. If you have not, check this out. In short, it is like radio but in digital format which you can take with you. Now, I never really thought too much about podcasting. To me, it was just another one of those hot buzz words that people on the web were using. I mean, you know something is a buzz word when it makes it to CNN. What I’ve never understood is why people make their podcasts. I know it’s hard enough to get noticed on the web, but what makes podcasting any different? Is there a difference?
If you look at the top 100 podcasts on iTunes you’ll see a pretty decent mix of content. But, one thing that you won’t see is a lot of your mainstream media. I mean, this makes a lot of sense, right? Mainstream media is behind the curve on a lot of this stuff. By stuff I mean about anything that you can do online. Take blogs for example. There are millions of blogs online that people can read. Some media outlets are just now publishing their own blogs in addition to their traditional news offerings. But, how long will it be before they jump into the podcasting pond? In this era of “news in the now” it would make sense to have a podcast, wouldn’t it? You could get the news you want and listen to it on your way to work and what not. You can keep it up to date with a subscription and you can choose to skip one if you don’t have the time. So, how long will it take? A year? More?
I realize that some media outlets already have podcasts, but their market is very targeted to a specific category, usually tech. But, this makes sense considering that this technology is very cutting edge, no matter how simplistic the concept is. But, I think that the simplicity of podcasting is why it is catching on so fast. Nearly anybody can do it, much like blogging. It will only be a matter of time, in my opinion, where this really catches on big time. Apple is on the right track with their recent implementation of Podcasting in iTunes and their line of iPods. But, only time will tell if people find use out of it. For me, as the number of offered podcasts increase so will my interest.