A very controversy topic this week was the publication of a new Link TextForrester research study about the use (or not use) of Podcasting. But the comments left in the Net suggest that many have a different point of view.

Forrester projects that just 700,000 households in the US in 2006 will use podcasting, and that it will grow to 12.3 million households in the US by 2010. (See Forrester's "The Future Of Digital Audio" report). Just to give you some context, we expect MP3 adoption to be almost 11 million households in the US this year, and grow to 34.5 million households by 2010. So that means in four years, about a third of those MP3 owners will be listening to podcasts on those devices. Podcasting will get easier and the content will get better, but it will all take time.

Given, most of the interest for this study might come from North American companies, but it is one of the interesting and fascinating parts about podcasting that is is not just that one market but a world wide phenomena.

I also doubt the number of exposure to podcasting - every sold iPod out there is wired to iTunes and this does expose the content of podcasting to every iPod user.

As the study says:

One-quarter of online consumers express interest in podcasts, with most interested in time-shifting existing radio and Internet radio channels.

My caution is that companies shouldn’t be dashing out to create expensive original content for a small audience – unless they gain value from being seen as innovative.

If the whole way changes the way my customers deal with me at all, my advise would be to start *very* soon with going where there are going. Because all it takes for those 25% interested persons to go into regular listeners of podcasts is to find a topic of interest to them.

The Guardian reports:

But now Ricky Gervais has a world record after his podcast became the most downloaded ever.

Gervais' weekly show on Guardian Unlimited, featuring writing partner Stephen Merchant and sidekick Karl Pilkington, averaged 261,670 downloads a week during its first month.

[...]

The podcast debuted on Guardian Unlimited in December 2005 and regularly tops the iTunes podcasting chart, beating the likes of Radio 1 breakfast host Chris Moyles.

Many people for example mistake hits for downloads on a podcast, an error many people make also with RSS Feeds. "My feed was accessed 24 times today!" can mean 24 actual subscribers or just a service checking every minute. With podcast, some software downloads chunks (generating several hits in the servers' log files) or access one and the same file over and over again.

The mentioning of iTunes in this article indicates to me that there is perhaps an interest of Apple to have their download numbers be the standard for such a world record - but they don't publish those and they are only per store basis, also not a reliable number. And, do we count numbers in average, numbers per episode?

But, if you are in doubt and you have a better download rate, you still have a chance to enter yourself in the Guinness Book:

The Ricky Gervais Show will be included in the 2007 edition of the Guinness World Records' book - as long as no other podcast tops it before it is published in the autumn.

When you hear the words "podcast charts" - would the second thought coming to your mind be "from the BBC"? No?

Allow your users to keep the content at a place they want: One lesson of the last year has been that users want to have their content / their pictures / their podcast not locked in. Websites and applications who understand this have done better than other who tried to lock in the users.

Widgets for your blog is one favorite example - you can use a Frappr map on your page or as of now also a flash player from Odeo on your site. But they go a step further and allow me to use anything I find on Odeo:

If you find something on Odeo that you’d like to share with others on your web site or blog, you can include a Flash player. Just click the HTML link on any audio page and copy the code. Then paste the code in your site or blog editor and publish like normal. The player will show up on that page.

The fact that I am publishing my podcast also on the Odeo page in my channel is something I am restrictively using for distributing. It would also be okay if I would be able to easily access my own channel with such a player - but not anything I find on Odeo.

Redistributing content I don't have the licensing to is will get me into problems - and it leaves the question whether for example Odeo can be held responsible for encouraging copyright infringements?

Darren Barefoot wrote a piece called "Why I’m Not Smoking the Podcasting Dope" back in March which attracted a lot of comments both agreeing and disagreeing.

"An Update on the Podcasting Dope" reflects those and changes in the last nine months in Podcasting / the common perception from his point of view.

Watching all those reports from CES coming in through the several blogs I read I noticed a lot of new products which could be interesting for podcasters.

Could because most of the times those players are only described in what new features for playing and colors they have - not so much about the features for recording.

Maybe I am reading the wrong blogs - but if podcasters do not blog about new gear for podcasters, who else will? So please, point me to new gear with good recording features for the ever growing number of podcasters!

Yahoo's podcast directory now also has vidcasts:

Yahoo! Podcasts now supports vidcasts as well as podcasts! Click to watch the video of your favorite shows – it’s as easy as listening directly from your web browser.

But it seems as if it is only a matter of time when services like this directory allow both kinds to co exist in their directory and let the user choose if he wants to search just for video or audio. Now that iTunes and Yahoo offer (web) based access to both types - will Odeo follow as well?

Hardware manufacturer Creative offers a podcast directory named Zencast as well as an application (beta) called ZENcast Organizer

ZENcast Organizer, specially designed by Creative Technology, seamlessly integrates podcasts and video blogs with the Creative ZEN player or a PC. Available today as a public beta version for free download for the award winning ZEN VISION and the latest ZEN VISION:M users. The ZENcast Organizer will enable users to enjoy easy downloads of all channels from www.zencast.com.

The design seems very simple and non stylish compared to the look of the hardware products. But obviously the company sees the need to compete with iTunes through having easy accessible (free) audio and video content to fill the players with.

Looking at the basic features of the website and seeing how long they will have to go from here I was wondering, why the company did not try to work with one of the existing directories out there. But instead took the road to offer yet another directory and make podcasters again go through the process of educating the new directory of their needs and wants.

There are a lot of conferences we cannot attend, due to different reasons. So podcasting those sessions, be it video and or audio, is a great idea to spread the ideas and spirit of an event. You still will need to attend to make those contacts, but sometimes there is no way you can attend, even if you would try.

Like for example the World Economic Forum in Davos. But it seems as if they want to make sure that everybody can be part of this, at least getting a very direct coverage of their annual event:

Broadcasting, Podcasting, Webcasting and Blogging at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006 in Davos:The World Economic Forum announced ambitious plans today to share the proceedings of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006 in Davos with as wide a public as possible. Held under the theme of The Creative Imperative, the Meeting will again be broadcast, webcast and, for the first time this year, many sessions will also be "podcast". Additionally, all participants will be asked to take part in the Forum’s blog.
[..]
"Davos is a small place, and the Conference Centre is even smaller. By broadcasting, webcasting, podcasting and encouraging blogging by all participants, we hope to share the spirit of Davos with as many people as possible. As every year, every single session will be open to more than 200 journalists from around the world," said Mark Adams, Director, Head of Communications.

You can read the Forum blog; at the moment they only speak of "downloading from a website" and use the word podcast in quotes, but I am hoping for a real podcast from the sessions.

Apple promotes a "Podcasting Server" on their website to publish learning content to student's iPods:

From course content and supplemental materials for students to professional development offerings for educators, educational institutions are automatically adding content to iPods. Using podcasts to produce and distribute this content means students, parents and educators can experience learning everywhere. And the cornerstone of this podcasting system is the Apple Podcasting Server

The creation guide covers just some basics, but the backbone guide allows admins of those kind of servers to really set up podcasting for the education server. It is no wonder that Apple tries to push podcasting, because it could increase sales of mobile mp3 players if universities and other educational outlets convince their students to use an iPod for studying.

(Tip from Russell Holliman)

As more and more podcast are published, it gets more complicated to choose from the available. Dave Slusher has now launched AmigoFish, a new service for the listener to "fish" for new podcasts based on ratings from other listeners.

The concept is very simple and well known: If others like the same shows you do, you might want to look into their other choices because you might like those also. Naturally, the system gets better the more people participate and rate podcast - not only the ones they like, but also not liked.

So this is not yet another directory, or another website where you as a listener are driven to vote, but a service which can have value for you, based on your ratings.

I was allowed to test the service some time ago and even back then with only a limited amount of input it brought me some new podcast I like to listen to now. Visit the website or read the blog.

PR blogger Steve Rubel gives a round-up about the PR impact of Audible's Wordcast system, introduced at the Portable Media Expo (Audible's Black Friday: A Case Study in PR vs. BR), comparing the reaction of normal media against new media.

The blogosphere was not very pleased with Audible's announcement. Especially the proprietary file format and the fees have caused negative reactions. It will be interesting to see if Audible makes changes to adapt to this criticism, when they finally launch the service (The service is still in closed beta.) While it is doubtful that there will be any changes in the file format, Audible might change something in the cost model.

Audible is the first big player to take a step into helping podcasters to monetize their productions. It is different than their usual business, which deals with publishing houses etc, but the podcasting business is probably too good to miss out on. And many podcasters want to earn money.

Marketers on the other hand have a different interest and love what Audible promises to give: A complete control over how long and how often a "podcast" has been listened to. (Which leaves me with the question, if these numbers are also reported today on their usual products?) .

Forcing everyday podcasters into Audible's format might heavily damage the popularity of a podcast, and for most podcasters this service is very expensive just to get some numbers. It will be more intelligent to go for new ways of financing their costs.

But for podcasters with high valued (and payed for) content, this could be just another position in their calculation and may reduce at the same time the cost and complexity of collecting money from their customers..

One has to ask the question though, if this is still podcasting? Pay per delivery of content in proprietary file format is a business Audible has been following for years - but it is not what most people enjoy about podcasting.

So far, Audbile benefits in many different ways. They have some clever moves in connecting their brand with podcasters and get a big share of media attention on the way. If they get content producers into their system, they also expand their attractivness of the rest of their products. And not only will they earn money through pdocasters, they could try to use the podcasters as unpaid betatesters for their ad insertion service - one day this service might be offered to old media as well.

A lot of advantages for Audible, but we will have to see, if podcasters benefit too.

One reason I am looking forward to results and buzz from the Portable Media Expo? Because I think podcasting as a movement needs a refuel on the spirit which started podcasting because it did go mainstream too fast. In just a few months, big players (like Yahoo and iTunes) integrated podcasting into their standard tool set.

Not that mainstream is a bad thing in general: Podcasting has fetched bigger interest from everyday people than blogs have. People do say how much more they react to sound (and also photo and video) than just to text. The press has done big coverage and is already on their second (third?) round of interviewing podcasters. So this is a success, right?

Not quite. The huge demand on listener side for "not this radio stuff but much better delivered for free as often as I want it"-content as well as thousands of people willing to produce this kind of content - all of this could go together perfectly. At least if the people involved knew how to handle this rushed success both on production as on the content side.

If podcasting would be just a hype, nobody would feel sorry about it - because then it would just be a hype which is replaced by something new. But if you take a closer look at the amount of work, resources and passion people are investing into those wonderful podcasts, you know how much of an impact this has on peoples lives.

From a producing side, I see two main issues here: how to make better, more efficient produced podcasts (which includes every aspect of production from concept work till music choice and clearing of rights) and how to find your own voice.

Interestingly, the people who could help out, are 'old media' - trained in the content media business, with years of knowledge, contacts, and professional equipment. Because first of all it is a distributing technique, second a way of having content in a new format and three produce content very cost effective to a world-wide audience.

With their knowledge, it should be fairly easy to embrace a new technology like this and help it evolve. Instead we see (generally speaking) small baby steps and they seem satisfied to write podcasting somewhere on their website.

Podcasters on the other hand are facing huge demands from their listeners - about quality, frequency, and content. What may have started as a fun hobby can soon turn into "just another show on the market". At which point a podcaster just might stop doing it because it lost it's charm.

When I ask if podcasting has gone mainstream to fast, I am asking kind of if it has grown up too fast: from a newborn over some kindergarten time and pre-teen directly to being 21 with just some job - and no fun time being a teenager with ways to experiment and get confident about who you are and what you can do.

Perhaps it is time to scale back a bit for many podcasters and remember: Nobody is forcing you. This is supposed to be fun. Nobody has the right to demand perfect production in whatever frequency they think you 'have' to do it.

Does it still make you happy or would you like to experiment a bit because you feel trapped? This is podcasting. You make the rules. It may get a bit bumpy and you might loose some of your audience, but try to look at it this way: if you are not a happy podcaster, the listeners will notice - and leave anyway.

[And a suggestion for the listeners: Think about what you are expecting from the podcasters you are listening to. And try to come up with a reason for yourself why they should fulfill your expectation.]

Germany is not so much a land of the bloggers, but they sure like Wikipedia and eBay. It is said, that 50% of Germans going online use eBay for about 3 hours each month.

Those nearly 17 million visitors a month need help and support. While ebay does have a market place with help files, forums and more, eBay Germany started another service for their users: a weekly audio magazin which they also promote as a podcast. It is in German, but you get an idea of the way they do the show through listening a bit.

The first episode contains information like news, legal, tips, short interviews with management and a powerseller, as well as a competition to win a ebay package. A feedback mail address and online help on how to receive this magazin as a podcast will get a lot of people interested into "this podcast thing".

This clearly is a "customer relation ship" podcast with value for eBay's customers, but also for other business oriented podcasters as a showcase.

Motorola and The Podcast Network just announced a three month partnership. Motorola will not only advertise on the TPN sites and podcasts, but also "offer podcasts with senior Motorola executives on a number of topics from handset design to mobile music".

It is interesting to see that it does not stop by simple advertising:

Motorola intends to use the TPN sponsorship to promote the ROKR, as well as other upcoming handsets, and also to position the edgier side of the Motorola brand. Motorola will give podcast listeners the opportunity to interact with Motorola executives by allowing them to submit their own questions to be posed in upcoming podcasts.

One of the main problems in the podosphere is to find good new podcasts based on your interest. Amazon has shown for a long time the success of the "customers who bought this book also liked" feature and Odeo started something similar.

The new feature is called "Other interesting channels" and appears next to channels (this is how a podcast is called in their directory). They describe it in the according blog post "The Road Less Traveled" in the following way:

The way it works is a little different than you might expect. While the recommendations are derived from what other people on Odeo are listening to, it's not limited to the most popular things. We've tweaked it a bit to try and find things that are related, but not necessarily obvious.

Podcast producers should keep an eye on the according Odeo pages for their podcasts. As tags and description probably influence the new feature, it is suggested to edit those from time to time. Once a feed is claimed, each show can be edited with image, link and description while tags can be edited any time.

Webcasts from Duke University Podcasting Symposium (September 27 - 28, 2005) are available. Take a look at the schedule to get more information about the different presentations or choose directly:

• Welcome & Introduction


• Business & Monetization


• Performance & Identity


• Provost's Welcome


• Podcasting in the Classroom


• Hands-On Tech


• Triangle Podcasters Forum


• Law & Policy


• "From Broad to Pod?"


• Journalism & the Media


• Closing Remarks

Podcastcon UK, held on September 17th 2005 in London, was Europe's first conference on podcasting. What was originally envisaged as a small meeting in a pub somewhere in England became, in the end, a conference with around 120 guests from countries all over the world. While many thought it was a great success, some have been keeping their thoughts quiet - me included.

It took me some days to reflect on why the weaknesses I found are in fact a clear sign of the conference's success: because it perfectly captured the current state of podcasting.

If you search for podcasting you get over 30 million hits on Google. It is barely a year old and has already entered the mainstream, thanks in part to Apple integrating podcasting into iTunes. Some say the growth period has just started, some say it has already peaked.

If you take a look at the list of speakers (and their topics), and those attending, you'll see many different directions and interests as well: from the very traditional BBC to single podcasters, from businesses exploring podcasting to educational usage, and from dedicated fans to "it is just another tool" users.

Exactly what can be seen in the podosphere: everyone is still trying to figure out what podcasting can or cannot do, what it should or should not be, whether to keep it pure or to make money from it.

Some feel disappointed when companies enter the cozy space, because it makes them feel as if podcasting has lost its innocence and from here on it is just business as usual. There are fights about it. Is it "just another tool" or a special something?

The conference reflected exactly that. It showed the dedicated community of the Britcasters, quite a few attendees who are somehow connected to the BBC, people working in education, the music business, or mainstream media, and business people who are interested in different aspects of podcasting. Be it "how do I" or just "what can I use it for", they were here.

The presentations were as different as the participants and reflected the same dilemma. A little bit of everything and nothing really deep. The one thing everybody was happy with was how well and professional the conference was organized: everything went smoothly, a 'posh venue', good service and working wifi.

I think Ewan Spence summed it up very well in his reflections on the day:

It went well. Really well. Given that (a) this sort of thing hasn't been done before and (b) because of that nobody was really sure what would be good topics to cover, there was a "next year we know exactly what we need to do" to get it right [feeling].

It was a first attempt, and it was a good one. You missed something that day (and evening), if you did not attend. It was a good day to put some faces to the voices, and for starting with fresh energy and thoughts into year two of podcasting. And don't miss Podcastcon 2006.

Additional links:

• (audio files will be available soon of the presentations)


• Frankie Roberto's detailed coverage of the day


• Jo Twist for the BBC: " Radio has its eye on podcasters"


• Moderator Neil Dixon's notes from the other side of the microphone


• Links about Podcastcon UK at Britcaster forum