Why I'm Not Smoking the Podcasting Dope | Darren Barefoot
Darren Barefoot has some interesting points concerning podcasting and why he isn't buying it as the next big thing. I tend to share some of these concerns, and a few more.
In order for an audio broadcast to be any good, you have to have good quality people and quality material to make and produce audio. Audio is a completely different format than blogs, and while some people are excellent writers, they really suck at hearing their voices out loud. There are exceptions like Andy Ihnatko and David Pogue, but those are exceptions, not the rule. Most podcasts are more like Slashdot's Geeks In Space, (which was neat *because* it was so unprofessional, not in spite of it.)
Filling up 20 minutes a day is exhausting. 20 minutes of talking is a lot -- check out how much people like Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and Al Franken talk, without saying much. Podcasting even once a week with decent content is a lot, unless you're really dedicated or insane. And all the insane people are blogging.
And then audio takes a lot longer to produce -- a *lot* longer. So while I can write a couple of posts a day, I could do at best one audio a week if I did little else. Most people won't put in the time.
I'm not saying it couldn't happen -- but nothing's suddenly popped out as a "must listen" program yet, and unless that happens soon, it's probably going to go the way of the dodo.
Posted by Ted Stevko at April 5, 2005 10:43 PM