iTunes 4.9 To Support Podcasting 352
WaRrK writes "O'Reilly Radar are reporting that in a demo at D: All Things Digital Conference, Steve Jobs showed off iTunes 4.9, which has support for iPodder like functionality. Although, he was "slightly" dismissive of the phenomena, describing it as "Wayne's World for radio". Also, whilst currently only supporting free content, they are not ruling out paid for podcasting in the future. iTunes 4.9 should be available within 60 days." Yeah, Steve's kinda right on this - podcasting is neat & all, but the breathy overstatement of how it will change our lives is a wee bit overdone.
podcasting, bah! (Score:3, Interesting)
It's an enabler... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:well.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Video store. They've already got all the front-end functionality built into iTunes 4, so ...
Brain storm! (Score:3, Interesting)
Movies (not just videos).
Lyrics for songs.
Karaoke.
Mixing (be your own DJ with pitch control and sound effects).
Support for independent vendors (a band could bypass the labels and list their content directly on iTunes). It could be possible for any band to list their songs on iTunes at a price they choose. And it could be done from the iTunes client. It really doesn't have to be very complicated.
This is huge (Score:1, Interesting)
The only trouble is that I have NO idea what podcasting is. Reading the article didn''t clued me in. Googling got me to: http://www.podcast.net/ [podcast.net], a very interesting web site, that does its best to NOT clue people in about podcasting. Of course wikipedia will tell me, but, hell, how difficult is it to put a single line in the
Re:well.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple seem to be pushing ahead so quickly (and well I might add) in advancing really useful features, that sometimes the old small bugs just get forgotten, and it's only when they've accumulated over several versions that together they make an app annoying.
(cue comments on the Finder now too)
Re:Reality Check (Score:3, Interesting)
Just put up with it for 6 more months and all the hype will die down. If it doesn't, then just make sure your own podcasts are about how podcasts are lame.
podcasting as timeshifting (Score:5, Interesting)
I get most of my new music by listening to KCRW (http://www.kcrw.org/online/ [kcrw.org]). Since they are on the west coast and I'm on the east coast, a lot of their music shows are at inconvenient times for me. So, I wrote a little program that downloads the shows I like (they broadcast in MP3 format), and then I can copy them to my mp3 player and listen to the show whenever and wherever I like. This has allowed me to go from listening to KCRW only occasionally to catching every single one of my favorite programs.
Wayne's World, Perhaps, But.. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's only a matter of time before paid providers will see the value of this. Vidcasts (not podcasts) might be the killer app, but the media distribution has to begin somewhere :).
Re:Reality Check (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Kinda stupid Ipod/Itunes question (Score:3, Interesting)
* With the normal iPods, there are various freeware apps including a good plugin for Winamp that let you control / update the iPod. Link for that here [winamp.com].
* With the iPod shuffle, you can download a small freeware app which allows you to just drag and drop MP3 / AAC files onto the player and run the app to rebuild the database on it - nice and easy
So no real need for iTunes unless you want to buy / convert music.
Re:Reality Check (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.cartalk.com/Radio/Show/ [cartalk.com]
Car Talk is available through podcast.. Fad?
Re:well.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Why not give people another option? Why not support an established, open, royalty-free format? (And why should I have to re-rip all my CDs to either an inferior format (mp3) or a proprietary one (AAC))
I realize that decoding Ogg Vorbis takes a bit more horsepower than mp3, but current iPods should be more than capable. The development costs would be a one-time expense.The only arguement I've ever seen is that few people use it. Well, Apple doesn't exactly have a history of ignoring the minority. The iPod was originally Mac only, after all.
Podcasting is here to stay .... (Score:2, Interesting)
On a similar note, I'm also a Tom Leykis fan, and since I live in a suburb of Detroit (and the only radio station that carried him moved the broadcast time to 3 am), I use replay radio to record a stream of a station in Seattle that carries him live in the afternoons. I think this whole pod casting thing is here to stay. There are a boat load of great radio programs out there that for one reason or another, I'd like to listen to all or part of but can't always do so.
Re:Wayne's World, Perhaps, But.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Say you run an independent radio station. College, community, what have you.
You have a programming schedule and a good many interesting programs. For example the Atlanta local WRFG [wrfg.org] is a 50KW FM stereo community supported radio station that would be of interest to a much larger audience than local Atlanta.
If WRFG were to make programs available as archives kept for a week and updated live and also make these archives easily available over 'podcast' they would benefit from a much larger audience and the additional donations that would come along with it.
What's missing is an easy to navigate playlist for the archive that the program director can easily update through his preferred management software. There is some oportunity for OSS here for anyone willing to build features of the popular program management systems with archiving or interface to popular archiving software, and couple of clicks or automatic podcast site update. If Mr Jobs is sharp, he'll get his butt in gear to fund with his site as the default.
There are a good many independent radio stations across the country offering 'different' programming that would also benefit.
But, the biggest winners will be listeners.
Radio is for the most part a one way medium so a bit of time shift doesn't matter to listeners. Take this, the CRAP that consolidation has replaced radio programming with, and adding in the simple, appliance like, user interface of 'podcasting' and you can't help but have a winner all the way around.
There is also an opportunity for consolidating what used to be 'local' interest radio for podcast. The sources are still there, they just don't work for clear channel. Sure, the market for local programming is limited but it's there and much less expensive to serve than through station ownership.
What's the incentive? (Score:2, Interesting)
Here's the kicker and what Apple will have to wrestle with: my own 45 minute commute to work each way is often filled with IT Conversations [itconversations.com]and other 'podcasts' every day and I hardly listen to my own music library anymore.
SUGGESTION TO APPLE: if Apple were to play it smart, they'd provider "podcaster guidelines" and how-to's that would do what they'd done with the UI (set the bar for quality and usability) as well as providing a way for podcasters to monetize their offerings. It could and would explode the users of Garageband and the Mac platform -- since most of the really great audio tools are there.
WILD CONJECTURE: Oh yeah...if all the rumors are true about the next step for Apple is with a video-centric platform, it would position them nicely for all the vloggers to use iMovie, Final Cut, etc., for creating great video content.
Re:Wish it read "iTunes to use open formats" (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:well.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple did not create the digital audio player market, they entered it. A new digital audio player that doesn't play the massive existing base of MP3s would be deader than a three-week old kipper. I would have thought that was blindingly self-evident.
adding another format that no one uses is hardly going to hurt them
MP3s are the bait, iTunes is the hook. A migration from MP3 to ogg just doesn't fit into that business plan. In fact, it may work against it. Before iTunes, AAC was a format that hardly anyone used. Apple would love people to migrate from old, smelly, boring MP3s to new, shining DRM's AACs.
I'd buy an iPod instantly if it could play oggs, but I'm under no illusions that this will happen anytime soon.
Re:Reality Check (Score:5, Interesting)
Who has the infrastructure to account and pay for this sort of stuff? Professional broadcasters, mostly.
This assumes the music was written by an association composer. Perhaps you have some unsigned band that has granted you permission to use their material. You're clean.
Beyond music, there's spoken word. Performances have value, but many of the podcasts I've heard were more akin to written blogs than produced audio programming.
What Apple could do here, if they're so inclined, is to swing a podcast deal with their labels. Music purchased from the iTunes store would be licensed for personal use as it is now and non-commercial podcasting. If iTunes could be retooled to record voice-overs -- and it sounds if that may be coming -- you could build a podcast within iTunes and distribute it via Apple's music store. The podcasts would be playable through iTunes.
Apple's motivation in this is twofold: it would encourage podcasters to use Apple's platform and purchase their library through the Apple Store, and the podcast songs would be clickable. Listeners could buy whatever they like as they hear it.
It's a proprietary solution, but would finesse the licensing issue and make music podcasting more accessable.
TechTV Lives! (Score:2, Interesting)
http://www.leoville.com/ [leoville.com]
http://thisweekintech.com/ [thisweekintech.com]
All about timeshifting (Score:4, Interesting)
I totally agree. I can listen to the Democracy Now! Podcast [democracynow.org] anytime I want. On the subway, in the car, whenever. That means I can catch up on the events of the day during otherwise wasted time. This is huge for me. I repeat: otherwise wasted time affords me the opportunity to become a more informed citizen.
Also, I visit a bunch of different new sites every day, and I find that the radio format is a much better way for me personally to take in information. I'm sure this is the same with many other people (but not all, of course). I get more out of listening to one Democracy Now! [democracynow.org] broadcast then I do reading a whole slew of print articles.
And just because most self-produced stuff is crap, doesn't mean it will all be. Someone will come up with a smart way to filter the crap out. Someone always does.
Furthermore, the arena is not just open to radio. Any kind of recorded audio--old lectures are also available. Say your favorite mathematician gave a famous lecture in 1986. Guess what? You can listen to it on the subway. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.
Re:well.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Secondly, Apple wants people to use AACs because they sound better. People are going to rip their music as AACs (the default in iTunes) and it's going to sound better than music from P2P (almost all MP3s) and their non-iTunes-using friends. This is going to make them think "wow, maybe this Apple stuff really is better; I should tell all my friends" even if it's subconsciously, and then Apple wins.
Finally, what's so great about OGG anyway?
podcasting torrents (Score:2, Interesting)
Torrent pod casting requires a more complex client, but eliminates the problem. Torrent is downloaded, then download of torrented (large media) file starts, distributing the download over the network. A torrent casting video podcast would be a thing of beauty, especially when paired up to a collaborative media metadata backend (ie dyn website). RSS torrents are already supported thru azureus, as is i2p anon transmission layer... tho configuring such a thing is tricky. There is much progression in the torrent space, all of which applies to subscribable torrents.
A dedicated app (perhaps even re-packaging the azureus libs, large tho they are) would be quite useful, reducing the tech barriers. Further use optimization would be nice (ie the 'copy and paste rss url' must go... replaced with click to subscribe or, a standard selection of rss's from rss'd list of rss's which can be managed in app).
Podcasts are interesting, but limited, don't rule out something based on the technology, tho, especially if made easier to use.
Re:podCast for Lauguage Learning (Score:4, Interesting)
i enjoy podcasting every day.
learning a language is tricky, and berlitz tapes are boring.
downloading a three minute podcast each day is a great way
to learn or keep fresh on a language -- the one i've been
enjoying most is the way this podcaster from munchen
uses language -- the musicality of it.
annik rubens - schlafloss in munchen [annikrubens.de]
what makes it so good for learning a language, is:
1) because it is largely speech oriented, you get more
dialogue to work with than regular radio which often uses
dialogue as a seguay between musical segments.
a three minute chunk is manageable for a daily thing.
2) unlike live radio, you can rewind, and catch words
and phrases that you missed.
3) it stays fresh unlike stale old language learning tapes.
podcasting really has opened up the language for me,
because it can be hard to find good local speakers, and
these are already encoded as mp3s so you can take it around
on an ipod.
in diese sinn...
roland.
Podcast is oldhat to us, but new/mystery to others (Score:3, Interesting)
But if you want to see how completely the public misunderstands just what the heck a podcast is check out Bill Gate's first podcast [microsoft.com] as an example. The MEDC site refers to it as a "Video Podcast", but on film they just call it a podcast, so if you are new to podcasting then this is what you are going to think a podcast is: a video broadcast via WMV. Obviously there's a slight problem here in that podcasts are audio enclosures via RSS and vlogs are video enclosures via RSS. One could argue that this is a simply an exercize in semantics, or one could argure that Bill & Co. are once again trying to embrace and extend a technology/term for their own purposes. But the main result is that the common guy isn't going to have a clue about any of this. He only knows what he is told.
So, IMO, iTunes adding podcast support is a really good thing. This will help solidify the meaning of the word "podcast" before more confusion sets in. (Of course, if Steve & Co. are also embracing and extending...)
I know that tech podcasts get covered here a lot. Maybe some of you might enjoy these music podcasts: