Just wanted to bounce an idea off you.
I’ve recently been doing a lot of listening to PodCasts, what with more travelling and the snow here finally melting, allowing a little jogging again. However, if you want to listen to tech or business ones, there’s very little choice outside maybe 5 or so I’ve found, like:
The Gilmour Gang
This Week in Tech
Chris Pirillo
The Mobile Media Show
So, first question, does anyone have any recommendations?
Secondly, Carlo and I were talking over getting into the Podcasting game in a small way. Our first service would be to make available a weekly audio version of the blog - in other words teaming up with someone who likes to play around with Podcasts, who would read what we’d written and make it avialble as an audio download.
While this might sound boring, this is pretty much how news is consumed on the radio and TV. And if you’re too busy to read MobHappy as much as you’d like, it could be an ideal way to get more of it, especially if the reader was good.
What do you think? Would you use it or is it a waste of time? Does anyone know if other blogs do this or have tried it?
Finally, if you fancy yourself as an aspiring Podcaster and want to give this a go, get in touch and you never know where it might lead.
Cheers
Russell
russell, i’m shocked. for a man who usually seems to “get” new technology and the new media that comes along with it, this is a decidedly obsolete idea. if we are visitors to your site, we’ve already read your posts; the last thing we want to do is listen to someone read them again.
if all you could find are those 5 tech-related podcasts, i fear you didn’t look very hard, and you listened even less. the few podcasts you list are discussions and interviews. they go beyond what we can read on the web. they add value to the printed word, not just repeat them. to do anything less would be a disservice to us, your readers, and a waste of time. i hope if you do choose to do a podcast, it is not what you propose here. otherwise it will be a waste of my (and YOUR) time.
Whoa there, Concerned Reader. I’m not suggesting for a moment that we waste anyone’s time here. In fact, the complete opposite.
I am realistic enough to realise that people are busy and getting busier all the time. MobHappy is not the centre of their lives and there may be times when they decide they’d prefer an audio version. That’s all. No big deal.
If you don’t want it and think it’s a poor idea, don’t listen, it’s that simple. I merely asked readers if they would like the alternative option.
The spoken book concept, which is an extension of what we’re talking about here, is a big market and growing annually. So there’s plenty of demand for this kind of thing.
As far as what I found in the way of Podcasts, I’ve listened to about 200 so far over the last 18 months. I said I hadn’t found many good ones and asked for recommendations. If you have any, great, I’ll listen. Tell me what I should be listening to and what I’ve missed.
A channel can have more than one successful format and it’s frankly ridiculous to suggest that the only successful format for a podcast is interviews and discussions. It’s like saying the only proper subject for a blog is to write about, I dunno, technology or knitting.
Russell
You ask what readers thought. You got a response. Why is it necessary for you to prove the reader’s reaction wrong? Maybe you didn’t really want honest feedback.
Text is scannable, snackable and audio isn’t. I would pay for someone to remove my fingernails before I would listen to someone read Mobhappy. Try it if you want.
i was wondering if i was alone. it look like i am not but maybe russell is getting 100s of encouraging emails right now telling him how innovative he is. in your defense russell, if you expect the majority of your podcast listeners to not be mobhappy readers, than i guess having someone read mobhappy is a cheap and easy way to reach them (nihongo ni, raku de iides nee). i still believe that even for non-mobhappy readers, you may not fully understand what people expect out of a podcast. or maybe i overestimate the wants of podcast listeners.
as an avid podcast listener myself, i don’t just expect to be informed, but to be engaged, and yes to be entertained. not even npr or bbc style news - the format which you claim you’d like to copy - is just people reading a script - there are interviews, reports from the field and more. the podcasts you named off in the post and others are engaging. people discuss issues, make discoveries, and engage each other and the audience.
you are right, i am free to not listen if i dislike your podcast. but i don’t think that’s the heart of the issue. by repackaging the old media, it makes me feel like despite what you tell us here that you’re not any more in tune with new media than some of the companies you slam here for not adapting. why wouldn’t you want to lead the way? in a sense walking the walk, not just talking the talk? as a daily reader of your site, that worries me and makes me sad.
People - I’m really a bit mystified here, so please tell me what I’m missing.
I was just wondering if some people would prefer to get their dose of MobHappy in an audio format. So far, we offer people the choice of an email subscription, visit to the website, RSS feeds and our own mobile RSS reader.
If someone wants to read MobHappy via email, it’s surely no better or worse than via RSS Reader? Equally, I don’t expect people who read us on the web to want to re-read MobHappy in email format.
If there was a demand for an sms version, fax or even carrier pigeon, would it be inappropriate to satisfy that demand?
Maybe it’s a matter of terminology. Should we not call it a “Podcast” at all? Has Podcast connotations over and above what the Wikipedia says is:
“Podcasting’s essence is about creating content (audio or video) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want.”
That’s all I meant. A different way of getting a fix of MobHappy. And the people who choose to get it that way will almost certainly be different from people who read it on the site, who in turn will be different from people who read it on their phones.
If anything, I think this shows that we do “get” new media as we’re looking at things entirely from our readers’ points of view. Do people want an audio channel? OK, we’ll give you one. What else do you want?
Where I agree 100% is if we suggested that we were launching a “MobHappy Show” (or something) in the form of a Podcast and just had some guy reading a script, it would miss the point of entertaining and engaging content. Especially if we expected MobHappy readers to read and then listen to it. It would be utterly pointless. But that’s not what we’re trying to do with this exercise. It’s just another delivery channel in this context.
By the way, I have had some interest via email, so we probably will go ahead. So, genuine question, how do we offer it without disappointing our loyal readers? If “Podcast” raises inappropriate expectations, should we use another word altogether?
R
Russell,
Doing a weekly audio version of MobHappy articles doesn’t seem very usefull to me, I read your blog or feed on my pc or my mobile already on a regular basis.
I like the podcast idea however but then you should use it as an extra value for MobHappy, for example your weekly analysis or condensed overview on latest mobile news, why not organise weekly interviews with key people for promising mobile startups or influential mobile value chain players, that could be some real extra value, in any case I would listen to it as I’m doing now already with good podcast material.
Don’t forget, I can listen to podcasts on my mobile too when on the move
Try ITConversations (itconversations.com)…
1. My recommendations:
My Favourite Podcasts in 2005
http://divedi.blogspot.com/2005/12/audio-of-day-my-favourite-podcasts-in.html
2. I would love to listen to your podcast.
Having dabbled just a tiny bit in audio news, my opinion is that providing an audio MobHappy would be a good alternative distribution method to complement your existing methods. Audio can be consumed at times and places when it’s impossible or not convenient to use a PC (in your car is a good example).
I agree with some of the comments posted by others about also using audio to provide a different type of content that would be more around interviews and discussions. But that’s a lot different in terms of effort than the “audio-book” concept.
And I guess that’s why most of the mobile podcasts I’ve listened to are so awful, that I seldom listen to more than one episode. Seems as if most of the podcasters throw something together with little thought and structure so you end up with a rambling show that rarely provides insightful news or opinions.
So like Russell, I’d like to know about any good mobile/wireless podcasts out there.
Jim
diggnation is a great tech news podcast, centred around the news site digg.com
The Engadget Podcast is also very good, as are Inside the Net and Cranky Geeks. Each of those looks at different aspects of tech and the internet, and the last two feature Leo Laporte and John C Dvorak respectively - both from TWiT. These are all US-based and US-centered podcasts - unfortunately I haven’t found anything from the UK that meets my needs yet.
dan
i second rudy’s comment. the audio should add to the stuff you write, not be another channel.
i have some ideas and at some point could contact you, if you’re interested.