Did anyone manage to download and listen to the entire Strategy Cast by Ron Bloom and Adam Curry? For most of the day it seems that the file was unavailable from the PodShow server. At some point it seems that the file was moved to the homepage.mac.com server and I was then able to start listening. The file sounded very interesting as it was obviously recorded in stereo with Ron and Adam on separate channels. Two things put me off though and I ended up ditching the 'cast. First off, Adam and Ron spent the first half of the 'cast discussing the story of how they got together back in the mid '90s. Adam's already spoken about that a couple of times before so I wasn't interested. Second, the file size was ridiculous at over 100MB and it was still loading when I wanted to fast forward so I said the heck with it. I guess I'm still a little skittish abut downloading big files like that even though I have the hard drive space.

Had a nice lunch conversation today with Mike Dunn who turned me on to the Geek dinner posted previous to this one. By the way, the Blog This function in Onfolio 2.0 is top notch. In any case, we talked a lot about podcasting gear, software and techniques.

I informed Mike of the Wall Street Journal Story that mentioned Todd and Rachel from Beware of the Babylon. I thought the article was too simplistic, not mentioning RSS and presenting podcasters as a "clubby" group which to me means unfriendly. We both agreed that's the exact opposite of our experience.

There was a little talk about Infinity Broadcasting's KYOU venture. Mike pointed me to an NPR interview with Infinity CEO Joel Hollander who informs us (listen) that they aren't charging for uploads, (gee thanks) and that maybe they'll find a replacement for Howard Stern. So I guess it's American Idol for the Radio.

NYC Geek Dinner Monday Night: "

Robert Scoble and I are organizing a geek dinner next week in New York City. If you're going to be in the city, please join us. Date and Time: Monday, May 2 at 6:00 p.m. Place: We'll meet up at...

"

Cool. I plan to attend!

I keep having this feeling that podcasting is about a lot more than just mp3 files, the internet and portable music devices. The glue for this whole thing is RSS. But what's the "thing" I'm pondering here? What's the full impact of all these components coming together? No full answer yet, but Doc Searls' keynote at the Les Blogs conference in Paris definitely provided some more very good food for thought on this subject.

http://www.searls.com/doc/2005lesblogs/index.html

Take your DRM and Shove It: "

This will be a profanity laden post, because the only way I know how to express the feelings this stuff brings out in me is with a few choice words of Saxon origin. Call me inarticulate if you will, but some jobs need a crowbar.

"

Right on Dave! DRM drives me insane as well. Between Apple and Microsoft they've driven hundreds of thousands of listeners away from purchasing digital content due to the ridiculous restrictions and complexities of their respective formats. Listen up record labels. Make these guys create a standard that works for everyone!

There have been plenty of comments about the announcement by Infiniti Broadcasting that they are starting an "all podcast" radio station. Taking a closer look at the site I found out that their definition of podcast is basically a recorded mp3 file that's uploaded to the internet. Their plan is to take pre-recorded segments submitted by listeners and use those segments as part of a free form radio format. The content will be broadcast over their AM radio station and streamed from their website.

Sorry folks, this is not podcasting. Why not? First off, I could find no mention of an RSS feed being offered. So there's no subscribe feature and that's a key element of podcasts. Second, you won't be able to download any of the shows. And third, if you miss a show then you missed it. There's no "time shifting" component. The combination of the first and second elements automatically enable the third one, so I see those two elements as key to defining what a podcast is. KYOU is not podcasting!

What KYOU is doing is very interesting. For the first time (that I know of) they are opening up the airwaves to amateur talents, thereby lowering their cost to acquire talent. The DJs union must love this one (not!) and we'll see if they take any kind of action to try to stop it. So the DJs go home and KYOU gets what appears to be free content. There was no mention on the site about payment for those whose content is used. It seems that Infiniti feels that the notoriety of being broadcast is payment enough. So if Infinity likes someones content enough, will they hire them to be a DJ? The situation could get pretty ironic if all this is a temporary talent search that generates publicity for a dying radio station.

This obviously a pure marketing play here. The use of the word podcasting has generated more interest than if they had said, "We're accepting mp3 uploads." Even the Wall Street Journal ran what I believe was their first article that mentioned podcasting as a result of this announcement. So I believe that the marketing tactic was successful, initially. The execution of their strategy will now be the tricky part. Because in order for it to mean something the radio station will have to see a bump in listenership and an increase in ad revenue.

Speaking of ad revenue. I wonder how people will feel when they realize that their content is having advertisements inserted in the middle of it. They probably won't care too much. But as Dave Winer asked on his Morning Coffee Notes podcast, "What if someone uploads content that has advertisements already included?" You can bet that either the content will be rejected or the ads will be edited out.

My message to podcasters is simple, "Don't believe the hype." If your content is worth it's salt then you shouldn't give it up to Infiniti Broadcasting for free. Hold out and don't upload a thing. Make these fodcasters (fake podcasters) recognize the value of the content for what it's worth.