Carrying the Lantern

Bill R.: I don't remember exactly when I began, it was sometime early in the summer of 2004. Before Daily Source Code, before Evil Genius Chronicles, before Coverville, and before Dawn and Drew I was listening to audio files; what we now call podcasts. I've been listening to them for a long time. I say this for perspective, not to brag. I began to think about writing this post as the Podcasting and Portable Media Expo arrived this month. After listening all this time to podcasts, conversing with the podcasters, and watching the evolution (revolution!) for over a year, I decided it was time to reflect on how my listening habits have changed. My audio listening began when few blogs had MP3 enclosures available on their RSS feeds, then built rapidly as the arrival of content took off.

Podcasting was born out of conversations between Adam Curry and Dave Winer, with Steve Gillmor providing additional motivation along the way. This culminated in a flurry of activity in the summer of 2004. Its full history can be traced back several years through two primary threads. The first thread is composed of the voices; the voices found in audio blogs and recorded conversations. The second thread is the enabling technology; the family of technologies, products and applications that together enabled the creation and distribution of the voices in a portable, time-shifted form. But the purpose of this essay is not to give you a history of podcasting (for that you might start with the wikipedia entry), but rather to reflect on how my listening habits have evolved with podcasting.

I started occasionally listening to audio when MP3s were linked to or included in blogs that I frequented. Dave Winer began attaching audio files to his Scripting News blog in mid-2004. Interesting. Then he pointed back (in time) to the audio interviews Chris Lydon had posted in 2003; his weblog for the ears. More interesting stuff. Dave podcast (and blogged) from the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2004. Kind of fascinating. That was the long tail preceding the wave we now have. But the stars really began to align in the spring of 2004 when I changed jobs.

I began using public transportation to avoid the I-95 crawl in northern Virginia. I tried a portable radio but the reception was annoying. I tried a CD player, but the inconvenience and resulting repetition got to me. So I bought an iPod. This increased the quantity of music I could choose from and I loved the form factor. Nice music, new technology, but still pretty routine content. Then Friday the 13th of August 2004 arrived. That was the day Adam Curry put out his first Daily Source Code and challenged others to improve upon his first podcatching client (i.e., iPodder Applescript). Adam did two things from the start which were the tipping point for me; he provided interesting content and provided it often. Adam was a fanatic about creating a DSC episode regularly - at least several times a week. And that is what I needed. Podcasts gave me something different to listen to nearly every day on my commute. And I'll admit that, while it's stale to think of this in today's context, back then it was fascinating to listen to the podcasting evolution; to podcasters talk about podcasting. Things were changing so fast, you could actually track them day-by-day. I was hooked.

Some of the best episodes were the ones where Dave Winer and Adam talked about where this all might lead, either on the DSC or Dave's own (less regular) podcast called Morning Coffee Notes, which started June 11, 2004. What else did I listen to in those early days? I've saved a few of my favorite episodes and did a quick scan of my old subscriptions lists. On my bus ride to work in the summer and fall of 2004 I was entertained and educated by also listening to episodes of Dave Slusher's Evil Genius Chronicles, Steve Gillmor's The Gillmor Gang, numerous offerings from Doug Kayes ITConversations, and Miceli & Domkus of The Dawn and Drew Show. Some shows are now gone, or at least dormant, like Dave and Adam's Trade Secrets.

Back in 2004, given my nearly three hours per day spent commuting by bus, I had plenty of time to listen to everything I wanted to. In fact, for a short while I could listen to nearly everything available in podcast form! But the selection and variety were evolving quickly, to say the least, as many started to jump on the podcast train. The mashups made from Adam's DSC were fun. And I'll never forget the day Adam recorded a show while the guy in traffic next to him listened to the previous show - and they saw each other. Or the day Adam talked about his mom's lung cancer. I heard the early admonitions of Dave Winer and how Steve Gillmor inspired (hounded?!) him to make audio enclosures. I remember Dave Slusher making the point that music in shows should be played with permission, for fear the music industry would squash podcasting before it could even walk. I even kept a log of every article written about podcasting - up until late October 2004 when the knee of the curve went exponential as main stream media took notice; everyone was writing about it. Then the 'love-in' hit a bump as Adam and Dave imploded shortly after their big strategy session in Miami, Florida in January of 2005. As a faithful listener, I felt bad for them, but life goes on. This was merely an unfortunate and uncomfortable diversion as the number of podcasters continued to rise.

By the beginning of 2005 I had reached a sort of equilibrium of about 40 podcast subscriptions that I very regularly listened to. I mean every episode. Most were published no more frequently than several times a week; many less often. This very regular pattern was steady state through to the early summer of 2005. But sometime along in there Doug Kaye pulled a fast one on me. He expanded greatly his volunteer staff and began to pump out too many podcasts on his 'all' channel at ITConversations for me. I felt guilty. I couldn't keep up with my 'podsquad' any more. As I sit here in November of 2005 I've finally reached the point where I no longer feel guilty when I miss an episode of a podcast I subscribe to. If I miss a DSC, OK. Get sick and can't get to Coverville or Geek News Central? No guilt. Can't listen to all the ITConversations? Well that point was passed months ago; great job Doug Kaye! While I still subscribe to about 45 podcasts, I've settled into a listening pattern that's multi-dimensional. I have a short list of 'must listens', combined with some shows I listen to in certain environments, and other shows I sample. My short list includes DSC, MCN, Jawbone, Coverville, EGC, Gillmor Gang / Daily, and more recently MacNotables. And whenever I stop for a morning coffee and sit for a few minutes, I always listen to the latest Podcast About Nothing by Jimmy Jett (and 'Bob'), just a habit I've come to enjoy. From leaving comments on podcasters' blogs, to e-mailing audio comments, to e-mailing some feedback, in every case I've contacted the podcasters (oops, not Brian I.) Today's podcasting community is still small enough that most podcasters really care about their listening partners. Tomorrow, who knows? Well, I do. The content providers will stay responsive to their listening partners cause we're subscribers. We choose to listen, we are the network, we are the playlists, and we can unsubscribe. But why do I listen? I listen for lots of reasons, but primarily entertainment and education. For example, I blogged back in March about how podcasting had helped me rediscover music.

“Gentle Readers, Michelle Malone, Mo’Jones, Lascivious Biddies, American Heartbreak, Enter the Haggis, and 3Canal. Thanks to podcasting, I’ve rediscovered music. I’ve enjoyed music as much as the next person all my life. Not really a fanatic about any one artist, though I have my favorites. But podcasting has brought music to my attention that I truly enjoy but would never have found otherwise. The artists above were revealed to me through the podcasts of Dave Slusher, Adam Curry, Brian Ibbott, Michael Butler, Jason Evangelho, and Georgia. Few of the fine musicians they play are in the Alpha Artist crowd; they’re in the long tail of the music business. Out there where most artists are; enjoyed and appreciated in their local metropolis or corner of the world. Thanks to the internet, and podcasting, they can be in my pocket too.” (Carrying the Lantern, March 6, 2005, by Bill Riski) Props to Evil Genius Chronicles by Dave Slusher, Coverville by Brian Ibbott, Daily Source Code by Adam Curry, Rock and Roll Geek Show by Michael Butler, Insomnia Radio by Jason Evangelho, Caribbean Free Radio by Georgia, and Scripting News & Morning Coffee Notes by Dave Winer.

I get so much more out of listening than just the music. Dave Slusher feeds my emotional appetite. I challenge anyone to listen to Dave's story about his Dad's death or his spiritual beliefs (EGC, Jan 31, 2005) without being genuinely moved. I can still remember the restaurant I was sitting in when I listened to this episode. We're all different, but I have to tell you it was a 'significant emotional event' for me. On a lighter note, you podcasters have not been truly challenged till you try to do a podcast with five children, like Len did on Jawbones. Hilarious. Speaking of groups, I've come to realize that I tend to prefer to listen in on a conversation; for example, Jawbones, Gillmor Gang, Grape Radio, and MacNotables. What do I miss in all this? Selectivity. I don't like the all or nothing situation that the podosphere leaves me in today. Either I subscribe to a new podcast or I don't; listening to specific shows or even sections of a show is too much bother. Wish more folks would do wiki-style shownotes like Adam Curry has over on Shownotes.info. And better audible search would sure be nice. I'd like an easy way to find material I want to listen to. Recommendations are very useful; several of my 'podsquad' were recommended by others, but that's only part of the answer. Maybe tagging could prove useful has it has in other media (Flickr comes to mind.) [Edit 30 Nov: selectivity begins.]

I'm not going to get into the dialogue and debate over business models here, but let me tell you how podcasting has opened my wallet. Last year at this time I contacted Doug Kaye. I had been listening to his many ITConversations episodes from conferences all over the U.S. and just felt like I should offer to make a nominal donation; so I e-mailed him. No solicitation on his part. PayPal it was. Another example of money changing hands was my purchase of Dave Slusher's 'stuff' package. And Dave is the one that turned me on to Caribbean Free Radio, which led me to buy the 3Canal CD. And to continue my confession, I contributed to Operation Eden cause Dave Slusher turned me on to the situation with Clayton Cubitt and his family in New Orleans. I bought several Lascivious Biddies CDs after hearing them late last year over on DSC. Would I buy more CDs cause of hearing an artist on a podcast, no hesitation (Sony CDs aside!) But would I pay for subscriptions to some podcasts, probably yes. I can't tell you how much; and of course I'd rather not pay, but I'm open to this. For now I'm more inclined to do business with companies that sponsor podcasts while I enjoy the untethered listening.

- Posted by William A. Riski - 9:11:04 PM - comment []

Bill R.: Hobson and Holtz do a twice-weekly podcast (more on that in a minute.) Recently, they did a pretty good review on a new book entitled Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel.

This book is unique in that the chapters were published on Shel & Robert's blog as they were being written so the public could comment. It was the first book written in a largely transparent fashion. In addition to acknowledging everyone who sent them comments, they also incorporated some of the best comments into the book; the public had the opportunity to influence the books content directly, before it was published. Robert & Shel even blogged about the process they went through in selecting a publisher.

Based on reading the blog during the book's creation process, I agree with the podcasted review of Hobson & Holtz, book is highly recommended. I've pre-ordered my copy from Amazon; should be here in January.

P.S. Here's a little info on the Hobson & Holtz podcast

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report is the twice-weekly podcast of Neville Hobson, ABC, and Shel Holtz, ABC, a pair of communication professionals who think they have something to say. Hobson is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, while Holtz is located in Concord, California, in the United States. Their podcast is updated on Mondays and Thursdays.

- Posted by William A. Riski - 11:28:18 AM - comment []