When is a Podcast not a Podcast?
OK, hold on to your hats…I am about to reveal a startling fact…I don’t like Podcasting! What I really mean is, I don’t like the word. It implies that you need an Ipod to listen to podcasts, (Uncle Seth has a great song to that effect… YouTube Video Link ) I really love the technology, the creative aspects, the whole magilla. But, podcasting is a misnomer. It also is too narrow of a term for what is going on behind the scenes with the tech.
The easiest way to describe a podcast is any multimedia content that you can subscribe to, is delivered using RSS (really simple syndication), and automatically downloads each time new content is updated. Really. That’s it. It can mean audio, video, pictures, music, blogs, text…see? The term Podcast is really too narrow for what is going on. I am proposing a new term be used…NETCASTING. It implies the “broadcast” method of delivery, but the time-shifing of Podcasting and Subscription of content still remains implied. I did not coin this term, in fact, it’s been used before, with limited success.
But now, Leo Laporte, a TV and Radio Technology show host, and frequent podcaster, has a movement to use the term NETCASTING. In fact, his entire network of shows now uses the NETCAST moniker.
What really gets me is the way that “PODCASTING” is now such a buzzword, that every media outlet uses the term without really knowing that most of what they post is not a Podcast. Remember, Podcasting implies that you MUST be able to subscribe to the content, or feed (just like this blog!) The RSS button, or XML, or what have you, provides that channel. Content producers that post files without the RSS tag, or channel buttons, are not creating podcasts, but simple downloads, on static pages. This is no different than having to get out of your chair, go to the store, and buy or rent a new DVD, bring it home, pop it in, and watch the show. Or, like NETCASTING, you can get your remote, change the channel, and get a “Movie on Demand”, pre-recorded, ready for you to pay and view (or pay-per-view, as it were). Which sounds more convenient, and more desirable? Consumers of music, videos, and other entertainment mediums are more ravenous and desire more varied content, and they will use the new channels created by podcasters…(now NETCASTERS!) as long as they provide quality goods, on a consistant basis. YouTube knows this, and has begun to reward their top video producers, and their ranks, as well as the content is growing, at an amazing rate. It won’t be long before most content is delivered in a similar fashion.
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