Digital Audio World

Musings and information on podcasting, digital audio, online streaming audio and home studio recording from Tim 'Gonzo' Gordon of DigitalAudioWorld.com

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Proof of Podcasts?

As the term 'podcast' seems to slip into the mainstream even more, it appears that more and more people are downloading and listening.

It appears that people are talking about podcasting less, but using them more?

A local radio station in Portland - KINK.FM - offers a number of 'podcasts' on their audio pages. So - as is becoming more typical of those who didn't jump on the podcast phenomenon a couple of years ago - they're helping to change the meaning of the word.

Without an RSS feed, the MP3 audio file is just that - a file that you can download. No one can subscribe to it, so technically it's not a PODCAST. But they refer to them as podcasts on the air, and at KINK the link for subscribing actually does a nutty thing when you click on it - it opens a new window that shows the RSS feed code. Weird. How does that work? And how would a typical visitor know what to do with that?

I've actually written them trying to explain that what they're doing is not working - most people don't know how to subscribe to a feed and therefore need simple instructions. But they haven't responded and haven't made changes that would make it easier for their listeners.

In spite of that, many more people ARE listening to podcasts and downloading them, whether through subscriptions or manual downloads, so it's heartening to see that the medium is growing and maturing.