Monday, August 20, 2007

Good, Bad and Ugly of Podcasting

Seems we are in an interesting transition with podcasts - at least the few that I regularly listen to. A quick scan of my ipod and here is what I have downloaded.
  • Adam Curry's Daily SourceCode
  • Business Week - Cover Stories
  • Buzz Out Loud from CNET
  • Kiplinger's Personal Finance
  • MacBreak Weekly
  • Money-Guy.com
  • MP3 Insider from CNET
  • PCMag Radio
  • PRI's The World: Technology
  • The Real Deal from CNET
  • This Week in TECH
My all time favorite has been Buzz Out Loud. I really enjoy Tom and Molly. Sorry to see Veronica go, but the show is still pretty good.

I was starting to really like Adam Curry's Daily SourceCode show, but it has gone over the top with its advertising. These shows are addicting - typically based on the host and their guests as much as the content. But as these are businesses, sometimes finances win out. Adam has lost his way to the big corporate buck. The final nail seemed to be set with a back to school deal that they cut with Kmart (didn't even know that Kmart was in the UK, and I tuned it out so much that I even forgot who they were advertising ...). In any case, he used his daughter to help sell online shopping at Kmart. They must have spend 15 minutes or more talking about the cool things that you can get there. When they finally cut away from this segment they went to an advertisement. I switched over to another podcast.

To make a long story short. The same thing is happening to another podcast - The Money Guy. He has also given in to more and more advertising, mostly of himself. Both of these are coming off my ipod. Time to find other podcasts that find a better balance between interesting content and a reasonable amount of advertising.

There are still a few. I think that This Week in TECH is doing ok. They have one major advertiser and they do include it, but then they are done and the rest of the show is pure.

So for what it is worth - one man's view on this. Sorry - no links. If you are interested in any of these, check out iTunes. Not an advertisement, but that is where I download mine from.