Home is with the Zune

After a few months off from my gig with Melodeo Mobilcast, I am now with the Microsoft Zune team. We are about to launch podcasts on the new Zune 2 devices and I am managing that process as Podcast Programming and Marketing Lead. This position is very much like the Melodeo Mobilcast position that I recently left.

If you want to keep up with what I am doing with the Zune then click on over to my new blog called Zune Insider, which is an official Zune blog.

Here are a few recent blog posts from the blog:

Zune Podcast Submissions and Directory - 11/2/07

Zune 1-Click Podcast Subscriptions - 10/25/07

We also just launched our national advertising campaign and here you can watch one of the spots. I will still post here now and then.

Podcasting is Growing Up

I would like to clarify my statements from my last post in this blog about why I think the closing of Yahoo's podcast directory is a sign of a maturing podcasting industry.

I do believe that it is an industry segment that is growing in importance as more major and indie content companies join with content RSS feeds. We are seeing the formation of industry associations (ADM) and a recent round of podcast related company closures and sales. These are clear signs that an industry is maturing and consolidating. The industry is moving beyond the initial burst of enthusiasm around podcasting. Podcasting is is still the fastest growing new medium that needs to evolve into a legitimate media delivery platform. I believe that like digital media streaming that also started with huge enthusiasm back in the late 90's, the podcasting industry hype dust is settling and I believe we are seeing this now. The weaker players always get weeded out during the beginning of the maturity phase. The truth is that Yahoo did a poor job with their directory and failed to keep improving and adapting to the needs of podcast listeners. I am glad that Yahoo decided to shut it down as it was not helping listeners or podcasters. The one bad part about Yahoo closing is the perception that podcasting as a concept is in decline, which is just not the case.

I do also believe that podcast discovery and simple one-click subscription processes is the biggest problem and opportunity for the podcast industry, iTunes has been a great start but it can be done so much better with personalization technology. I am very excited to be working with the growth of RSS based digital media syndication, as I think it will be the base for all of our personal media playlist so in all of our media players in the future.

Closing of Yahoo's Podcast Directory Is Sign Of Podcast Industry Maturity

I am not surprised Yahoo has decided to close down its podcast directory site on Oct 31,2007. It jumped on a hot trend and did not have a long-term vision. Yahoo just has to many businesses to focus on and this one just did not work for them.

I just think that any podcast directory needs to be directly linked up with an easy to subscribe process and use a portable media player or mobile smart phone player to be successful. Listeners and directories need to have a one-click to subscribe and listen process. This explains the success of iTunes + iPod solution. Any other successful platform needs to have the same equation and Yahoo just did not have this connection to a portable or mobile phone player. I do think that topic segmented web-based podcast directories can be successful, but will need to eventually be merged with a simple one-button to subscribe and listen platform for them to have long-term success. I think we will see a few more directories close down or merge with other companies.

For podcasting to reach mass adoption they need to be easily subscribed to, downloaded or streamed to a internet connected media player (iPod, Zune, iRiver), car media player, TV set-top box, gaming console and mobile phone. I saw with Mobilcast that given the option - people choose 90% of the time to on-demand stream podcasts from an internet server to mobile wireless connected phone player devices. We already see streaming on TIVO with audio podcasts and most video (TIVOCasts) podcasts downloaded, but audio will most often be streamed to player devices.

Podcasting Changes Could Drive Dramatic Leap Forward in 2008

Podcasting will always be linked up with the iPod from a historical perspective, but devices come and go. Just think back to the Sony Walkman, a new and better device came along and replaced it called an iPod. I believe the same thing will happen to the iPod one day a better device will be seen as cooler. I think we are already seeing that day come closer with the launch of the iPhone and other truly mobile devices with wireless connections.

We shall see if Apple can keep the iPod viable in the market as more innovation comes over the long-run. I do hope that a better device does come that becomes a wild hit as I think it would be good for all of us.

I think it would be good for the podcasting industry if the Microsoft's Zune really does become a hit as it would more split the market for podcasting and would make the term "Podcast" mean more than distribution to an iPod. Making the term "Podcast" mean a type of portable on-demand content and less associated with an iPod would be a very good thing.

I do believe that podcasters can help expand the meaning of the term podcast by doing a few simple things. We need to slightly change how we all talk about and market podcasting in our blogs and to the media. This slight change in message could make a dramatic difference as I am seeing first hand that many existing and new podcasting related companies are trying to make podcasting an easier process for the listener and viewer. I also believe that content quality and selection is getting better everyday. The coming 12 months will be a very important new phase for podcasters and podcast consumers. I think the technology of easier discovery, management and anywhere delivery will make for a dramatic leap forward in 2008.

What can we all do today to start making a difference in this area and here is my to do/wish list:

1) Make podcast RSS feed links available in addition to our iTunes links on our websites
2) Promote alternative distribution platforms to other devices as much as possible in your shows and on your site
3) Submit your podcast RSS feeds to all available aggregators, mobile platforms, podcast networks to build a true online syndicated distribution strategy
4) Make sure your site visitors can listen or watch your content easily on your website
5) Reach out and talk to mainstream media and online media folks to tell them how the meaning of Podcasting is changing to go beyond the iPod
6) On all of our blogs, feeds, graphics and websites use the terms "Portable On-Demand" in as many places as possible

Portable On-Demand Cast = Podcast

This will not be another gripe post about how bad the term podcast is to the long term growth of portable media. You will never again hear me bash it. It is here to stay and we need to make the best of the situation. I am hearing more and more private discussion about changing the meaning of the term “Podcast” away from a strong connection with the iPod and making the name mean "Portable On-Demand Cast". I think this makes a lot of sense because the name podcast is here to stay and it is more often then not understood to mean a piece of content and less to mean a type of distribution. This transition to the Portable On-Demand meaning will take time as most have been conditioned to connect the iPod with Podcasting in thinking about the medium.

I think with the coming support for podcasting on the Zune, we have an opportunity to muddy the meaning to mean something a little more open and less Apple centric.

The challenge to everyone in the podcast industry is to start talking about this rebranding concept. I think it is important to the future of a strong and diverse distribution ecosystem that users will understand better.

Podcasting today has a user understanding and communications challenge that can be addresses by all parties involved at all levels in the industry. I also think that it is important to move beyond the singular focus that many podcasters large and small have on iTunes and the iPod. We are seeing many new distribution platforms on mobile, coming Zune support of podcasting and other types of mobile and living room devices that will bring greater success to content creators.

Podcasters need to be sure they offer their podcast RSS feeds right on their websites and stop only linking over to iTunes.

Only Part of Podcasting that is Dead is the Hype

Please folks don't get caught by these catchy headlines of these blog posts "Internet Radio is Dead" and "Podcasting is Dead". See a portion of the Internet Radio is Dead post below:

Podcasting is dead. Even interactive podcasting with callers. Case closed. End of discussion. For that matter, compared to video, blogging is dead.

I know some podcasters get good numbers. I think I know why that is. It has nothing to do with talent. People listen for one of two reasons. Either the podcasts are so old they started back when attracting an audience was easy, OR the people making the podcasts are already established bloggers or celebrities, so they can drive traffic to their recordings.

One of the very biggest podcasts belongs to a prominent conservative blogger, whom I will not mention, because he seems like a decent guy. It's like listening to paint dry. All he does is read aloud. The copy is bad. The stories are boring. The delivery is wooden. He has no personality. But he gets an audience, because he's already well-known. I think this is a great example of the second type of podcast I mentioned above.

I would guess that with RSS included, maybe 2000 people read my blog. I can therefore send maybe a hundred people to hear a podcast, tops. If I had 50,000 people, I could send maybe 2-3000. That seems to be how it works.

Let's get real here as hype, knee jerk and unrealistic reactions like this is what got us all to this point to begin with. Portable downloadable media and blogging usage was always going to be marginal for many years, as it takes time to grow a new medium. It was never going to replace existing radio and TV like many thought it would in the early days of the podcasting boom. I do believe that RSS based syndication and distribution of digital media will continue to grow as more and more people will prefer to get content sent to them that they have subscribed to receive, store and playback on the listener and viewers timetable. The concept is already here for many already with TIVO, DVR's and iTunes. It is all about getting content the audience wants for consuming at a later time is what this is all about. Audio podcasting will grow as it is enabled to all of our cars and on our mobile devices.

Podcasting and Blogging are not Dead, but is still in a very early stage of development. I believe that those involved in these new content distribution and consumption methods are blazing the trail for a dramatic shift that is coming to all of us. The day is coming that we will be in total control of our media and content creators will be all of us and a few of us. We will all or mostly all of us will join in on the revolution of digital media and those that engage will help succeed in this new world and those that don't will slowly loose opportunities. I do believe that you need to be smart about what you do with the time you have on this earth, but expressing your personality, creativity and smarts online will always payoff if one is credible about it. Please step back and take a deep breath and don't fall for the hype or unhype about portable downloadable on-demand media. It is real and YouTube actually confirms it for us all and is not an example that podcasting is dead.

CelleCast: on-demand audio on your phone

Last night I spoke with Andrew Deal. Founder and CEO of Vancouver, Washington company CelleCast.com and they are taking an interesting approach to mobile phone audio distribution. While the concept of delivering audio content via regular phone audio signal is not new, the messaging of how they are promoting it is and is worth mentioning. They never use the word "Podcast" on their site. Go check them out as they are worth watching in this space as this company does not need to have mobile operator/carriers deals to roll the service out to the market. Andrew has also managed to recruit a very experienced broadcast radio veteran by the name of Dave Van Dyke of Bridge Rating's Research and long-time radio station owner to help him as Sr. VP Operations and Media Partnerships. I have known Dave for many years and he knows what he is doing.

This is a signal of a coming change back to pre-podcasting days -- in how companies position themselves as the hype of podcasting has faded. We are getting to a point where everyone who wants to grow a company in this area needs to reach the other 62% who do not know what a podcast is, but do know what radio and audio programs are.

You may have also noticed that this blog has changed as well to be less about "Mobile Podcasting" and more about mobile phone digital media trends and companies. You will see here less bias towards Mobilcast from this post forward as I no longer work for Melodeo. I am back to producing great digital media and online content. I am looking for my next great mobile digital media opportunity that will keep my dreams alive. Please keep me in mind if you hear of great mobile digital media opportunities and if you would like your mobile digital media company featured here then feel free to send me an email to: (rob at webtalkradio.com). My contact info is also in the right side column of this blog.

Are Podcasters Causing Slowing Growth?

Paul Colligan's "Are Podcasters Slowing Down Podcasting’s Growth?" blog post brings up many sore issues with Podcasting.

This needed to be said.

13 Signs That Podcasters Might Be The Podcaster’s Worst Enemy:

• Obsessing about free Podcasting services, events, training, and products while complaining that nobody wants to spend money in this space.
• Raising panic about web streaming rates for RIAA music while claiming that Podcasting doesn’t need that top 40 crap.
• Bragging that your show isn’t making money while shouting that “traditional media” should follow your model.
• Preaching to the converted while snubbing noses at those who haven’t figured it out yet.
• Spending hundreds$ on microphones while complaining about the shipping charges on “free” business cards.
• Pounding Apple TV for not having HD while ignoring that fact that your Mom can actually use it.
• Voting Tech Podcasts to the top of every list while assuring this medium is for everybody.
  Begging for reviews at iTunes, the Pickle, the Alley and more while assuring us that they don’t matter.
• Promising this media is for everyone but attacking anyone who tries a different business model.
• Claiming your work is extremely valuable but accepting CPM rates of less than Murder She Wrote reruns.
• Pushing the Anti-DRM Gospel while freaking out if your blog content was “repurposed” anywhere.
• Praising Skype as the ultimate interviewing platform while forgiving the fact that it simply isn’t.
• Complaining that none of the “big boys” are in this game but failing to produce a model that the big boys might be interested in.

If you think I include every Podcast in this list, you didn’t read the list. If you find that you resemble something on this list, … I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I do generally agree with all of the points he makes about Podcasting, but it is a reflection of human emotion and contradiction. We all say and do things that can be seen as contrary to our best interest.

Everyday I feel pressure to ignore tech podcasts as many on the outside of our community don't feel that they should spend any time or effort at all on tech podcasts and early adopter tech geek types. They see tech content as too narrow and not a large potential audience.

Newer people to the podcast industry want to see podcasting become a mass media like broadcast and reach a huge audience and a mass market audience. I think many think this can be done by ignoring the early adopter audience, but I think that is a mistake. Many also think that this can be done by simply offering a more diverse and complete content offering. I know that I am splitting hairs on this one, but I think this approach is getting ahead of itself.
I think where we are today is still clearly in the early adopter semi-geek phase and that is where the growth still is. It is just slower growth for now until the technology, usability and compelling non-tech content appears. I think we are seeing this happen at NPR as they start getting into video podcasting as well. I also think mobile is a very important evolution of podcast distribution.

I know this is a little off topic, but I am working on the mobile podcasting piece with Mobilcast and it is expanding all around the world fast. I am working on content and operator deployment all over the world right now. You all would be amazed if you saw the list of operators moving to Mobilcast and Mobile Podcasting.

All I can say is that Music, Comedy, Entertainment, Tech, News, Talk Radio are the top content categories with everyone of these operators. These are the content areas that need to be grown and improved in podcasting to reach the masses. But I also feel that niche programming has a big piece as part of the growing importance of long-tail content, I am just seeing a lot of this content fade out.

Growing The Podcast Audience

It is the job of every content provider, directory and distributor that has an interest in seeing the podcasting space grow. I think the industry is on the verge of a move to mobile and Microsoft is on the verge of doing something with RSS media enclosures.

I also think it is easy to think podcasting has flat lined with Odeo going up for sale, but like streaming media was 5 or 6 years ago the podcasting industry is going through change. We are coming into a time of consolidation, as we will see players in this space merge with each other this year. I believe that we cannot bank on the iPod for our long-term growth and major media is really beginning to drive our listener growth.

We need to start thinking about listener ease of access and use. How are we going to reach the most listeners as possible and grow the list of quality content being made available?

I have been working at Melodeo Mobilcast for over a year now and have been a webcaster and podcaster for a long-time with my own WebTalk Radio podcast. I think mobile phone access to all audio and video podcasts through applications like Mobilcast is the growing future for content distribution and listenership. I think this is the bigger message is that it will make less sense over time to call mobile phone listening "Podcasting".

I know that I am biased in my view on this as I work for Mobilcast, but I also have an inside view on what is developing around the globe as we roll out Mobilcast. I just got back from 3GSM in Barcelona, Spain and I saw first hand high interest from mobile carrier operators around the world for mobile podcast distribution and growing adoption numbers.

Mobile distribution for content is happening now and is not just a dream. It will only grow over the next 5 years and I do believe the devices like the iPhone and other multi-media capable mobiles will play a large roll in us reaching the mass market with frequently updated short form audio and video content delivered by RSS enclosures.

Rob Greenlee

Mobilcast Top 50 at Cingular

Melodeo "Mobilcast Top 50 Podcasts" for November 2006 at Cingular:

1 - NPR: All Songs Considered
2 - Bubba Bohacks Joke of the day
3 - American Comedy Network Daily
4 - Bill Maher's New Rules
5 - IndieFeed: Alternative / Modern Rock
6 - ABC News 'Desperate Housewives' Minute
7 - NPR: Hourly News Summary
8 - MSNBC News Headlines
9 - The President's Weekly Radio Address
10 - Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
11 - Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know? - All the News that Isn't
12 - KenRadio's World Tech Roundup
13 - NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams
14 - CNN News Update
15 - CBS News Podcast - Wired Magazine
16 - IndieFeed: Folk/Americana
17 - New York Times Front Page
18 - Dane Cook Podcast
19 - InfoWorld Daily Podcast
20 - AP Top 25 College Football Poll
21 - MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews
22 - KNPR Commentaries
23 - i HIPHOP i-POD and The Nets number 1 Hip hop and Rap station
24 - :MSR: COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROUNDTABLE on MySportsRadio.com
25 - CBS SportsLine.com - Daily Show
26 - NBC News - Today Show
27 - MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann
28 - AP CelebrityFocus
29 - MSNBC Business News Headlines
30 - 4QRadio.com - Online Metal Radio
31 - NPR: Story of the Day
32 - KQED's Perspectives
33 - Rap City
34 - NPR: Sports with Frank Deford
35 - Science Channel Features
36 - Greys Anatomy Official podcast
37 - The Official LOST Podcast
38 - IndieFeed: Hip Hop/Rap
39 - MSNBC TechWatch
40 - Ebert & Roeper
41 - NPR: Technology
42 - MLB Radio Daily
43 - Cato Daily Podcast
44 - Music4iPods.com - Hip-Hop/R&B
45 - New York Times Sports Update
46 - NPR: Health & Science
47 - IndiePodcasting.com - Indie Music for the Masses - Rock/Pop
48 - CBS Entertainment News Podcast - Entertainment Report
49 - The RantCast Show
50 - Country Music Cast

Get Mobilcast on your Cingular or Alltel phone at Melodeo

Rob Greenlee