4 ms·

Honest question, why are podcasts not just platform independent .mp3's or Ogg Vorbis audio for the purists? Note that I don't understand how a podcast is diffe

by avn2109 10y ago

Honest question, why are podcasts not just platform independent .mp3's or Ogg Vorbis audio for the purists? Note that I don't understand how a podcast is different from a radio show that somebody recorded on a computer, so maybe I'm missing key functionality.

MBCook 10y ago
Right now? They are. A podcast is really just an RSS feed of episodes in MP3 or AAC format. That's it. You can barely track how many people download, let alone listen, when they stop, etc. All the things advertisers want to know.
- busterarm 10y ago
  Right. It's still a hard thing to integrate an RSS feed into a modern website...RSS is only really popular with podcasts and hasn't had much development in a while. Working with XML sucks. Libsyn and Blubrry manage this part for you (having an RSS feed that is also a site's content and does tracking) but you're limited to hosting on their sites, wordpress or needing a developer. There's a lot of room for improvement here.
  - MBCook 10y ago
    You're right for websites. Other services can take care of both sides (Squarespace, for example).
    - busterarm 10y ago
      The thing that I'm trying to avoid is forcing people into a pay-to-play platform to host their podcast. You don't know if it's going to make money. There is nothing open to compete with the paid services right now -- nothing that's packaged for general use anyway.
  - mason240 10y ago
    I have history podcast directory site that I had write my own RSS integration for. As much as I dislike Apple, thankfully there are able to enforce a de facto standard for podcast RSS format that people actually follow. https://www.History-Podcasts.com https://www.History-Podcasts.com
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  SoundCloud Pro, I believe, offers this type of functionality. There are lots of Podcasts on SoundCloud.
  - scott_hardy 10y ago
    Also Soundcasts [1], which turns non-pro SoundCloud pages into podcasts. [1] https://www.soundcasts.net https://www.soundcasts.net
- anc84 10y ago
  > All the things advertisers want to know. Well, F them.
  - eropple 10y ago
    I get that it is very coolkid to assert that advertising is evil or something, but this is how the content that podcast listeners want gets made. "Fuck advertisers" (you can say "fuck", it's the Internet, I promise it's okay) sounds great but without an "okay, and now what?" it rings really hollow.
    - anc84 10y ago
      Nope. I listen to about 15 podcasts regularly. They are all made by people in their free time as loving hobbyists. "Content" gets made regardless if there is money exchanged for annoying/misleading your audience.
      - xufi 10y ago
        Thats exactly why I love podcasts. I can listen to them on my freetime no matter how old it is. What are your top podcasts? if you dont mind me asking, I've been meaning to listen to new ones. I currently listen to No Agenda with Adam Curry & John C Dvorak . BBC Newshour. The History Hour ((BBC) to name a few
        anc84 10y ago
        Some very niche ones that the list might ruin my privacy, they are all in my local language.
- iagooar 10y ago
  This is something that we've been trying to solve at Podigee for quite a while now. Truth is, it's tough. It's not easy to know exactly how many people have listened (for how long) to a podcast, but you can do some heuristics based on streaming / downloading. Since the audio data is coming from servers that are under our control, we can get interesting data like the amount of bits that have been downloaded / streamed by a specific client. It's not perfectly accurate, but there is some tricks you can do just by matching the user agent + ip + the bits requested. You can for sure get a better picture than just knowing that someone has downloaded an episode. And yes, advertisers want to know everything, but at the same time, are clicks on banners an accurate way of knowing if people are really interested in your ads? Can you say that people really watch all the TV ads and do not go to the toilet instead? These are tough problems to solve, yet there are some approximations that should be good enough.
radicalbyte 10y ago
They are. Which is why podcasters don't have any good statistics. I recommend listening to the Startup podcast, they do a great job of explaining how the industry works :)
ssharp 10y ago
Podcasts are just platform independent .mp3 files. They're mp3 files referenced by an RSS feed. But apps like Stitcher and the Apple Podcast App read those feeds, add good functionality, present a searchable database, etc.
- aganders3 10y ago
  Stitcher does more than that. They actually re-host and (I believe, from the difference in audio quality) re-compress the files.
  - dublinben 10y ago
    Most egregiously, as mentioned in the article, they also add their own advertisements.

by avn2109 10y ago

MBCook 10y ago

Right now? They are. A podcast is really just an RSS feed of episodes in MP3 or AAC format. That's it. You can barely track how many people download, let alone listen, when they stop, etc. All the things advertisers want to know.

busterarm 10y ago
Right. It's still a hard thing to integrate an RSS feed into a modern website...RSS is only really popular with podcasts and hasn't had much development in a while. Working with XML sucks. Libsyn and Blubrry manage this part for you (having an RSS feed that is also a site's content and does tracking) but you're limited to hosting on their sites, wordpress or needing a developer. There's a lot of room for improvement here.
- MBCook 10y ago
  You're right for websites. Other services can take care of both sides (Squarespace, for example).
  - busterarm 10y ago
    The thing that I'm trying to avoid is forcing people into a pay-to-play platform to host their podcast. You don't know if it's going to make money. There is nothing open to compete with the paid services right now -- nothing that's packaged for general use anyway.
- mason240 10y ago
  I have history podcast directory site that I had write my own RSS integration for. As much as I dislike Apple, thankfully there are able to enforce a de facto standard for podcast RSS format that people actually follow. https://www.History-Podcasts.com https://www.History-Podcasts.com
6stringmerc 10y ago
SoundCloud Pro, I believe, offers this type of functionality. There are lots of Podcasts on SoundCloud.
- scott_hardy 10y ago
  Also Soundcasts [1], which turns non-pro SoundCloud pages into podcasts. [1] https://www.soundcasts.net https://www.soundcasts.net
anc84 10y ago
> All the things advertisers want to know. Well, F them.
- eropple 10y ago
  I get that it is very coolkid to assert that advertising is evil or something, but this is how the content that podcast listeners want gets made. "Fuck advertisers" (you can say "fuck", it's the Internet, I promise it's okay) sounds great but without an "okay, and now what?" it rings really hollow.
  - anc84 10y ago
    Nope. I listen to about 15 podcasts regularly. They are all made by people in their free time as loving hobbyists. "Content" gets made regardless if there is money exchanged for annoying/misleading your audience.
    - xufi 10y ago
      Thats exactly why I love podcasts. I can listen to them on my freetime no matter how old it is. What are your top podcasts? if you dont mind me asking, I've been meaning to listen to new ones. I currently listen to No Agenda with Adam Curry & John C Dvorak . BBC Newshour. The History Hour ((BBC) to name a few
      - anc84 10y ago
        Some very niche ones that the list might ruin my privacy, they are all in my local language.
iagooar 10y ago
This is something that we've been trying to solve at Podigee for quite a while now. Truth is, it's tough. It's not easy to know exactly how many people have listened (for how long) to a podcast, but you can do some heuristics based on streaming / downloading. Since the audio data is coming from servers that are under our control, we can get interesting data like the amount of bits that have been downloaded / streamed by a specific client. It's not perfectly accurate, but there is some tricks you can do just by matching the user agent + ip + the bits requested. You can for sure get a better picture than just knowing that someone has downloaded an episode. And yes, advertisers want to know everything, but at the same time, are clicks on banners an accurate way of knowing if people are really interested in your ads? Can you say that people really watch all the TV ads and do not go to the toilet instead? These are tough problems to solve, yet there are some approximations that should be good enough.

radicalbyte 10y ago

They are. Which is why podcasters don't have any good statistics. I recommend listening to the Startup podcast, they do a great job of explaining how the industry works :)

ssharp 10y ago

Podcasts are just platform independent .mp3 files. They're mp3 files referenced by an RSS feed. But apps like Stitcher and the Apple Podcast App read those feeds, add good functionality, present a searchable database, etc.

aganders3 10y ago
Stitcher does more than that. They actually re-host and (I believe, from the difference in audio quality) re-compress the files.
- dublinben 10y ago
  Most egregiously, as mentioned in the article, they also add their own advertisements.