5 ms·

I don't disagree with the premise of this article, but it's an incredible act of erasure to declare the meaningful start of podcasts to be 2014. There's a rich

by hhmc 4y ago

I don't disagree with the premise of this article, but it's an incredible act of erasure to declare the meaningful start of podcasts to be 2014. There's a rich history in the preceding decade that's completely ignored (and would help explicate what's happened since).

QuarterReptile 4y ago
It's not hard to see the echo of the web in podcasts: Balkanization and commoditization. I think Econtalk was my first podcast, back in 2007 or so. It was not a crowded space, and the one show I listened to seemed interesting and well-made. More importantly, the guests were not on stop 62 of their 100 podcast marathon, so everything seemed fresher. By comparison, just about every podcast is produced better now than back then (though I doubt the necessity of 100MB file sizes for an hour of talk) and I can listen to 5 separate podcasts that have weekly content, all of which is more tightly tailored to me than my favorite 5 episodes of a year's worth of my favorite show in the old times. But that means there's too much stuff to meander through, plus I'll end up hearing the same person interviewed on all 5 shows. And, advertising everywhere. Most podcasts aren't the handsfree experience they used to be, now that I have to seek past ads every 15 minutes.
- mark_undoio 4y ago
  > And, advertising everywhere. Most podcasts aren't the handsfree experience they used to be, now that I have to seek past ads every 15 minutes. In some comedy podcasts, I can find the ad reads to be entertaining enough to be worth a listen. In others my heart sinks every time I hear the same pre-recorded ad (that annoyed me the first time) popping up again. Just how bad is it in general? Feels like there's an opportunity for good content in the ad breaks, even on non-silly podcasts - but that requires effort to generate something interesting / useful / fun that's not the same every time. OTOH, for some products it seems like spamming out the same content to build recognition does seem to be a rational (or at least popular!) strategy, which is a shame.
  - causi 4y ago
    Just how bad is it in general? Dynamic ads mean that ads get placed all through the whole show archive whenever they sign a contract. Sucks, right? Almost. The trick is to wait until a show's contract expires and before they've lined up a new one, download the whole show archive so you can enjoy it ad-free.
- Denvercoder9 4y ago
  > (though I doubt the necessity of 100MB file sizes for an hour of talk) An hour of uncompressed audio at a standard 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16 bit depth is 317 MB. Opinions on what's acceptable compression obviously vary, but I don't think 100 MB is too outrageous.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- ChicagoBoy11 4y ago
  I, too, started listening to Econtalk right around when it came out, and the thing that stuck out to me the most, which seemed so unlike anything I ever came across, was just how long guests were allowed to speak. That seemed... just incredibly novel to me. Russ would think nothing of asking a question and then many minutes going by with the guest answering the question. There was a... slowness? to it, and genuine sense of a curiosity that felt remarkably novel compared to the rest of media that I used to consume. Since then, there's been just an insane proliferation of podcasts along the same line, but I think his pacing is still quite unique, and in many others I get the impression that the host is competing with the guest for attention, whereas with him it feels much more like some guest has been given a platform and I'm sitting there listening to him try to extract as much as he can from them.

by hhmc 4y ago

QuarterReptile 4y ago

It's not hard to see the echo of the web in podcasts: Balkanization and commoditization. I think Econtalk was my first podcast, back in 2007 or so. It was not a crowded space, and the one show I listened to seemed interesting and well-made. More importantly, the guests were not on stop 62 of their 100 podcast marathon, so everything seemed fresher. By comparison, just about every podcast is produced better now than back then (though I doubt the necessity of 100MB file sizes for an hour of talk) and I can listen to 5 separate podcasts that have weekly content, all of which is more tightly tailored to me than my favorite 5 episodes of a year's worth of my favorite show in the old times. But that means there's too much stuff to meander through, plus I'll end up hearing the same person interviewed on all 5 shows. And, advertising everywhere. Most podcasts aren't the handsfree experience they used to be, now that I have to seek past ads every 15 minutes.

mark_undoio 4y ago
> And, advertising everywhere. Most podcasts aren't the handsfree experience they used to be, now that I have to seek past ads every 15 minutes. In some comedy podcasts, I can find the ad reads to be entertaining enough to be worth a listen. In others my heart sinks every time I hear the same pre-recorded ad (that annoyed me the first time) popping up again. Just how bad is it in general? Feels like there's an opportunity for good content in the ad breaks, even on non-silly podcasts - but that requires effort to generate something interesting / useful / fun that's not the same every time. OTOH, for some products it seems like spamming out the same content to build recognition does seem to be a rational (or at least popular!) strategy, which is a shame.
- causi 4y ago
  Just how bad is it in general? Dynamic ads mean that ads get placed all through the whole show archive whenever they sign a contract. Sucks, right? Almost. The trick is to wait until a show's contract expires and before they've lined up a new one, download the whole show archive so you can enjoy it ad-free.
Denvercoder9 4y ago
> (though I doubt the necessity of 100MB file sizes for an hour of talk) An hour of uncompressed audio at a standard 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16 bit depth is 317 MB. Opinions on what's acceptable compression obviously vary, but I don't think 100 MB is too outrageous.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
ChicagoBoy11 4y ago
I, too, started listening to Econtalk right around when it came out, and the thing that stuck out to me the most, which seemed so unlike anything I ever came across, was just how long guests were allowed to speak. That seemed... just incredibly novel to me. Russ would think nothing of asking a question and then many minutes going by with the guest answering the question. There was a... slowness? to it, and genuine sense of a curiosity that felt remarkably novel compared to the rest of media that I used to consume. Since then, there's been just an insane proliferation of podcasts along the same line, but I think his pacing is still quite unique, and in many others I get the impression that the host is competing with the guest for attention, whereas with him it feels much more like some guest has been given a platform and I'm sitting there listening to him try to extract as much as he can from them.