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The subscription/download orientation of podcasting is so ridiculous. With music and video you just find what you want and consume. I don't want to subscribe an
by pbreit 12y ago
The subscription/download orientation of podcasting is so ridiculous. With music and video you just find what you want and consume. I don't want to subscribe and I don't want to download!
- capex 12y agoPodcasts can be two people and a mic, or something that a team of talented people make over a year or so, like Serial. You can't put both of these types in the same bucket.
- Plough_Jogger 12y agoSubscription is available (and popular) on YouTube for video, and the content of Podcasts is generally episodic, lending itself to a subscription model. What about this do you find to be 'so ridiculous'?
- soylentcola 12y agoNot to mention that most podcatchers I've messed with also allow you to search for content and listen on demand as the file is downloading (which is all a stream really is anyway).
- jfernandez 12y agoYeah I agree, it's sort of the 'early adopter' version of where it'll be in a few years hopefully. That said because it's sort of a different medium model, I can see why this is hard to change or move past.
- k-mcgrady 12y agoSubscriptions make sense with Podcasts. It's kind of like a season pass for a TV show on iTunes. They tend to be something you follow and want each episode of rather than something you listen to once. I think this is mainly because finding something you like is difficult (good content, good hosts, good length, good production values) so you stick with it when you find it.
- pbreit 12y agoThat's not how Hulu, Netflix and Amazon handle it. The subscribe thing is unnecessary.
- k-mcgrady 12y agoI'd like to see it on those services. Besides, you don't have to subscribe with podcasts. You can easily just search and download a specific episode.
- pbreit 12y agoYou _can_ on some of them but they're still subscribe/download oriented. Which I think is one of the reasons podcasts have remained in the background (also the word "podcast" is tired).
- pbreit 12y agoThe other ridiculous thing about subscribing is that way overstates listenership. Podcasters routinely overstate their audiences by 10x or more and get away with it. Good for them, I guess.