Podcast Pontifications

I've been listening to another short podcast that I really think you're going to like. So much, that I'm sharing an episode of the show with you today.

This one is called Understanding The 3 Pillars of Podcast Discoverability, so it should be right up your alley.

The podcast is called The 7 Minute Mentor and it's produced by Mark Asquith. His episodes are short, come out three times a week (every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday), and are chock-full of forward-thinking info.

I'm subscribed and I hope you will too. Easy way: subscribe.fm/7mm or just search for "The 7 Minute Mentor" inside of your podcast player. Cheers!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

I'm wrapping up my "things that should exist in podcasting but don't" mini-series today with a preview of my upcoming presentation at Podfest Orland in early March of 2019.

In this short episode, I'll run through the main "inflection points" podcasting has gone through over the last 15 years:

• June 2005 - iTunes 4.9 (still the winning podcast directory)
• January 2007 - iPhone (listening and directory integrated)
• June 2012 - Apple Podcasts standalone app (which sucks but still wins)
• October 2014 - Serial (public awareness skyrockets)
• February 2019 - Spotichorlet (too early to tell if it will be a true inflection point, but investing $500M is worth noting)

When I look at those seismic events, I notice something a little troubling. There were plenty of entrepreneurial people behind those changes. Maybe it's time for some intrapreneurs to make their presence known in podcasting over the next 15 years?

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

For a medium that's supposed to represent choice, podcasting is rather restrictive. It's not quite "all or nothing" but it's close.

Today, when someone subscribes to a podcast, they have the choice of either listening from the most recent episode or backing up all the way to the first episode and start from there.

There isn't a third choice, unless you consider the painful attempt at self-selecting which episodes to download from crappy titles and missing descriptions inside an RSS feed a choice. It's really not.

Software can fix this problem, and I discuss it today on this short episode. I also talk about a dirty little secret of podcasting which you're probably not going to like very much. But that problem helps illustrate the problem if why podcasting needs to (and probably will) to better in the future.

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Subscriptions -- free, mostly -- have been baked into podcasting since the beginning. But back then, there was a big push for "subscribe to my blog". Then Google killed Reader because of poor adoption of the tech.

On this short episode, I'll demonstrate how odd it is to assume a potential listener wants to "eat all the things" made by a producer, and talk about some alternative options that might be more palatable to the needs of the 70% of people who've still yet to make podcasting a part of their daily lives.

This is a continuation on the "future of podcasting" deep dive, which asks more questions than it gives hard answers. So if you like to ponder, listen in.

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

It's 2019. A new 5G network with blazing speed is coming out this year. The cost to store larger files has plummeted. Mobile device storage will soon be measured in terabytes. 

But the standard for podcast media file settings hasn't changed since 2006. Serious. I'm encoding files -- for myself and my clients -- based on a standard I helped establish back in 2006. 

But before you rush to start saving your files at 320 kbps or making episodes in rich, binaural sound: keep in mind that's not what everyone wants. Some people listen with a single ear bud in. Others over their car audio system when the road noise is high. Some live in areas where bandwidth is at an expensive premium.

But it's not an either or proposition. In this short episode, I'll layout an opportunity for the next-generation of listening apps to provide the best possible listening experience for each and every listener. And I'll tell you how to prepare for that coming future.

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.