On Podcast Surfing & Insomnia
Another morning I can't sleep. Been up since about 4.30am. Need to stop this.
One of the things I love about my iPod is the way I can "podcast surf". I've always got about 50 podcasts to listen to on my little white box, ranging from music to comedy to serious stuff. I rarely listen to shows all the way through in one sitting though (a recent exception was the latest ep of Cranky Middle Manager I listened to yesterday... Wayne does a great interview with author Paul Glen about managing geeks... definitely worth a listen).
One of the great things that Apple has done with the iPod is allow you to stop a podcast and come back to it later, starting off where you left it. So I podcast surf everything in my podcast folder. I listen to five minutes of music, then five of comedy, then something serious, then repeat.
So Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington are going to start charging! Good for them. They'll be the first people to truly make a bundle of money out of podcasting. Lots of people have been emailing me for my thoughts on it. I say good on 'em. If you have the brand, you might be able to get away with charging for podcasts. The rest of us will continue to give them away for free. It's a big world. Will I pay to listen to Ricky make fun of Paul? No, I don't think so. The schtick got boring pretty quickly. I kept it in my RSS while it was free, and would listen to a few minutes from time to time, but I don't need it enough to pay for it. Not when there are a million other things to listen to.
Not going to be many G'DAY WORLDs this week. I'm flat out in meetings most of the week. Got myself a book keeper yesterday! Finally. Much needed. Someone I can just dump all of the SHIT in my office onto. That's my version of "getting things done". Outsource your life.
Anyone want to come on the MOVIE SHOW and do a full two-hour commentary of THE GODFATHER with me one night this week? Ewan's travelling and Suw hasn't seen the filme....
Reading CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR at the moment. About the Congressman from Austin, Texas, who pretty much single-handedly approved the funding for the CIA's involvement in arming and training the mujahideen in Afghanistan in the late 70's, early 80's. Fascinating stuff and a classic case of the US's imperialist behaviour over the last 50 years. Did anyone else see the show on SBS last night about the CIA's support for Saddam and the Bath party?
Pay for Gervais, I dare you :)
I'm curious though, did you ever consider exploring a pay-for subscription for any of TPN's podcasts?
Oh and...Suw hasn't seen the Godfather!?!?!
Posted by: Paul | Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 07:33 AM
I'm happy to charge for podcasts if we ever have a show that seems to require it. But my main principle is that media should be free. There is going to me so much great content out there over the next few years and I don't want any impediments in the way of our audience getting access to ours.
Posted by: Cameron Reilly | Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 08:30 AM
If you're going to do a 2 hour commentary, you should do it with someone who hasn't seen the movie before - you can both watch it in sync and comment blow-by-blow as you're watching...
Wait... that could be worse than director's commentary...
Posted by: swylie | Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 10:23 AM
when u watching godfather. its hard to resist. really it should be 1-3 in a sitting, and scarface... remind me of which day again ? (im good early mid next week) bb
Posted by: Ben Barren | Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 07:47 PM