Podcasting is a relatively new technology that enables users to quickly and easily download multimedia files, including audio and video, for playback on mobile devices including iPods and other MP3 players, as well as cell phones.
I am sure that most if not all of you either own or have easy access to a computer. I am also sure that any computer available in 2006 has a microphone incorporated, as well as the processing and memory capacity to record plenty of audio. If one prefers an external microphone, they are also pretty easy to get and fairly inexpensive. There are in addition free software programs to record and edit audio, and to convert it into an mp3 file. A few websites offer free storage of media files and easy download by anyone interested in listening or viewing them. Learning a little bit about RSS, although not indispensable, completes the list of ingredients that will allow anyone to start podcasting.
So, why aren't you podcasting? (...follow me under the fold)
It is obvious that many of you here in DKos have incredibly interesting things to say and to talk about. Some of the diaries around here represent an enormous wealth of important and interesting information.
If you are a little bit like me, your probably are more likely to enjoy talking about issues more than writing about them. Or at least have more time to talk about the issues and spend more time talking rather than writing.
So my question to you is why is it that there seem to be so few podcasters among the hundreds or thousands of Kossacks and the many more people who visit this site? Is it just that we don't know or hear (no pun intended) about those of you who are podcasters? And why isn't podcasting mentioned more in this tribune? After all, among online users, podcasting seems to be the next big thing around the block, perhaps even bigger than blogging.
Nielsen (PDF) announced yesterday that
...6.6 percent of the U.S. adult online population, or 9.2 million Web users, have recently downloaded an audio podcast; 4.0 percent, or 5.6 million Web users, have recently downloaded a video podcast.
These figures put the podcasting population on a par with those who publish blogs, 4.8 percent, and online daters, 3.9 percent. However, podcasting is not yet nearly as popular as viewing and paying bills online, 51.6 percent, or online job hunting, 24.6 percent.
But it is not only the market size that appears to be growing at an impressive rate. The demographics of podcasting are even more interesting.
...Web users between the ages 18 and 24 are nearly twice as likely as the average Web user to download audio podcasts, followed by users in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups, who were also more likely than the average Web user to do audio podcasting. Video podcasters trended a little older, with 25-34 year olds indexing the highest. Web users above the age of 45 were less likely than average to engage in podcasting of either sort.
So, it is true that
"The portability of podcasts makes them especially appealing to young, on-the-go audiences," said Michael Lanz, analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "We can expect to see podcasting become increasingly popular as portable content media players proliferate."
However podcasting audiences are of all ages and tendencies, a fact that the media, politicians and pundits have also noticed.
So, why aren't you podcasting?
My intention in writing this diary is not to do some extensive research about who is podcasting on the right or who is podcasting on the left. My purpose is more to attempt to find some answers from you Kossacks about your views of this new technology, the uses you are giving it and what podcasts are you producing.
But perhaps my most important reason to write something about podcasting is to encourage more of you to embrace this new tool that I truly believe can be very useful and effective in expanding the Kossack empire (also known as the voice of the Netroots). That is, if there is still time to do that before DKos implodes.