The revolution is occurring around us and even those of us who try to keep up are being left in the dust. Yes, I’ve worked on my own video blog, The Magic Sock, and I’m working on the next episode, but I am amazed at all the new sites that are popping up. Last week, Geek Brief, mentioned the Get Democracy video player. I haven’t installed it yet, but from reviewing the site it appears that it’s basically a RSS video player. You can subscribe to your favorite video RSS feeds and then use the player to watch “TV” on your computer. Now the part that’s mind blowing is that there are over 300 “channels” out there for you to subscribe to. I’m not talking about crapping stuff, but some really interesting video content. If in doubt, check out Video Bomb . It’s like Google Video and Digg all rolled into one. Unfortunately, there’s not enough time in the day to explore all of this wonderful content, but it’s fast becoming apparent that shows are quickly coming online rather than my needing to watch them on TV. I don’t know what business model will shake out from all of this new video explosion that’s occurring on the web, but it’s as though there’s a whole lot of creative people who have realized: “Hey, setting up an RSS feed isn’t that hard!” Once people realized that they can take their camcorder or camera, take some simple video, and then put it up on the web for people to subscribe to, well, all hell is breaking loose.
This isn’t to say that all the content is good, but there’s a lot of interesting video and audio content that is popping up online—for free. Cinecastshow, This Week in Tech, Podshock (Doctor Who podcast), and The Daily Source Code are all podcasts that I listen to regularly. In fact, I’m hardly listening to music on the way to work on the train. Each day there’s new content to listen to and I’m amazed at the depth of the content. I’ve learned a lot about technology, movies, and podcasting in general. Now I started watching the video podcast Geek Brief and although it’s quirky there is some interesting content there. With so many other video podcasts out there, I’m curious to see what other shows pop up. I’ve been listening to podcasts now for about 14 months—not a long amount of time—and since then there was only a few thousand podcasts. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if there were over 25,000 podcasts. Fourteen months ago I was using ipodder to download podcasts and with iTunes joining the bandwagon content just started streaming from all corners of the globe.
For those who don’t own an iPod, they continue to think that they must have an iPod to watch or listen to a podcast and that’s the beauty of this: You don’t! You don’t need a portable device to watch The Magic Sock. You can watch it on your computer. What’s amazing is that I can see this video/audio revolution taking place. It’s similar to the web as how it took off back in the mid ‘90s. Tomorrow Apple might be making an announcement about a new video iPod. Rumor has it that it’ll have a 3 ½” screen and might even have wireless. It’s possible that Apple’s announcement won’t be a video iPod. However, the fact that we can all dream up a video player that has wireless and acts as media center device means that some company will be putting this product out soon. The BBC, NPR, ABC (Lost), Showtime (L Word)—all these companies have official podcasts for their shows. And the list goes on and on. I’m only scratching the surface. Consumers have purchased 41 million iPods and that’s not taking into account the millions of other players out there. What will people listen to on these players? For the first two years that I owned my iPod, I listened to music. But now I’m listening more and more to home grown podcasts. I do not know how the financial aspects will shake out (how the producers of these shows will make money), but I’m hoping that sponsorships and advertising does play a role. Even micropayments would be wonderful to help keep these shows going.
The way I watch TV has changed a lot in the last year. Now I am used to time shifting. I watch content when I want instead of because a show is on at a particular time. Advertisers are finally realizing that consumers are not watching their commercials so they’re getting more creative. Kentucy Fried Chicken (fast food chain here in the USA) recently started running a commercial in which you can see (in slow motion) their secret recipe. It’s an interesting tactic. People aren’t watching commercials or don’t pay attention to them. With podcasting and video podcasts, it’s even easier to skip past a portion of a show that you don’t wish to listen to. Simply jump to the next chapter or scroll past the part you don’t like. It’s that easy.
The foundation of how we listen and watch shows has started to change. As to where this will all wind up, will be anyone’s guess, but if I had to offer a vision of the future, I see our TVs being blended with PCs. In the meantime, take part in the revolution and watch (or listen) to the content that’s out there. Trust me, there’s a lot more interesting things online that you can watch that what the major networks offer to you in the States. Give it a try. Don’t be shy.
This isn’t to say that all the content is good, but there’s a lot of interesting video and audio content that is popping up online—for free. Cinecastshow, This Week in Tech, Podshock (Doctor Who podcast), and The Daily Source Code are all podcasts that I listen to regularly. In fact, I’m hardly listening to music on the way to work on the train. Each day there’s new content to listen to and I’m amazed at the depth of the content. I’ve learned a lot about technology, movies, and podcasting in general. Now I started watching the video podcast Geek Brief and although it’s quirky there is some interesting content there. With so many other video podcasts out there, I’m curious to see what other shows pop up. I’ve been listening to podcasts now for about 14 months—not a long amount of time—and since then there was only a few thousand podcasts. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if there were over 25,000 podcasts. Fourteen months ago I was using ipodder to download podcasts and with iTunes joining the bandwagon content just started streaming from all corners of the globe.
For those who don’t own an iPod, they continue to think that they must have an iPod to watch or listen to a podcast and that’s the beauty of this: You don’t! You don’t need a portable device to watch The Magic Sock. You can watch it on your computer. What’s amazing is that I can see this video/audio revolution taking place. It’s similar to the web as how it took off back in the mid ‘90s. Tomorrow Apple might be making an announcement about a new video iPod. Rumor has it that it’ll have a 3 ½” screen and might even have wireless. It’s possible that Apple’s announcement won’t be a video iPod. However, the fact that we can all dream up a video player that has wireless and acts as media center device means that some company will be putting this product out soon. The BBC, NPR, ABC (Lost), Showtime (L Word)—all these companies have official podcasts for their shows. And the list goes on and on. I’m only scratching the surface. Consumers have purchased 41 million iPods and that’s not taking into account the millions of other players out there. What will people listen to on these players? For the first two years that I owned my iPod, I listened to music. But now I’m listening more and more to home grown podcasts. I do not know how the financial aspects will shake out (how the producers of these shows will make money), but I’m hoping that sponsorships and advertising does play a role. Even micropayments would be wonderful to help keep these shows going.
The way I watch TV has changed a lot in the last year. Now I am used to time shifting. I watch content when I want instead of because a show is on at a particular time. Advertisers are finally realizing that consumers are not watching their commercials so they’re getting more creative. Kentucy Fried Chicken (fast food chain here in the USA) recently started running a commercial in which you can see (in slow motion) their secret recipe. It’s an interesting tactic. People aren’t watching commercials or don’t pay attention to them. With podcasting and video podcasts, it’s even easier to skip past a portion of a show that you don’t wish to listen to. Simply jump to the next chapter or scroll past the part you don’t like. It’s that easy.
The foundation of how we listen and watch shows has started to change. As to where this will all wind up, will be anyone’s guess, but if I had to offer a vision of the future, I see our TVs being blended with PCs. In the meantime, take part in the revolution and watch (or listen) to the content that’s out there. Trust me, there’s a lot more interesting things online that you can watch that what the major networks offer to you in the States. Give it a try. Don’t be shy.
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