3MF

Worst podcast ever

I have yet to find podcasts all that interesting. They seem to be useful only when you're killing time between actually doing stuff. Occasionally i'll read a blog post that references a podcast and i'll go check it out to keep up on what's going on.

Today i listened to a podcast that exemplifies everything that's wrong with the medium. Surprisingly, it's from Dave Winer, who is the "father" of podcasting. A third of the show is made up of fiddling around with his new PowerMac to get a MIDI file to play, another third is actually playing the stupid file, and the last third is whining in vague terms about Steve Gillmore to the point where you really have no idea what's he talking about or trying to say. It goes on pointlessly for 30 minutes. At one point he stops to make sure we can hear the fire trucks outside. Later he sings along to Turkey in the Straw. It's so awful.

Compare that to a podcast from Merlin Mann about how to leave a voice mail message. Clearly some thought was put into it before he hit the record button. Plus it was short so it didn't waste a chunk of your life. Most of the useful points probably could have been made in a regular text post, but he was able to add some humor that wouldn't have worked as well if you couldn't hear it.

I'm still not sure exactly where the medium is going but i hope it can steer away from the stereotypical rambling guy with a microphone. If i had a longer commute to work, perhaps i would find them more interesting.

Posted by Matthew at November 10, 2005 10:44 AM