Paul Colligan says “where’s Microsoft on podcasting?”

I wish Microsoft could publish all the webcasts also as audio-only podcasts with RSS feed. It would increase 10000-times the number of people who listen to these webcasts…

“Why does Microsoft need to put its partners out of business by doing its own podcasting tools?”

Why indeed? I bet the AV guys are asking the same question at the moment. And not the first time Microsoft has decided to take a market and put its partners, if not out of business, in dire straits.

It seems like this comes up as the excuse any time Microsoft doesn’t know how to deliver something – just claim they’re leaving the market for someone else. I know Apple do the same but at least they don’t pretend otherwise ..

I respond here – http://www.paulcolligan.com/2005/12/22/scoble-responds-to-the-microsoft-podcasting-issue-so-must-i/

Paul

Robert, your answer sounds like the canned Microsoft message about podcasting. We build platforms, blah, blah, blah.

The best podcasting experience on Windows is Apple’s iTunes with an iPod. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than Doppler, it’s better than iPodderX, it’s better than {insert 3rd party app here} because none of the apps integrates seamlessly to make the download to software to device experience transparent.

Everything in podcasting that isn’t iTunes is a hack. Certainly iTunes could be better, there are things I don’t like about their experience. The Windows podcast experience as a whole sucks. I shouldn’t have to jump through hoops and use multiple applications to manage my media effectively. That’s not choice, that’s making the market unusable.

On one hand Microsoft is trying to build the universal interface for home media with MCE and on the other hand they are completely ignoring an important delivery mechanism (and don’t tell me about the Newsgator plugin for MCE, because it’s a hack too). The third party tool that sells me on an effective Windows podcasting experience will be the one that plugs into Windows Media Player to the point I don’t realize it’s there.

And people should care about podcasting because? A better question would be where is MFST in ERP? Where is that strategy headed?

Robert: looking forward to news from that! And get me somebody to interview when you finally come out, the other corante guys bet on christmas for a release.

Jake: Itunes is the best to happen on Windows? eeeer now. The fact, that I am tied into itunes then is exactly the reason why I do not want to buy an ipod, even though I really need a working playlist feature.

Not that I like WMP very much either, it is just below iTunes.

Do I have a better tool? No. Both itunes and WMP are like using a webbrowser to access blogs – wie need an equivilent to a feed reader.

“And people should care about podcasting because? A better question would be where is MFST in ERP? Where is that strategy headed?”

ERP? Boooo-ring!

Yep, Microsoft hasn’t released any podcasting software because it’s giving the third-party developers a fair go.

Nutcase.

Nicole: It’s not that I want to be tied to using iTunes or an iPod. I’m speaking specifically about the user experience. You connect your iPod, your subscribe to a podcast, you download the files and it just works. iTunes offers the best user experience for podcasting on Windows. I’m not saying this as an Apple fanboy, I own 8 Windows Media PlaysForSure portable devices. The third-party integration for podcasting with Windows Media Player remains lousy.

Scobleizer…were you joking with that link? If not that’s pretty sad. This is your idea of a great media experience?

http://channel9.msdn.com
What a total piece of hammered s@%!!.

Jake, I agree with your opinion of iTunes and the iPod. I’ve tried so many different options I can’t keep them all straight. For simplicity and user experience, iTunes with an iPod is so far ahead of anything else I’ve used it’s not even funny. I plug my 60 GB iPod video into it’s cradle and all my podcasts are uploaded and ready by morning. The iTunes podcast directory is well organized and what’s not available I can add manually. I’m tired of spending time on things that partially work or require near constant baby sitting. Finally, I’ve got an mp3 player and software that works without the hassle. It may not be best of breed in every area but the whole experience is superb.

Joe: please explain why you think Channel 9 sucks.

Robert, seeing as Joe hasn’t answered and as a regular participant in C9 I’ll tell you why it sucks. Because it is the Anti-Slashdot, because it supports people like Beer28 who should have been banned a long time ago, because it’s a one way conversation, because there are so few members of the community who do anything but watch the videos, because all these people contribute to your bottom line and get nothing in return, because it feels like we’re being marketed at, because with two notable exceptions the people who are responsible for C9 rarely if ever post there ….

So when do we get Channel 9 in high def in Online Spotlight in Media Center? Certainly the first HDTV Online Spotlight broadcast would be buzzworthy and we need something to trump RocketBoom on your TiVo.