Community Podcast directory?
Dave Winer linked over to a Canadian podcast directory. That’s very cool. He asks whether there’s interest in a community podcast directory. I’m interested. I’d like to work on that with other people and I won’t just link to cool PodTech.net stuff, either. It’s bigger than one person, or one company, too.
It’s too hard to find good podcasts. I know, I’m actively looking for them and it’s really hard. There’s a lot of them out there and you can only listen to one or two a day (I have more time than that, but the average person won’t).
One thing I’m gonna do is do a blog just for Dave where I link to one podcast a day that I think he should listen to. Why? Cause he asked me to. Of course you can suggest stuff to get to Dave (and everyone will get to read that RSS feed too). I’ll listen to anything sent my way and decide whether it’s worthy or not to send along to Dave. Sound interesting? How about I do a feed for you? What would you like me to find for you?
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July 19th, 2006 at 3:45 am
I am interested in a community Podcast directory. Get away from the corporate aspects of podcasting and do like it use to be. Just people communicating with each other on ideas.
July 19th, 2006 at 4:14 am
The podcast directory is a good one, but it would be great if it could be at an episode level as well - a digg style recommendation.
I’ve become awfully selective of my listening, due to much reduced grey time; I’m not one of those astonishing people that can work at their desktop AND listen.
So while I might be subscribed to a feed, that does not mean I will listed to each installment. Either I will scan the shownotes or the title, and then copy manually to my mp3 player (I am sans iPod)..
July 19th, 2006 at 4:47 am
Robert:
You may wish to check out the AmigoFish at:
http://amigofish.com/
The Fish has put me on to some good podcasts I’d probably not have found otherwise. It’s more a prediction service in the vein of “If you like X, you’ll probably like Y.”
The Fish has a blog, too: blog.amigofish.com
Check it out!
-k-
July 19th, 2006 at 4:50 am
We’ve been adding some digg-like features at PodcastDirectory.com this week, including a ’spy’ and what we call ‘Criss-Cross’ which shows ‘what else’ listeners of one podcast are listening to. We’d like to add some digg ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ but didn’t want to be seen (like everyone else) as just doing the same thing that digg does. We’re going to try to bring in some more cross-recommendation features because, as you said, it’s hard to find podcasts. Even with my long commute, I barely have time to listen that many new podcasts (there just isn’t enough time in the day).
Maintaining our directory is kind of a bear sometime. There is a lot of spam, and a TON of poorly formed XML that the parsers choke on. Some people think that podcasts about xxx-rated porn should be labelled ‘adult contemporary’ and others insist that their ‘Detroit/Ambient/Goa with a swing of House’ cannot be placed in any category any person can possibly comprehend (’because they don’t work at the same record shop as us..’). And then there are the 404 and 500 errors as podcasters come and go…
But it would be fun to find a better way to share the nuggets we do find.
July 19th, 2006 at 5:49 am
I’ll second checking out AmigoFish. Dave Slusher has come up with something very cool there that I use all the time.
We also have a directory at http://www.newenglandpodcasting.com . It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.
July 19th, 2006 at 7:06 am
I find I “discover” a lot less when it comes to podcasts (as opposed to blogs or other text-content-driven web media) largely because it is very time consuming to just ‘quickly scan through them and pull out the good from the bad, or vice-versa.’
I wish there was not only a directory, but one where ranking was truly community-driven and reliable, and where podcasts were at least meaningfully categorized. Odeo is probably the closest thing out there to this right now, but it’s not perfect.
It’s particularly ironic that humans need simple top-of-category style directories, to make it easier for them to consume “good content,” they in part need to be told what “good content” is. If this happens in a community-driven way, I expect that roughly 90% of listeners will listen to some top 10% of content, leaving the long tail collecting dust.
July 19th, 2006 at 7:33 am
[...] Dave Winer points out one of the core reasons we have built (and continue to build) podcast.com in the way we have - forming a solid content data foundation, with easy tools - then slapping that data into a great UI, for the web, mobiles and desktop. Heads up, Scoble! ‘Community Directories’ (made by real, passionate people) are exactly what you will have available at podcast.com, all with lots of lovely open OPML and RSS for you to consume and manipulate using the gorgeously easy tools we are building here for you. And IMHO, much nicer OPML management than some applications I have seen out there from the self-declared OPML centres of the Universe out there. [...]
July 19th, 2006 at 7:34 am
http://kosso.wordpress.com/2006/07/19/community-podcast-directories/
hi robert! :)
July 19th, 2006 at 7:35 am
I, too, wish there was a good source that aggregated all the podcasts and allowed us to rank them. Rankings should have several components, beyond content. How was the audio quality? Was the show edited to remove distractions?
By far the absolute best podcasts, both quality and content wise are coming from Carl Franklin’s PWOP Productions (www.pwop.com). Even the “low” audio quality versions of Dot Net Rocks (for example) are far superior to a lot of what I hear on the web.
Robert C
July 19th, 2006 at 8:29 am
what is the standard for a “good podcast”? How do we know there are a bunch of good ones out there?
Would love to know what qualifies as a good podcast. Other than radio shows, content from the WSJ, and content produced by other professional entertainers, I’ve not found many “good podcasts”. What qualifies as a “good podcast”?
July 19th, 2006 at 9:34 am
A podcast directory? Cool.. Sign me up! (www.JimStroud.com/podcast)
July 19th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Why? Cause he asked me to.
You do his laundry, dishes and feed him grapes too?
July 19th, 2006 at 10:12 am
O, Canada!!!
…now - presenting : http://canada.podcast.com
:)
A rating system to rate any folder, feed, podcaster or episode are on the way.
Stay tuned!
July 19th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Hi Rob ,,,
check out http://www.todmaffin.com/ and http://www.todbits.com
he is with the CBC and plays a very active role in Canadian Podcasting
JP
July 19th, 2006 at 11:26 am
I also thought about this and started a site at:
http://www.indypodcasts.com/
I spend time with it as my schedule allows, but it is fully functional. I am going to implement a rating/digg type system in the next week or so..
I’d *LOVE* to have some user submitted content, as I have the bandwidth/resources to continue hosting this as it scales up.
I would appreciate any comments and/or feedback.
Indysawmill
http://blog.rumor.net/
July 19th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
“Sound interesting?”
No.
July 19th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
How about a Digg like site for podcasts.
July 19th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
I’d like to I guess Third the suggestion for AmigoFish - I don’t use it all that often (though as a number of my previously listened to Podcasts have changed/stopped perhaps it is time I revisit it) but it definitely works extremely well in suggesting new and very interesting (to you) shows. Either by looking at your OPML file from your podcatcher OR simply by starting from shows you like and going out from there - plus you can have it generate an OPML file to import into your podcatcher of choice (I use Doppler which I love though they haven’t seemingly updated it in quite a while and it isn’t flawless).
Shannon
July 20th, 2006 at 12:21 am
What are the legal/moral issues with aggregating excerpts from other podcasts into a single bits & pieces podcast?
I’m enjoying the whole podcast thing but it does take a while to listen to even a handfull of podcasts. I’d love to find topic specific podcasts that pull in the best parts of other podcasts and maybe add a little commentary along the way. Hmmm… sounds like a blog. :)
July 20th, 2006 at 2:02 am
[...] Who do you find generous with loving words of encouragement and compliment? My parents on high on my list these days. I find Robert Scoble is amazingly generous. Read this from his blog today: How about I do a feed for you? What would you like me to find for you? [...]
July 20th, 2006 at 7:24 am
I vote for AmigoFish as well. It’s pretty darned good. As for ratings, reviews, etc. there will ALWAYS be a way to game ratings and such; if a human being needs to interact with it (rate this, vote for this, etc.) then there will be a way to cause mischief with it. How do you find good podcasts? How do you find good X? Most often, I ask a close circle of friends.
I also second http://www.NewEnglandPodcasting.com and the shows in New England Podcasting. We’re a fun bunch.
Christopher S. Penn
http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com
July 21st, 2006 at 8:25 am
Hello,
I noticed that http://www.weblogs.com now tracks podcasts.
In addition, can’t find podcasts? How about automatically making them as you like from web pages that have interesting mp3 files.
I wrote a greasemonkey script that does this:
http://blog.medallia.com/
Al
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:28 am
These type of apps are getting easier to create. I just did this using the Ning playground. You will find a rough draft here:
http://podcastdir.ning.com/hits/
Still a little work to do, but the app was created in just a few hours work. If the interest is there I plan to add any requested features and roll it out along with a few international versions.
July 22nd, 2006 at 6:37 pm
[...] Reader/listener Ken pointed out to me that in this Scoble post about podcast directories several commentors (including Ken) mention AmigoFish in a positive light. That really makes me happy, that people are out saying good things about it unsolicited. What really makes me happy is what they say, which is “it is useful to me.” What higher praise can there be for such a project? [...]
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:00 am
Thanks for the kind words on AmigoFish, amigos. I’m glad it is working for you.
To respond to #10, Elvis - I don’t think there exists any objective “good” or “bad” standards for podcasts. In fact, we don’t need them and we are better off without them. There is no centralized authority that can tell me which of the 20,000 podcasts will matter to me and which ones are “good”. For everyone annointed one deemed “good”, there are plenty of people who hate it and vice versa for the “bad” ones.
The AmigoFish project is dedicated to the proposition that these value judgements are irrelevant to the post-scarcity world in which we are drowning in content. What matters is the continuum from “is useful to me” to “is useless to me”. By collaborative filtering and comparing your ratings to other people, the aim is to bring you shows that are useful to you, and hang the objective standards.
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August 6th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
[...] Reader/listener Ken pointed out to me that in this Scoble post about podcast directories several commentors (including Ken) mention AmigoFish in a positive light. That really makes me happy, that people are out saying good things about it unsolicited. What really makes me happy is what they say, which is “it is useful to me.” What higher praise can there be for such a project? [...]
August 27th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Yes, who can say which podcast is better. Surely this depends upon the listener. A niche community is better qualified to rate podcasts in their own niche, but even so there will be divergent opinions, even amongst their own.
Once the technical aspects of the podcast meet a quality standard, it comes down to the market itself, although the record industry has proven that promotion has a wide effect in the popularity and hence audience of a particular media product.
What we are perhaps looking for is that rare gem, that no-one has cottoned on to yet. To that end, the opinion leader becomes a vital conduit in getting it exposure.
There is currently a vacuum for this role which I am sure will be filled. A new medium does not mean it won’t follow the same basic laws.
A community may pass on the news about a podcast but an opinion leader will start the ball rolling.
Just my two cents on the topic at hand.
December 29th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
A community Podcast directory sounds interesting, although it can get crazy at times.
January 1st, 2007 at 6:10 am
Community Podcast? Podcasts are all getting so more and more popular these days yet a decent one can be hard to find. Good Find!
February 6th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Podcast are the future all the radio channels will start using them
February 9th, 2007 at 8:17 am
podcasts are the way forward and will continue to expand
February 16th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Is there a podcast directory yet? I have found so few good podcasts. I am sure there are many out there, but I do not know of them. They are great to listen to while working.
Dean said that radio channels will start using podcasts, which makes me wonder if any podcasters have went to radio based on the success of their podcasts?
March 8th, 2007 at 3:32 am
when will there be a full podcast database, i look for all sorts of different podcasts
March 17th, 2007 at 7:25 am
definateley a good idea and for those who like comedy check out Ricky Gervais’ podcast hilarious
March 21st, 2007 at 9:01 am
You can find good podcasts through itunes if you have it
May 29th, 2007 at 4:11 am
thanks for this blog it helped me to find podcasts i never knew were available
September 8th, 2007 at 3:17 am
A community podcast directory. This will be intresting!
September 8th, 2007 at 6:47 am
Podcasts rock, great idea!
:D
September 12th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Podcast directory would be great, I cant belive I haven’t found a good one yet.
September 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I haven’t done a podcast yet, but I look forward to completing one in a couple of weeks, wish me luck!