Gregory's Server@talios Speaking as a coder who works closely with industry folks on audio distribution tech, I can assure you the corporate execs and marketing types don't care at all about the distinction. Personally I do care whether I can open the program in a non-proprietary podcast app, as do many of the other techies who have been listening to podcasts for a while. But the name "podcast" has clout, so they gleefully colonize it despite our objections.
|
6 comments
@jaredwhite Oh, I'll happily go a step further and say it's flat-out harmful and wrong for them to do so, and harmful and wrong for journalists to report it neutrally as just a change in usage without a single critical word toward the harm done. FWIW Doctorow has a good article up in the last few days about "enshittification" that's pretty adjacent to all this. It doesn't address this exact point, but I think it's a good and relevant read anyway. / @talios @jaredwhite @epilanthanomai @talios the whole ecosystem grew on the directory of iTunes which Apple left open to anyone to use … if there hasn’t been this centralized database which is still one of the main sources for many podcast players the whole thing never would have happened. So corporate America made it happen in a sense … but in reality it’s a silly discussion as the ones about “what is the real format of music … live, vinyl, radio, cds or streaming” @derfrankie @jaredwhite @epilanthanomai iTunes support definitely leapfrogged things into the non-tech world for sure - but along side RSS don't forget we had OMPL for sharing distribution lists. I think I added OPML support to Norrell back the day but I basically ended dev work on that when jPodder came out (and then iTunes). Tho I was still one of the first to have automated download, integrated playback, and cross platform. I really should kept improving the app rather than switching. @derfrankie @jaredwhite @epilanthanomai and the answers 8-track :) @epilanthanomai @jaredwhite likewise I care - I may not be coding in that space anymore but have also been around since the beginning - different audiences get different language |
@epilanthanomai @talios I appreciate hearing your perspective!
Here's the thing I find upsetting. Podcasting becomes popular because it's so open, so accessible, such a low barrier to entry for a whole ecosystem of hosts and directories and players, etc. Much like the web itself.
Then some corporate entities come along, gather up all that goodwill, and then use it to their advantage in a closed way—effectively stealing the brand.
Business gonna business, but it sure rubs me the wrong way.