Comments on: More on Podcast Dope

By: Darren Barefoot

Darren Barefoot — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:42:04 +0000

I just got pinged with a trackback and re-read this nerd-fight from two years ago. Out of curiousity, do you still think the iTunes popularity metrics are bogus?

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 07:42:40 +0000

Podcasting is like spam. It costs basically nothing to produce this stuff. And some people are gratified if just one other person tunes in. Plus, I don’t think that anyone will stop listening to podcasts, or stop making them, just because Darren won’t personally listen.

By: dave

dave — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 15:26:17 +0000

Darren, Your comment #4 reads to me like “As long as a lie is told by someone of sufficient authority, it becomes the truth.” Is this really what you mean? Let’s take the most extreme possible case: a show that has 0 listeners is put in the #1 slot on the ITMS list. Are you really saying that because of perception that this show really is the most popular podcast out there despite having 0 listeners? I can’t agree with that. If you are saying that people will think that it is, then true but a lie by authority does not make it the truth.

By: Darren

Darren — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:44:08 +0000

tiltededge: That’s absolutely right, but that’s no reason not to talk about them now.

By: tiltededge

tiltededge — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:18:05 +0000

The answers to all of these questions and arguments will be clear to everyone in due time.

By: Darren

Darren — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 16:56:50 +0000

Fair enough on the fundamental dubiousness of the ITMS lists. However, because of the power and popularity of the iTMS, and the fact that it’s the likeliest spot for the average joe to enter the podcasting world, we can’t ignore the content of those lists.

For example, whether or not mainstream media have a stranglehold on the medium, it looks like they do on the ITMS. Perception can be more powerful and influentiential than the reality of the situation.

In short, if Apple says ‘podcast X is popular’, it’s popular, whether the numbers reflect that or not.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 12:55:34 +0000

Darren, Mike is right, I didn’t interpret it as an attack but more of a “so what?” I can lay out my preferences and try to underpin them with facts about why there are so, but what’s the point? They don’t need the underpinnings, just believe what you want.

As for the ITMS data, we don’t know what that top 20 list means. Mike’s on the right track. Everyone interprets as “the most subscribed” or “most downloaded” but no one outside of Apple really knows that. At one point in its history, that list represented the shows that had had the ITMS subscribe button clicked most in the previous 24 hours (found by accident by a podcaster testing their feed who then popped into the list). Does it still mean that? Do they just pull those out of their ass and present what that want? No one knows. Apple has an agenda of getting big media providers to sell through their store, so how do we know they don’t just put big media up there to prove to them there is a market? We don’t. I wouldn’t base any sort of logical argument on the value of those lists unless and until you can be sure you know what that data represents.

BTW, I did agree with you on Cory’s reading. I dropped it after the segment where he kept yawning. That seemed like a pointless excercise to me. If you are too tired to read today, do the podcast tomorrow dude. I’ll wait. Nothing kills the energy of a spoken piece faster than punctuating with yawns every 45 seconds. I haven’t been back since then, maybe I will when the karma tank refills.

By: mike dunn

mike dunn — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 12:22:02 +0000

darren – related to bogus itunes data, pls see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary

i do however agree w/ you on cory’s anda’s game, an excellent podcast short story and the reader’s accent makes it even better…

i didn’t see what dave wrote as a defense against an attack, more of a comment on a bit of noise he noticed – sometimes just commenting on signal gets boring

By: Darren

Darren — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:03:59 +0000

You hit the nail on the head–I’m discussing my personal preference. The original post, was, after all, called “Why I’m Not Smoking the Podcasting Dope”. I’m sorry that you’ve interpreted it as an attack on your (or anyone else’s) personal preferences.

Additionally, could you explain why the iTunes data is bogus?