Comments on: Odeo For Sale http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2007/02/21/odeo-for-sale/ A journal of geekery, music and joy Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:00:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Darrin Snider http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2007/02/21/odeo-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-40843 Darrin Snider Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:06:32 +0000 http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2007/02/21/odeo-for-sale/#comment-40843 I agree wholeheartedly. While Odeo was the first aggregator I used when I first discovered podcasts (mistakenly believing top placement on Google corresponded to "best site of its kind"), despite great promises and extensive lists of features, I quickly found it to be buggy, unintuitive, and slow-moving to say the least. After eighteen months, it still hasn't improved and, as you pointed out, in retrospect smacks of the same uninspired bandwagon development that formerly fueled booms in blogging tools, social networking sites, map-generating directories, and web-based video engines: Some trade magazine publishes an article, and the next day, dozens of spaghetti strands are thrown at the wall by Cake, Ajax, or Rails-savvy developers; then forgotten -- last one to dry up and shrivel, wins. There was a point in time about a year ago when my Podcast was somehow "mysteriously added" to dozens of sites like Odeo. Mercifully, most didn't last even this long. I've met and been interviewed -- as I'm sure you have -- by several of these types of startup companies. The owners are generally visionaries, not technologists, who have read too many articles about people like Tom Andersen and Chad Hurley, and have a sense of reality that's just a shade below "completely delusional" concerning how much money they can make from selling off their user base. And they will talk at length about that, while saying nothing of their vision or plans to improve or enhance the vertical they've entered. Now that the powers that be have put Odeo up for sale, it's a good indication that the numbers have long-since peaked and page views are in a steady decline. Getting bought, while probably good for the investors and owners, would be about the worst thing for Odeo's remaining users. Sites like Odeo don't get bought for their innovative technology or concepts (those are easy enough to recreate and improve on), they get bought for the eyeballs only. Can anybody name ONE service or site that has actually improved in quality, stability, content, and functionality after being sold? YouTube? MySpace? MusicMatch? Blogspot? With development tools and pre-packaged libraries becoming easier and easier to use, this disposability of two-dimensional development is a trend that's only going to get worse in the coming years. I agree wholeheartedly. While Odeo was the first aggregator I used when I first discovered podcasts (mistakenly believing top placement on Google corresponded to “best site of its kind”), despite great promises and extensive lists of features, I quickly found it to be buggy, unintuitive, and slow-moving to say the least. After eighteen months, it still hasn’t improved and, as you pointed out, in retrospect smacks of the same uninspired bandwagon development that formerly fueled booms in blogging tools, social networking sites, map-generating directories, and web-based video engines: Some trade magazine publishes an article, and the next day, dozens of spaghetti strands are thrown at the wall by Cake, Ajax, or Rails-savvy developers; then forgotten — last one to dry up and shrivel, wins. There was a point in time about a year ago when my Podcast was somehow “mysteriously added” to dozens of sites like Odeo. Mercifully, most didn’t last even this long. I’ve met and been interviewed — as I’m sure you have — by several of these types of startup companies. The owners are generally visionaries, not technologists, who have read too many articles about people like Tom Andersen and Chad Hurley, and have a sense of reality that’s just a shade below “completely delusional” concerning how much money they can make from selling off their user base. And they will talk at length about that, while saying nothing of their vision or plans to improve or enhance the vertical they’ve entered.

Now that the powers that be have put Odeo up for sale, it’s a good indication that the numbers have long-since peaked and page views are in a steady decline. Getting bought, while probably good for the investors and owners, would be about the worst thing for Odeo’s remaining users. Sites like Odeo don’t get bought for their innovative technology or concepts (those are easy enough to recreate and improve on), they get bought for the eyeballs only. Can anybody name ONE service or site that has actually improved in quality, stability, content, and functionality after being sold? YouTube? MySpace? MusicMatch? Blogspot?

With development tools and pre-packaged libraries becoming easier and easier to use, this disposability of two-dimensional development is a trend that’s only going to get worse in the coming years.

]]> By: Garrick Van Buren http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2007/02/21/odeo-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-40283 Garrick Van Buren Thu, 22 Feb 2007 04:51:22 +0000 http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2007/02/21/odeo-for-sale/#comment-40283 They canned what <a href="http://workingpathways.com/workbetter/archive/odeo-disconnects/" rel="nofollow">I thought as their most interesting feature</a> back in October: phone-to-post. Honestly, I forgot they were still around after that. They canned what I thought as their most interesting feature back in October: phone-to-post. Honestly, I forgot they were still around after that.

]]> By: Obvious Looking For Potential Buyers For Their Odeo | Podcast Fresh http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2007/02/21/odeo-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-40233 Obvious Looking For Potential Buyers For Their Odeo | Podcast Fresh Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:24:23 +0000 http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2007/02/21/odeo-for-sale/#comment-40233 [...] On the other hand, I’ve read a commentary that assessed Odeo on the different angle. This is a good read for those who want to see both side of the product being offered.  Well, let’s just see how things would turn up with this announcement. Technorati tags: Podcasting, Podcast Network, New Media Selling [...] [...] On the other hand, I’ve read a commentary that assessed Odeo on the different angle. This is a good read for those who want to see both side of the product being offered.  Well, let’s just see how things would turn up with this announcement. Technorati tags: Podcasting, Podcast Network, New Media Selling [...]

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