Podcasting - downhill from here?
Knowing that I’d be on a train for some period, I downloaded from a couple of podcasts that I’d not listened to in a while, ending up with:
- A Brit Abroad by Steve Lacey (Steve and I were at Imperial at the same time),
- a somewhat random selection from IT Conversations and,
- the Engadget podcast, episodes 23, 24 and 25.
As things turned out the trains took less time than expected, so I didn’t break into the IT Conversations recordings.
The contrast between Steve and Eric Rice of Engadget couldn’t be more marked. The earlier Engadget shows, mostly put together by Philip Torrone (later joined by Lenn Pryor) were some of the earliest podcasts available. Whilst this meant that the sound quality was sometimes poor, the show was generally interesting and somehow real. It never felt as though there was a script. Show 23 seems to have been Eric’s first and it will almost certainly be my last. The production quality has markedly improved, but the show feels devoid of spark. It’s too much like listening to an American radio show. Steve’s shows demonstrate that you can have great production values (a couple of times he’s mentioned obsessing about the levels) and stay true to a home-grown approach.
I have to wonder if this is the start of old-media take over, or at least adoption, of podcasting. It will be a shame - the energy of the earlier Engadget shows was good to hear.