Datasheet

28
Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency
Podcast Pickle
Gary Leland and the crew at Podcast Pickle (http://podcastpickle.com)
take a slightly different approach for listeners to find the podcasts they’re look-
ing for. Their best innovation, in our opinion, is the Favorites listing. Rather
than rely on voting as a measure of popularity, the Pickle allows registered
members to mark as many shows as they like as their favorites. The more
people who have marked a show as Favorite, the higher up on the Favorites
list a podcast is. And unlike Podcast Alley’s fairly unwavering top 10 list, Podcast
Pickle periodically takes its top ranked podcasts and moves them to the “Hall
of Fame” to allow others to show up in the top listing. A neat idea!
Yes, it’s a lot like a popularity contest; you have no way to judge how well
you might like a show just because a bunch of other people do. That’s why
Podcast Pickle also allows you to browse by category or search for relevant
keywords that mean something to you. Like Podcast Alley, it also has an
active forum section where you can see what other folks are saying about a
particular podcast before you subscribe.
Podcast Alley
Podcast Alley (http://podcastalley.com) quickly became the first place
to boast, brand, and generally beat your chest about your show. With incred-
ibly active forums, detailed descriptions of podcasts, and individual episodes —
plus the majority of all podcasters clamoring to get their listeners to “VOTE FOR
ME ON PODCAST ALLEY THIS MONTH!” — it’s no wonder that Podcast Alley is
one of the most active podcast listing and ratings service to date.
Zune
Apple has the iPod and Microsoft has the Zune (www.zune.net). Like many
things before, Microsoft wasn’t the first to the table when it came to podcast-
ing. The company took a “wait and see” approach for the first couple years,
but eventually got on board with its Zune product family. As of now, the Zune
is supported only on Windows platforms.
Like the iPod, the Zune supports audio — including podcasts — and video.
Although you can’t search for podcasts from the main Web page, you can search
from within the Zune software. Click the Podcasts link in the Marketplace section
in the upper left of the screen to get started searching and subscribing.
06_275573-ch01.indd 2806_275573-ch01.indd 28 6/23/08 5:44:47 PM6/23/08 5:44:47 PM