BigShinyThing

If it happens, movies will become another portable entertainment medium. It could also speed the growth of vlogging - possibly the ugliest moniker of the year.

“It’s absolutely possible to create a video podcast,” says Derrick Oien, president of the Association of Music Podcasters. If Apple came out with a video iPod, “you chould see a big boom in video blogging.”

On July 18th a Wall Street Journal article reported that Apple was in talks with music labels and other companies to license music videos for the new ‘vPod’ (my guess). According to the article, Apple claimed it would be announcing the device by September. Then, on August 2nd, the blog Macrumors noticed that the trademark for Apple’s iPod had been changed on June 18th, so that it now read, “portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing text, data, audio, image and video files.”

Eric Hellweg points out in Technology Review, “If Apple does launch a video iPod in the near future (a company spokesperson declined to comment on the trademark change or the possibility of a video iPod), it would arrive into a far different world than did the first audio iPod in 2001. Since then, the concept of participatory media has exploded, most notably in the form of blogs, wikis (user-modifiable websites), and podcasts, in which an individual can create and disseminate his or her own ’show’ over the Internet. (The term ‘podcast’ is itself derived from the iPod, despite having no connection to it — a telling tribute to the Apple product.)”

The vlogging community (ouch) is making positive noises. Jay Dedman hosts around 600 videoblogs on his site, AntisnotTV.com and says that number would explode if Apple releases a video iPod. “Audio is boring. It’s boring to make a radio show,”Dedman says, “The reason [videoblogging] is not that hot yet is because we don’t have a device to shift the video on to. If Apple does it, it will be pretty big.”

On August 9, the online music activist group Downhill Battle will launch its “Participatory Culture” player and website, which will make it easier to distribute video and audio content on the Internet. One of its directors, Nicholas Reville, says that a video iPod “can only have a really strong, positive effect…It would bring a level of credibility– the same thing Apple brought to MP3 players and audio podcasting.”

The support and established behaviour for podcasting is already there. When Apple announced its support for audio podcasting in June and began listing the mostly amateur radio segments within its iTunes Music Store, podcasting saw its biggest boost to date. Just two days after podcasts were made available, more than one million people subscribed.

Story and quotes courtesy of Technology Review.

The BBC appear to be a bit behind with this podcasting lark - they don’t seem to have one yet. ABC does …. see here

Today’s edition (subscription required) reports that humongous media owner Clearchannel will be offering podcasts from next week. Clear Channel Radio will offer podcasts of ‘Phone Tap’, a popular sketch that airs on New York’s Z100 morning show.

What matters about this is that Clear Channel’s initiative is the first in what it hopes will become a national podcasting strategy that allows listeners to download snippets of popular programming, either individually as an MP3 file or as part of an RSS stream. The podcasts, free to consumers, will be ad-supported and the company is already reportedly selling 15 second spots to advertisers.

Adweek reports that “As many as 6 million U.S. adults have listened to a podcast,according to a new survey, giving hope that the fledgling technology could catch on with a broader market

Podcasts are downloadable radio programs, often distributed through Really Simple Syndication feeds that can be transferred to digital music players like iPods. Podcasts act as the audio equivalent of blogs, allowing users an easy way to broadcast and share content. According to survey of 2,200 U.S. adults conducted by the Pew Internet American Life Project, about 6 million said they downloaded a podcast

In Pew’s poll, 11 percent of respondents said they owned an MP3 player, putting the total U.S. ownership at 22 million. Of those with MP3 players, 29 percent reported listening to a podcast. Pew said the survey has a 7.5 percent margin of error. The poll found podcast listeners more likely to be young: nearly half of those between 18 and 28 said they downloaded podcasts, compared to about 20 percent of those over 29″

Advertising Age reports that condom maker Durex are already taking advantage of the regulation-free medium as a way of advertising to teens