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Re: [microsound] podcasting site?




You can buy an any MP3-player and use open-source aggregators. There are many free tools. Or see what IBM/Microsoft has to offer you. Apple has just made it easier for its own customers to use/listen to podcasts (or "RSS with audio/video attachments"). This is what Apple usually does. You dont care about that. Fair enough. Apple dont care about you. Steve Jobs is doing his job very good - many seems to beleive podcasting has something to do (and started) with ipods and Apple iTunes.


But neither Apple or anyone else owns podcasting (or "RSS with audio/ video attachments"). It is free (except if you use the MP3-format for your attachments, *that* format is a corporate property).

The guys who started this simply initially used iPods as it was easy and documented how to script automated download of the feeds from the net into an iPod. Hence the term "podcasting". It was always intended from the very beginning to work with any player - not just iPods. They tried to come up with a better term for a long time - but didnt and now everyone use the term so it is not easy to change. At least it is not called "iPodcasting".

Sometimes I just listen on the desktop computer (no iPod connected). Sometimes I burn the casts onto some CD-RW:s and listen in the car.

It is a very simple and very open technology. Just an XML-file and a bunch of audio/video files accessible through HTTP. And very conveneient.



20 jul 2005 kl. 20.31 skrev Derek Mason:

I refuse to buy an ipod because I don't own an Apple computer. I work off my IBM thinkpad laptop. I don't want to be forced to buy something and have compatibility problems.

......in other words, your right. It is associative trademark branding!

Derek





----- Original Message -----
From: "nathan c. dickerson" <ndickerson@xxxxxxxxx>
To: microsound <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [microsound] podcasting site?
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:31:51 -0700



Look at the format of a podcast RSS feed and you will find the following tags:


<itunes:explicit></itunes:explicit>
<itunes:author></itunes:author>
<itunes:summary></itunes:summary>

This technology existed before itunes. There is no reason to name tags
this way in any kind of open standard.


Apple created a stylized version of a product that already existed;
Understood the trend of content syndication, exploited it, and
produced a defacto standard, which they now control.

Even the RSS community has a problem with this -- Apple didn't even
consult the RSS community about format standards.

Upon hearing 'podcast', 'ipod' immediatly comes to mind. This is wrong
for any kind of open standard -- this is associative trademark
branding!


This is Apples game -- Apple's habits of branding in public spaces
(renting/buying ALL the advertising space in transportation hubs such
as subways and public transit systems) and virtual spaces is
unethical.

Are there really only a few people here who see a problem with this?

On 7/20/05, Guillaume Grenier <grenier.g@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 20/07/05 10:08, { brad brace } said in living color:


wouldn't simple downloads of mp3s(or oggs) be more
egalitarian than becoming dependent on proprietary ipod
hard/software?


There's nothing proprietary in podcasts.

It's just a RSS 2.0 feed (using an XML file) with a MP3 enclosure.

As for aggregators (the software that checks and downloads new content),
there are a shitload of them: some free/some not free (in the $ sense), some
developed by companies/developed by a community/developed by just one guy,
some open-source/some closed, etc. Just choose whatever works best for you.


Actually, the only proprietary aspect of the whole thing is the MP3. And of
course, you're not obligated to use this format -- you could use an Ogg file
or whatever else audio format you see fit to use.


You can then listen to these "podcasts" on whichever device you want.

g.

--
Guillaume Grenier - grenier.g@xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Things are more like they are now than they ever were before."

(Dwight Eisenhower)



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contact: nathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
pattern media - http://patternmedia.com/
pattern records - http://patternrecords.com

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