[Note: I grew up in a culture of "trash" talking. This results in arguments that don't sound terribly diplomatic. If you were on the debate team in high school, or a member of the Miss Manners Happiness Club, then this post isn't for you. You've been warned, so keep your weenie bitching to a minimum, please.]

[Update: If you think I'm too much of a jerk, then you ought to check out Doug Ferguson's blog for a very nicely balanced and tolerant argument. Doug makes a lot of good points - things I wish I had thought of myself, but didn't.]

I've received some responses to my Podcasting post, and I'd like to address those responses.

However, I've realized that I have neither the time, the patience, nor the inclination to handle this diplomatically. Rather, I'm going to be straightforward, honest, and blunt:

My name is Rory Blyth, and I'm going to kick your asses in an argument about Podcasting.

- Argument: "The community process sucks" - Source: Lucas Gonze -

Lucas:

I feel disheartened about blogging because of how unneccessarily primitive the conversation on podcasting has been. My feeling is that few of the journalists and alpha bloggers writing about podcasting have done the reading, and therefore there is no point in writing.

Recall, if you will, the scene in The Empire Strikes Back when Leia is badgering Han, and Han finally says, "I don't have time to discuss this as a committee."

Well, you're Leia.

The idea of working on things in a great big open way is great. The problem is that it's not efficient. People like to debate endlessly about pointless points, drag their feet, and make problems for selfish political reasons.

Sometimes, when you just want to get something done, you do it. All the warm fuzzies in the world about community involvement will not get your idea realized.

Granted, some people might get pissed off because they weren't included in some planning process, but the people with the ideas, conviction, and a sense of adventure are going to be more interested in asking for forgiveness rather than permission.

If Adam had waited, if Dave had waited, and if Scoble had kept this to himself, then a good idea would have sat rotting.

- Argument: "It's different, but not new, and therefore nothing of interest" - Source: Lawrence Pina -

Lawrence:

Rory’s take that podcasting can help aspiring artists bypass the establishment and go directly to the consumer is true, but isn't this already available?  

What has stopped people from making MP3s and uploading them to their sites?  When I download a MP3 from the web it plays in iTunes and the next time I sync my iPod, it gets copied there.  I’m sure the bright guys at Apple are adding a tab to iTunes to list the feeds you want to autosysnc.   Is this really something to get excited about? 

As before, Lawrence, you've brought up some interesting points, but I think you're seeing this too much from the point of view of someone who is already very comfortable with technology.

The answer is that nothing stops "people from making MP3s and uploading them to their sites." That's not the point, though.

Think about these two scenarios:

1. You order something from Amazon, and that thing arrives at your door

2. You order something from Amazon, and Amazon gives you driving directions to the nearest Amazon warehouse where you'll have to go to pick up your stuff

Which of these is more convenient?

If these were two different companies offering online shopping, which would you be more likely to use, assuming that the product line was similar, and assuming that prices were similar?

I would personally rather have the Amazon that ships purchases directly to my door. I don't want to have to go out and drive to some warehouse in the middle of the boonies to pick my stuff up.

So, map this back to content delivery:

1. You subscribe to a show, and it's automatically delivered to your MP3 player when new content is out

2. You like a show, bookmark the web site, periodically check for updates manually, download a new MP3 when one is available, and then sync up with your player to copy the file over

While you, Lawrence Pina, may be perfectly comfortable with the latter example, from a consumer point of view, it seems obvious that the former is the winner here.

Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm wrong.

Actually, I am crazy.

I just don't know about the wrong part yet. Feel free to counter kick my ass here.

More Lawrence:

Why is podcasting going to somehow make downloading MP3s more popular or available?   Are people having that much trouble with the “Save As”… dialog box in today’s browsers?   Are you too busy to click and wait for the download?

To answer your questions in the order in which they were asked:

1. I never claimed that Podcasting would make MP3s more popular or more available - I argued in favor of convenience, which is completely different, but which could potentially lead to more popularity and availability (now that you mention it).

2. Yes, people do have trouble with these dialogs. You and I don't, but we're nerds. Most people are not nerds. Many people have problems with this stuff. Intelligent people, old people, young people, average people, super people, rich people, and poor people.

3. Yes, I am too busy to "click and wait." I shouldn't even be writing this post. I'm busy from the time I get up until the time I go to sleep. Time management is a way of life for me, and I'm not alone. 

- Argument: "It doesn't appeal to me, I don't need it, and therefore it's bad" - Source: Lawrence Pina -

One last nugget of Lawrence:

For me, there is more compelling content on TV then on the radio.  Fill my iPod with amateur broadcasting???  Listen to MSNBC on my PocketPC???  Listen to Bill O’Reilly with any battery powered device???…no thanks.

I have to wonder why you're even arguing against Podcasting if you truly have no interest in its benefits. The phrase "water under the bridge" comes to mind.

Think about this: You, Lawrence Pina, probably don't menstruate much.

Am I right, or am I right?

As someone who doesn't periodically release an egg into your Fallopian tubes and then shed tissue from the wall of your uterus, you probably also aren't interested in tampons.

Do you, Lawrence Pina, professional non-menstruator, also think that we should start pulling tampons off the shelf just because you don't need or want them?

- Argument: "There's a bandwidth problem" - Source: Brian Sullivan -

Brian:

The "hype"sters though tend to gloss over the difficulties

Implementation is a detail. I like the overall idea of Podcasting, and I'm not worried about people making this work - a reasonably motivated geek can take an idea like this and run with it, meeting the technical challenges with a sense of gusto and bravado that the naysayers will never understand.

Geeks often screw up with ideas by sweating the small stuff.

If you want to worry about the small stuff, then focus on the contents of your trousers.

The big picture is what's important here.

More Brian:

media distribution on the scale that some of these podcasts are reaching ( ~30 Megabytes for Adam Curry's for instance) is massively consumptive of bandwidth. Rory's attitude is "Things will improve.". But if 50 people are to receive 30 Megabyes of downloaded material -- someone somewhere will have to distibute 1.5 gig and 50 will have to receive 30 meg.

Um...

Brian...

When somebody downloads a 30 meg file from a web site, there's still 30 megs going over the wire. It happens all the time.

Is there something I'm missing here?

Even More Brian:

Bandwidth (at least in some parts of the world) is getting cheaper and maybe someday this will be a drop in the bucket but ... Maybe Adam Curry can afford it but somebody has to pay.

You're right, Brian.

But, Podcasting aside, those people don't have the bandwidth to get large files off of traditional web sites either. Podcasting doesn't do anything to the "World Bandwidth Problem."

There will always be things that some people have and that some people don't.

The people you're talking about, in addition to bandwidth, might not be able to afford Honda Accords. Let's halt production immediately. Honda Accords are only useful if everybody on the planet can afford one, right?

- Argument: "It's the same old crap" - Source: Brian Sullivan -

Last bit of Brian:

I don't think "Podcasting" is world shattering technology or any sort of paradigm shift though time shifted delivery of digital media is a useful concept. As my dad would say -- same old shit only softer.

There's nothing that I like better than someone who is willing to dismiss a world of potential with a stupid cliché.

More to come?

Thanks for your feedback.

I'm going to go get lunch now.

Bye-ee.