But the real fun is finding the homemade ones, the amateur attempts made in somebody's basement with a laptop and a microphone. These can be unpolished and quirky, with plenty of dead air and "ums," but that's their charm. Podcasts, in other words, are the audio version of blogs - the Web logs, or daily text postings, that made up last year's hot dinnertime conversation.Yeah, sure, it's the charming, fumbling writing style of blogs that we like so much. It seems to me that what we like about blogs is the pithy writing style -- how they cut right to the quick and tell the truth. By the same token, I think what we want in a podcast is to hear some people who are really good at talking, saying interesting things and saying them well. In other words, podcasting, like blogging, shouldn't be an amateurish, relaxed step down from MSM, but a freer, sharper alternative.
July 28, 2005
"Unpolished and quirky, with plenty of dead air and 'ums.'"
What are we looking for in a podcast? The NYT writes:
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8 comments:
I don't know from podcasts, but you're spot-on when it comes to blogs. Sloppy writing is bad in any medium.
I'd be interested if any Althouse readers have podcasts that they follow on a regular basis. I tried listening to them for a while and I actually enjoyed some of the techie ones. It's sometimes a lot of fun to listen to knowledgable people chat about tech subjects... sorta like channel surfing and landing on TechTV (RIP) to listen to a couple of guys expound on the newest video cards or some breakthrough in quantum physics. But these things were not produced on a reliable basis and some of the episodes were unlistenable. I listened to a couple of humor-based podcasts such as Dawn&Drew but I found it too creepy to listen to some married couple talk dirty for a half-hour.
There are sites which supposedly rate podcasts but they seem to be dominated by staff that are mainly interested in podcasts about podcasting and Mac computers. I like keeping a few podcasts handy to listen to on car trips or while doing household chores... but for now it's just too much trouble.
Rick: I'm launching a podcast project in a week or so.
Kenny: "Well-spoken" is your term, not mine. I said "good at talking." I think Dawn and Drew are really good at talking.
Pre-written scripts tend to be bad. You do want to hear conversation, especially to gain entry into an intimate world of conversation that you are normally excluded from.
Like you, I care about content. Remember, I originally said, "I think what we want in a podcast is to hear some people who are really good at talking, saying interesting things and saying them well." Without the "interesting things" to say, it's not going to be good. You seem to be assuming there's a conflict between saying things well and being spontaneous. The good podcasts will be made by people for whom these two things don't conflict!
"Quirky" I like. I like digressions and free associations. As to "polished" -- there's more than one way to think about that. Some roughness is texture, some is boring. I've heard too many podcasts where people are just bumbling around and have nothing to say. By the same token, I've heard many speakers who are completely speaking spontaneously and being eloquent. Is that "polished" or not?
While I agree that "what we like about blogs is the pithy writing style -- how they cut right to the quick and tell the truth," I think part of the appeal of blogs is also the honest and personal voice they're written in. We like that they're "unpolished," not in the sense that they're poorly written, but that they haven't been reviewed by countless editors, layers, or PR folk.
Similarly, when we hear a podcast that is obviously amateurish, and not polished to maximize every second of airtime like professional recordings, we feel more inclined to trust its frankness.
Whether or not that trust is well placed, however, is another topic.
Chris: Yes, freedom from editors is a big part of blogging.
Ann, IMAO has a podcast.
Best of luck with yours.
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