Wednesday, November 23, 2005, 3:00:58 PM, Michael Sullivan wrote: > podcast is utterly the worst word that could have ever come out of > audioblogging and now videoblogging. i absolutely despise it. why? > because any term that references a specific product from a specific company > that is in no way exclsuive to what it is.... is wrong and confusing.
Maybe I'm being naive here. Or maybe it's a British vs American cultural thing, but to me the name "podcast" has already transcended the name iPod. And I never felt particularly that podcast implied iPod. The way I have always looked at it was that Apple decided to co-opt the existing, but bland, word "pod", and use it to coin a new, simple term for the more clumsy but popular "MP3 Player". They particularly needed to do this, otherwise the ability of their player to play MP3 files would be seen as it's major purpose, rather than Apple's aim of playing their own DRM format. So the community wins. We now have a new, simple, pronounceable word "pod" that describes a portable media player without reference to any format, medium or manufacturer. Hurrah! Best of all, the community is free to invent new words to describe things such as the process of subscribing and distributing media for such a player: "podcasting". Now, Apple (for whatever reason) like the prefix "i". So _their_ media player is called iPod. In the same way that their notebook computer is called iBook. I don't know what it's like where anyone else lives, but around here the overwhelmingly popular name for a media player is still "MP3 player". That's what seven-year-olds ask for for their birthdays. Apple's iPod range are just seen as (expensive and pretentious) examples among many. Bottom line, I'm happy to use "podcasting" and "podcast", and to distinguish as appropriate where medium or format is an issue :- MP3 podcasting, Quicktime video podcast, PDF podcast, or whatever. In most cases though, it's much simpler and just as understandable to just say "podcast". >> To simply add 'video' to podcast becomes a very simple >> way to extend what people already know. > wrong.. most people know podcasts as being internet radio... audio! so, in > essence, your saying adding video makes sense to prelude an audio term. > video radio anyone? Umm. Wasn't the word "video" itself merely some sort of contraction of vision and radio ? -- Frank Carver http://www.makevideo.org.uk ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/lBLqlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
