I can recall the day a friend of mine turned me on to podcasts, probably like 4 years ago on a trip to Charolettsville, VA. Back then I was fascinated and drank up all I could get. Back then though, it was not as easy as heading over to iTunes and subscribing with one click. Back then it was adding the podcast in some application like iPodderX or one of the scarce other ones. Then you had to load them into iTunes … in any case, it wasnt so easy until Apple got into the business and made it a one click deal.
In the beginning, all there was were technology podcasts before the mainstream players got in on the fun. One of my favorite back in the day was TWIT (This Week in Tech) hosted by Leo Laporte and his usual cast of characters, many of whom reported and did shows with him back in the dat on Tech TV. The shows were great, I learned a lot and couldnt wait until the next one was out and on the ipod to listen on the way to work. Along the way, Leo started to build a quasi network of podcast shows with over 14 on the slate as we write.
However, something has happened over the last couple of years, mostly the last 8-12 months I would say. I can’t quite put my finger on what has happened, but the era of the true tech podcasts are over I fear. It does make me a bit sad, as they are the ones that put podcasting on the map. I think some of the issue, at least with me, is the evolution of the news cycle and our access to it. Whereas I once waited to hear the new insghts and tech news on the popular podcasts, these days I am inundated with up to 5 blog posts on the very same topics in my news reader every day. So when it is finally time to listen to the most recent show, sadly it is old news. I have found myself listening to otehr genre’s of podcasts over the last year. I love No Agenda, and other NPR podcasts, along with different university lecture series. Recently I can even say that I completly unsubscribed to any of the Twit podcasts alltogether.
So I was not surprised when this post by Michael Arrington popped up about his recent appearance on The Gilmore Gang with Leo Laporte. Now I am not a huge fan of Arrington, but what happened was a bit shocking. Check out the video of the show clip where all went haywire.
A bit surprising, but as I watched it I couldnt help by have my thoughts turn the the very question I pose in the title of this post. Leo has spent a lot of time and money building what some might call a media outlet, all based around technology. I cant help but think that some of the underlying tension in Leo may just very well be the fact that this well is drying up.
It was actually really sad to watch, but seemed to me to be the icing on the cake, the nail in the coffin of what once ruled the iTunes podcast store. The mainstream shift is too strong as we are witnessing in other “outlets” now
