Get Ready for PodServe (and more)
Michael Arrington
24 comments »
Brian Oberkirch from Weblogswork gave me a demo of PodServe today. If you are a podcaster, or want to be, there are some features that you are going to be really interested in trying out.
As I see it there are three important features of note.
First, PodServe is a place where podcasters can host their podcasts for free. You simply create a channel and all of your podcasts are included. Brian interviewed me today (he’s an up an coming podcaster himself) - you can see the podcast interviews of me and others on his page here. As a podcaster, you can use this page as your main site, or you can simply point to the individual files in your own blog and they will be included as enclosures. Not only is this service free, but PodServe is also providing a RSS feed for the page (which you can use or not), and PodServe will also provide statistics and other tools to assist the publisher. Comments/reviews are also enabled on each site.
If you are a podcaster looking for a free place to host your files, PodServe is an excellent choice.
Second, PodServe also allows “social podcasts”. A channel can be created that allows a number of podcasters to submit files, and all will be included in the feed.
The third notable feature is really interesting. Users can create full public podcast channels that anyone can add their content to. Two great examples are Brian’s Naked Conversations Discussion (podcasts discussing Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s new book) and Alexander Muse’s Elevator Pitch Podcast, which is a podcast that any company can use to submit an elevator pitch. I’m considering using the service to create something similar to the Elevator Pitch Podcast for use by TechCrunch readers.
PodServe is just one product in a large new project called Big in Japan. Brian has been working on Big in Japan, along with Alexander Muse, for a long time now, and they are preparing to launch a number of the new products, including PodServe, at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin next week. If the other products are as interesting as PodServe, Big in Japan is going to be, well, big.
Note: This is the second post I’ve done with my new MacBook Pro, and it just keeps getting better. I’m seriously impressed with this machine. Macs are really, really cool.
hmm.. interesting set of tools..
I dont get this. Is podcasting an industry at all? Why is so much money being spent on this concept? Where will the returns come from? Advertisers will soon figure out the fact that “click throughs” cannot happen - so why waste time, effort and money?
Mike: glad you like PodServe. Lots of goodness to come when we get all the Big in Japan toolset built out and get additional interactions between the apps.
Also: Rodrigo Franco is the lead developer on PodServe and the rest of the Big in Japan project.
Where’s the value here to Podserve. It is long erm advertising dollars? How are these folks manking any money? At the end of the day, if there’s no monetization strategy, what good is a cool service (think dotcom boom).
Saul: PodServe by itself isn’t the play. Integrated toolset that simplifies life for prosumer bloggers. That’s when it will get interesting.
Darn it Mike! You had to start using a Mac just when I was getting ready to invite you to our new private beta site that doesn’t yet support Safari:-)
that’s ok…I still have a few PCs around the house to test software from companies not visionary enough to develop solely for the Mac.
web20guy wrote: “Advertisers will soon figure out the fact that ‘click throughs’ cannot happen - so why waste time, effort and money?”
Don’t forget that magazines, billboards, radio, and television don’t offer clickthroughs either.