Apple filed a patent January 9 that describes a method for automatically creating customized podcast mashups from various podcasts.
Here’s the Abstract on the Patent from Apple
Improved techniques to facilitate generation, management and delivery of personalized media items for users are disclosed. Users are able to influence or control content within a media item being personalized. In one embodiment, personalized media items are podcasts. Users are able to influence or control the content in or with a podcast. In other words, a podcast can be created in accordance with a user’s needs or specifications so that the content within a podcast is customized or personalized for the user.
What Apple is proposing is allowing users to sample/ take portions of multiple podcasts that meet their interests, and download a combined podcast that includes the specified extracts requested. Think like an RSS reader where you get bits from multiple sites, but in audio.
In the image above, the user would pick content from a list, and that content would then be combined in the single podcast.
From the patent application again:
Besides the predetermined categories shown in FIG. 4C, the dialog screen 480 includes a custom button 482. Upon selection of the custom button 482, a user can be assisted with another dialog screen to create a category of content, namely, media content, that is to be included within the custom podcast. For example, in the case of sports, the user may desire to create a category that is specific to their interests. For example, the user may request to receive sports highlights from the weekend during the NFL season regarding specific teams or teams in the Eastern division. As another example, the user may desire to receive statistics regarding games played during the past week in the NFL.
Where it gets more interesting is the way the data is retrieved. The natural assumption is that this aggregates short form podcasts (which it will do as well), but the patent talks about stored podcast characteristics, which may tie-in with Apple’s patent for “Podmaps.” A Podmap is not unlike a sitemap, but obviously for audio, and would specify what was in a podcast when. In theory this new patent could extract audio from a larger podcast per the specs in the Podmap and place that audio in a new custom podcast besides material from other podcasts.
It’s a neat idea, but sampling data from an audio track would bypass things like preroll advertising in a podcast which may undermine the blossoming podcast advertising market. That said if this was to take off, what we would more likely see is more short form niche content that includes the ads, and possibly a downturn in longer podcasts; one hour long interviews don’t make for great sampling in a combined customized podcast as Apple is proposing with this patent.
(via Apple Insider)
At first glance, doesn’t seem like something consumers will jump for joy over. Will it really make a big difference in my daily web life? Nah.
it’s another patent they own that stops others from creating that though
Interesting! I once mentioned something like this but image it in this way. You grab the podcast for say a morning radio show type podcast. One where you would have talking and you would want to have music breaking up the podcast. Problem is, you can’t put Main stream media in a podcast, can you! So, instead the system (like this one described) would allow you to take section 1, then pick a song from your library (maybe suggested by the shows owner/producers), then section 2, another song, Section 3, Another song, so on and so on.
This way shows that work better with music breaks could take on Music. I don’t see why adding music to these self created podcasts would be technically impossible (there just another audio file) and if you had already bought it off iTunes, apple would know about it and make it available too you.
Wow, interesting!
Molly
Further to my comment, notice this point in the document:
“[0055]Further, a personalized podcast could contain other content. For example, advertisements can be presented on the media playback device, such advertisements can be provided between requested content segments and can include one or more of text, audio or video. Also, a media playback device might be able to concurrently output the requested personalized podcast content as well as other content (music, ads, etc.) during certain segments. ”
They stole my idea! Oh well, I could never have pulled it off anyway! Go Apple.
Molly
PS. How much are Apple paying the TV show House for product placement? Man the iPhone place in the last episode wasn’t even trying to be suttle!
@Dallas: C’mon…You’re faulting Apple for filling a patent, objecting because now someone else cannot come up with the idea and patent it themselves? Does this arguement make sense? Who then should file patents?
I agree you can’t come down on apple for putting a patent on something they created. That is just good business
It seems to me that apple has a bit of a patent troll streak, they seem to have a team dedicated to patenting everything they can possibly think of. It may just be good defense though, make sure that they don’t get sued by patent trolls.
Isn’t this what stitcher does?
This is not worth the bits it duplicated on my screen with.
It is ether to general and cannot really be held up, or most likely has already been tried and experimented with by web 2.0 companies.
Try ing to apply for a patient on how to eat spaghetti is as stupid as this also sounds.
James
I had a podcast called The Cubicle Escape Pod (cubicleescape.com, it’s still a live site) in which we were doing this back in June 2005. We called our technology Modcast. Our system would allow listeners to toggle on segments of our show and receive a custom tailored version. We could even target a subset of listeners or individuals. We used it a few times to respond directly to listeners regarding their email feedback. We also used it to create a public (non-register) version of the show and a registered user version– the registered version had more content and less talk about registering on the website. There were a few other podcasts doing it around the time we were. I believe we were the first to do it.
To the post above - it seems that’s many people think of great ideas before these big corporate bigwigs do but if they are the first to put their actual name on it, then it’s rightfully theirs. They sure have the money and people dedicated to filing these patents!
not a great idea, does not warrant a patent.you do not need patent for silly stuff. this is one of those.
Just thinking about a side point on this one - if a user can go to iTunes, select five podcasts and have bits taken from each of them and put into another podcast - how much will Apple have to compensate programme makers for lost revenue?
A large number of podcasts are now starting to be made with bigger budgets and are getting advertising to cover costs - if a user can just extract bits of that show and put it into an audio file with another - the original podcast producer won’t get the ad revenue they deserve as their download numbers will drop due to combined podcast - or am I missing something?
Also - I doubt companies like CNN and Sky would want their content stripped and put somewhere else.
More interesting would be a way for users to create their own ‘podcast playlists’ or ‘virtual radio stations’ where they can select their favourite 10 podcasts, record audio to introduce each one and put it out there as a virtual station - a way for newcomers to podcasts to discover shows they might like easily.
Jonathan (10), my first thought on reading this post was “Prior art, the Cubicle Escape guys were doing this long ago”. SEO Journal, I believe your statement is incorrect, prior art does not just have to be patented works, it can be things that are just “out in the wild”, but I believe they have to be working things, not just ideas. Now, if it becomes Cubicle Escape Pod versus Apple Inc. in a patent dispute, there’s no contest, but if a company with pockets as deep as Apple’s wants to go head to head with Apple, they could point at Cubicle Escape as prior art.
Of course, I am not a lawyer, and everything I have just said could be wrong.
people did that in 2003 using ecasound scripts. bleh.
.~.
If this is dependent on a “podmap”, and if those will ignore pre-roll, internal or post-roll ads, why then would someone publish a podmap?
Gotuit has had this technology for years. Apple should look at that company. http://www.gotuit.com
There’s lots of prior art about this topic. It’s a long way from patent filed to patent granted.
“lots of prior art”? Like who other than “The Cubicle Escape Pod” and “Gotuit”? 2 != lots. Anyone care to elaborate?
“lots of prior art”?
Well for one, Foneshow built a prototype of exactly this on our cell phone delivery platform for audio. But we didn’t think it was particularly original.
The best example of prior art; this is a less abstract version of My Yahoo.
Podzinger does the sampling piece.
This is patent lawyers out of control.
Ya, it is My Yahoo, the patent states text, audio, or video as a source.
Another update, Odiogo would also be prior art in the context of RSS as the source, and text to speech as the output with embedded ads.