Jared White
Read my lips:
An audio show that can only be played in an Apple player on an Apple device is not a podcast.
An audio show that can only be played in Spotify is not a podcast.
Repeat ad nauseam for any other proprietary audio show platforms.
A #podcast is an #RSS feed with enclosures of audio files which are playable across the whole ecosystem of podcast players.
Any reporter who reports on exclusive audio shows and calls them “podcasts” are doing a grave disservice to their audience.
Mark Gardner
Rokosun
@jamescridland @jaredwhite There's no point in arguing about semantics. For me the real issue with Spotify exclusive podcasts is that I can't access them from my favorite podcast player (@AntennaPod). So this is an issue of accessibility and freedom to choose how you wanna listen. This is why platforms like Spotify is known as a walled garden, not supporting open standards like RSS was a deliberate decision to keep people locked onto their platform & apps.
James Cridland
@jaredwhite I'm doing my job, mate.
Jared White
@jamescridland I'll have to strongly disagree with your conclusions on this. Companies like Spotify do not get to redefine what the word "podcast" means any more than some random company can just decide what a "website" is.
And no, some audio show that's exclusively on YouTube or BBC or whatever is *not* a podcast.
The reason the public is confused is because (some) tech journalists aren't doing their damn job.
James Cridland
@jaredwhite And, in case you want a rather more considered view, here is a couple of hundred words from this reporter on why I say that. https://podnews.net/article/definition-of-podcast
James Cridland
@jaredwhite As a reporter who reports on exclusive audio shows and occasionally calls them podcasts, I would humbly ask you to consider putting the audience's views first.
Arne Babenhauserheide
@jamescridland I assume that I’m not your audience then, because I would not touch any of those exclusive shows with a pole — and the apple-only ones would not let me touch them.
If you want to know why, see https://www.defectivebydesign.org/
If you say podcast to spark my interest and then say “but you can’t listen to it”, then I’m out.
Arne Babenhauserheide
@smagnussen "why bother…?" because this is about power.
The meat and milk industry in Germany understands that: you’re not allowed to label an oat drink as "oat milk" in a shop.
Similarly our public tv and radio actually provide podcasts. If you listen to them, you automatically have local archives.
If they only provide "podcasts on <locked down platform>", the content disappears within weeks (for legal reasons) and you cannot re-listen to it.
Stefan Magnussen
@jamescridland @ArneBab @jaredwhite
So I think you are both right and wrong. Of course you can take offence at the corporate takeover of the market, we all do, but holding on to the originality of terms seems quite conservative to me and is a bit reminiscent of debates about oat milk or vegan schnitzel. Sure, there's no meat in them, but they look like it, taste pretty similar and can be processed in identical ways. Why bother with someone calling it a Schnitzel?
(3/3)
Stefan Magnussen
@jamescridland @ArneBab @jaredwhite
Look, I am a historian focusing on castles. I could certainly object 90% of the times you call something a castle. It took me years to learn that both views - expert and public - can coexist. For my professional debate, a tight definition is crucial. For everyday use, however, it is of no use whether it was actually a walled farmstead or manor house. It certaianly looks like a castle and can be experienced as such - just as it was intended!
(2/3)
Stefan Magnussen
@jamescridland @ArneBab @jaredwhite
There is some chance that some of you guys wrote their message on a telephone - even if their device is unlikely to have anything to do with what our parents or grandparents once knew as such. Still, it's arguably only people in the phone industry who are bothered by someone calling their smartphone a telephone, because it simply doesn't matter to the general public that it's technically a completely different device.
(1/3)
James Cridland
@ArneBab @jaredwhite Just today, as a fine example, more research was released. https://riverside.fm/reports/2023-annual-report claims "38% of consumers prefer YouTube as podcast player".
Now, I don't believe YouTube contains a single "podcast" personally, but if 38% of consumers prefer it as a podcast player, then the ship has sailed, and we should all go and spend our lives doing something more constructive than arguing about a definition.
(Perhaps: arguing the benefits of removing walled gardens!)
James Cridland
@ArneBab @jaredwhite Perhaps you misunderstand (or you'd just like to have an argument).
I agree that walled-garden content is bad. I'm not trying to sell you a podcast.
I am merely reflecting in my writing that, in common parlance, a podcast is purely a piece of on-demand (audio) content. That's a fact, driven by bucketloads of data.
I don't like it either. But that's how it is.
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