In Over Your Head

iTunes blindness

This week, Apple is featuring one show that hasn’t updated in 8 months, and another that hasn’t updated in almost a year. Explain to me again why they hold the reigns of podcasting.

Now, Dave Winer started working on a podcatcher. Should you care? Definitely.

Apple is now the barrier to entry. Though podcasting is a space where we wanted to wipe out the gatekeeper, we’ve handed the keys to Apple, instead– a company notorious for keeping secrets and suing bloggers. How did this happen?

Meanwhile, there are other podcatchers in the shadow of iTunes that give over 60 subscribers EVERY DAY. Nobody knows about them because Apple keeps your drooling over the next gadget to impress your friends with.

iTunes is like the sun– it blinds you if you stare too long. Stop focusing on them, and you’ll see: there are opportunities everywhere.

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Comments

8 responses to “iTunes blindness”

  1. Joseph Thornley Avatar
    Joseph Thornley

    Julien,
    You are so right. Our world is diminished as we all rush to the common solution.

    But darn. It’s hard to say no to iTunes when they bring out beautiful things like the iPod Touch and the iPhone. It’s remarkable how people just ask to touch and play with one of those the first time they see them.

    So, choice is important to innovation. But great design matched with adequate function dampens the urge to exercise that choice.

    Reply
  2. Justin Simonsen Avatar
    Justin Simonsen

    I wouldn’t hate iTunes so much if the itpc feed could be used in other catchers like Juice. Podcasting needs an industry standard that everybody sticks to.

    I look forward to Daves new app. I’ve been running Juice for years now.

    Reply
  3. CT Moore Avatar
    CT Moore

    F**king eh! But seriously, we could use something BEYOND the podcatcher to push podcasts before they become just another format that the MSM leverages to sell advertising. Then again, the grand-daddy of RSS is probably on that already.

    Reply
  4. Andre Avatar
    Andre

    Julien,

    Agree with you here. I asked Kent from Ask a Ninja at Pixelodeon in June how he felt about vlogging’s “gatekeepers,” ie iTunes, and his response was “I like those guys a lot.”

    Hah.

    Justin,

    “Podcasting needs an industry standard that everybody sticks to.” Isn’t that RSS 2.0 with enclosures?

    Reply
  5. Leesa Barnes Avatar
    Leesa Barnes

    As I said in one of my posts, if iTunes were a woman, I’d put runs in her stockings.

    I hate iTunes, yet iTunes is the language that my clients understand. What’s a girl to do?

    Reply
  6. CT Moore Avatar
    CT Moore

    Had to come back and vent one more time. iTunes is acting shady over my content. Sometime it’s there, sometimes it isn’t. Makes you think how Lenin, Mao, and Castro all went form revolutionaries and visionaries to just another set of despots and tyrants.

    Reply
  7. Jackson Avatar
    Jackson

    I was thrilled to see (and ultimately listen to) your latest podcast. It was a nice surprise to see you had done a new show. Try not to lose the momentum. I’m sure you’re busy, and you’d like to be inspired to create a new show, but sometimes forcing yourself to do it a couple times is what’s required to get you back on track and feeling more inspired/motivated on a regular basis.

    Keep up the great show. I’m a long-time listener and am looking forward to the next show.

    Reply
  8. Podcamp Boston: Please, don’t let Leopard take over

    […] say about this, but let’s keep it brief instead: Don’t let this company, the one that took a cash-grab at podcasting, bring the hype into our community […]

    Reply

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