Podcast.com News

For a good recap of the action and preview of what’s to come, we made a couple new channels for both last week’s Democratic National Convention podcasts and this week’s Republican National Convention podcasts.  Check them here:

• Republicans: rnc.podcast.com
• Democrats: dnc.podcast.com 

In case you didn’t see it before, we also have an (archival) channel for Barack Obama podcasts (does McCain do podcasts?).  Or check our previous update on the Politics of Podcasts from early 2008.

We just tabulated your Top 25 podcasts on Podcast.com for the month of July! The Top 25 is representative of the podcasts you are listening to and watching on the Podcast.com website. As was the case last month we had eight new podcasts in the list this month, and six of those podcasts were in our Top 25 for the month of June.  Looks like you have been consistent in the podcasts you want.

Will there be a new eight (or more? less?) new podcasts in the Top 25 next month? If your favorite podcast is missing from this list, all you have to do is listen to it or watch it on the Podcast.com site for it to make the Top 25 podcast list for the month of July.  For now, here’s the Top 25 podcasts for July with the new entries into the list in bold letters:

1. World Soccer Daily Podcast
2. CNN News Update
3. Dictionary.com Word Explorer
4. Open Source Sex
5. Voices from the 2006 ACLU Membership Conference
6. Oroscopo di Leonardo.it
7. NOVA (PBS)
8. Geek News Central Podcast
9. 60 Minutes Podcast
10. Midwest Teen Sex Show
    
11. Slate Magazine Daily Podcast
12. Disney Channel Shorty McShorts’ Podcast (Video)
13. Scott Mills Daily
14. SuicideGirls Radio
15. BBC Global News
16. Sex is Fun
17. Filmspotting
18. Best of Chris Moyles
19. ABC World News (Enhanced Video)
20. AP NewsPulse
21. CNET News.com Daily Tech News Podcast
22. ESPN Radio Daily Podcast
23. Face the Nation
24. Fetish Flame
25. French Maid TV

These podcasts dropped out of the Top 25 this month:

• MSNBC News Headlines
• Flipping Channels
• Get Laid Radio Show
• New York Times Music Popcast
• CNN Marketplace Update
• Il Ruggito Del Coniglio
• BBC NewsPod
• 60/20 Sports with James Carville and Luke Russert

Flipping Channels, an audio podcast from us folks at Podcast.com, just turned 10 — meaning we just finished our tenth episode, a feature on our nonprofit channel. If you haven’t tuned in yet, FC is a 6-10 minute podcast that features a particular channel on Podcast.com, and we excerpt three unique podcasts that represent the variety of shows you can find on that channel.  We produce a new podcast every two weeks on all sorts of subjects from comics to eco issues to food.  Learn more at the Flipping Channels site on Podcast.com.

A recent marketing study revealed that businesspeople who buy computers and related equipment also listen to podcasts.  Go figure!  Podcasting, technology and business will always be intertwined.  As for you, you’ll find plenty of ideas for your next tech purchase through the Podcast.com Tech channel, and see how other businesspeople are using that technology through our Business channel.

Here’s a great example of podcasts being used in the preservation of culture: the Gujarati Literary Council (Gujarati Sahitya Parishad), an institution for the promotion of Gujarati literature, is using podcasting to make Gujarati literature accessible to the Web generation. Gujarati is the native language of the Indian state of Gujarat, was the original language spoken by Mahatma Gandhi, and is the 26th most spoken native language in the world with 46 million speakers worldwide. The Parishad recently began uploading video podcasts of readings by Gujarati authors and poets to the Parishad website. A member of the Parishad said, “Our sole purpose is to popularize Gujarati literature, and technology seems to be the best medium to reach out to the Generation Next. It is only through them the Gujarati literature can be preserved.”

We’re debuting an audio podcast produced in the Podcast.com studios.  It’s called Flipping Channels, a twice-monthly production that samples three podcasts you can find on one of our channel pages.  Here’s what it’s all about:

1. Focusing on a different channel every other week
2. Excerpting episodes from three different podcasts per FC episode
3. Being brief enough (under 10 minute per episode) to fit into a listener’s weekly schedule
4. Spotlighting podcasts outside of traditional media
5. Highlighting podcasts that may not be known by the masses

Sound good to you?  Check it out and send us feedback if you have comments.

The Guardian, the popular UK newspaper and website, is reporting how members of the 2008 Olympic games in China might be victims of Internet censorship by the Olympic committee. This is a story for us because it involves podcasting: athletes (or “persons accredited at the games”, which includes media and Olympic staff) won’t be able to take video or audio of their experiences while at Olympic competitions, and therefore can’t make audio or video podcasts.

Internet censorship in China has long been a sticky subject, with debate as to how the government regulates Internet usage of its citizens, but this decision has been made independently by the International Olympic Committee — therefore it only seems ironic that this issue is / will be based in China. We’re anticipating a lot of podcasts about the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and we were definitely hoping for any podcasts about action in the trenches, on the fields and by the racing tracks at the Games.

We now hope this issue brings light to Internet censorship, and to how audio and video taken by anyone is just as important (or moreso) as the ‘journalism’ a newspaper, radio station, or magazine would provide. The dictionary says journalism is “material of current interest or wide popular appeal”. Sounds like a podcast by someone at the Olympics would have wide popular appeal, wouldn’t it?

An online marketing company named eMarketer just estimated that 18.5 million people listened to or watched podcasts last year, up from 6.5 million in 2006.  That’s quite a jump if you ask us.  Combine a growing podcast audience with the fact that more and more podcasts are being made and you have a global trend that expects an audience of 65 million people in 2012.  In early 2006 eMarketer predicted the worldwide podcast market would hit 25 million people in 2008, and it looks like we’re on our way.  You can do your part to help that trend by telling your friends and family about Podcast.com and how they too can enjoy podcasts for work and play.  Everybody’s doing it!

If you do, you have your chance — the New York Times is looking for some people to record audio at the various political primaries around the United States on “Super Tuesday”, when citizens in many states around the country will be voting for who could become the next American president.  If you live in or around one of the following states — or are interested in traveling for this opportunity — check this link for more information:

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California (Northern & Southern)
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Massachusets
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
North Dakota
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Utah

April.  It’s one of the most nerve-wracking months of the year for many Americans.  It’s when good citizens submit their tax returns to the government and hope (pray) they got some money back — or don’t have to pay too much.  (I’m getting this shivers just thinking about it.)  To alleviate your pain, your good friends (really?) at the IRS put together a podcast that details how to make sense of it all, whether you’re filing your taxes as an individual, business, student, etc.  You can subscribe here.