Podcasting Has a Bad Name – Not!
Jun 9th, 2006 | By James Lewin | Category: Audio Podcasting, Commentary, StrangeMark Ramsey, president of hear2.0, thinks that podcasting has a bad name, and thinks we should change the name to (drum roll)……………audiomag.
“Podcast is, when you think about it, an absolutely horrible name for the technology,” writes Ramsey. “We don’t watch a TVcast, we watch a TV show. We don’t listen to a Radiocast, it’s a radio show or a radio station. And much of podcast listening isn’t even done on an mp3 player, let alone an iPod.”
To which we say, “Audiomag?”
- Narrowcasting, which is like podcasting, except with a more targeted message;
- iPodcasting, which is like podcasting for iPod elitists;
- Nanocasting, which is like podcasting to a tiny audience for money;
- Bodcasting, which is like podcasting, except with pictures of Playboy Bunnies instead of audio;
- Zencasting, which is like podcasting, except that you’re Creative and can’t say “pod”;
- Tivocasting, which is like podcasting for TVs;
- Audcasting, which rhymes with podcasting and means about the same thing;
- Pudcasting, codcasting, sodcasting, scrodcasting and (we’re starting to make these up now) spudcasting.
According to Ramsey, “hear2.0 has found that only 30% of Americans have even heard of ‘podcasting’,” suggesting that the name is holding back the technology.
That seems like a very cup-is-half-empty way of looking at things.
30% awareness is very impressive, given that the technology is just a couple of years old, and that it didn’t really hit the mainstream at all until a year ago. Recently, Feedburner’s Rick Klau said that podcasting was being adopted at an unprecedented rate, noting “in less than two years, the number of podcasts available online is tenfold that of DVD titles in nearly half the time.”
Sorry, Mark, but it’s “podcasting”; “audiomag” stinks; and “hear2.0” sounds like a trendy name for a new line of hearing aids.
Leave naming to the marketing gurus. It’s podcasting already!
