Podcast Host WildVoice To Shut Down July 1
Jun 29th, 2009 | By Elisabeth Lewin | Category: Podcast Hosting, Podcasting 
Users of free podcast host WildVoice.com have been notified that the service will cease operation next month. The latest (and perhaps last?) post on the company blog states:
“We will no longer be supporting the WildVoice.com site as of July 1, 2009. The site will shutdown sometime on or after that date.
We’re sure you’ve noticed that WildVoice has not developed the type of thriving community that a free site on the Internet requires to survive. We’ve finally decided that we will not be continuing. You should take this time to download any of your shows from the site that you may not have copies of.”
When WildVoice debuted in 2006, it offered a free, unique Windows-based podcasting application, WildVoice Studio, and billed itself as an “online community” for creating, hosting, and sharing podcasts along with videos, photos, and blogs.
Not to sound like your mother, this should serve as another opportunity to consider how you archive, host, and broadcast your content. “Free” services are economical, but turn costly and aggravating when the service suspends operations. In the case of podcast host Podango last winter, content creators were given about three days’ notice (over the holidays) to back up and move their shows.
As podcaster Paul Colligan said at that time, “Don’t just BE THE MEDIA … OWN THE MEDIA. Handing your content over to someone with a seriously flawed business model (and you know my feelings about Podcast Networks) with no plan of escape is as lame as launching a business with a seriously flawed business model and promising a world that you can’t deliver.”
Have you had the experience of losing your podcast host? How did you handle the situation?
Another victim of people believing in the economics of “free”? This also just might be a sign of the times tht podcasting companies just can’t keep giving away services that cost them money, as I saw that you also tagged the post “Podango”
full disclosure: I am currently under a part time contract with Blubrry, which may be considered a WildVoice competititor
Great quote by Paul Colligan
I’m still amazed at how many people have their web presence on a “rented” blog such as BlogSpot.
That’s why I no longer post on Blogger and I pay for my podcast hosting site and for my wiki site.
Free is all well and good, but its not sustainable over the long term.
I’m not sure that WildVoice was ever intended to be a Blubrry competitor. In 2005 when we started WildVoice, our goal was to build a site primarily for people who wanted to post and share audio, but who did not necessarily see themselves as Podcasters. We set out to make it super easy for anyone to create an audio post and share it through podcasting technologies.
WildVoice was never a great answer for people who see themselves as media producers who want to sell advertising around their weekly show. Blubrry (with its original focus on advertising) or Libsyn (with its focus on media hosting) always seemed more targeted at serious podcaster than WildVoice.
I always thought that Odeo or Podomatic were more in line with the vision of WildVoice. WildVoice’s differentiation was our great recording tools and the integrated hosting they provided. WildVoice users never had to know anything about FTP or XML or RSS in order to create a show and post it to the site. It was all done seamlessly by the software.
Of course, the elephant in the room for all of us looking provide casual sharing of media was YouTube.
So, I think free sites still have their place. Sometimes you want to just post something fun and link to it from a social network. You may not expect to do a scheduled show and develop an on going audience. Some WildVoice users grew to become more serious about Podcasting and some stayed with WildVoice and posted fairly regularly (http://www.wildvoice.com/RonNasty/Posts). But for the most part, the people who posted on WildVoice didn’t think of themselves as professionals or content owners. They were just having fun.
By the way, WildVoice Studio for Windows XP will still be available for download. Take a look at
http://wildvoiceblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-can-i-get-wildvoice-studio.html for details.
I’m not sure that WildVoice was ever intended to be a Blubrry competitor. In 2005 when we started WildVoice, our goal was to build a site primarily for people who wanted to post and share audio, but who did not necessarily see themselves as Podcasters. We set out to make it super easy for anyone to create an audio post and share it through podcasting technologies.
WildVoice was never a great answer for people who see themselves as media producers who want to sell advertising around their weekly show. Blubrry (with its original focus on advertising) or Libsyn (with its focus on media hosting) always seemed more targeted at serious podcaster than WildVoice.
I always thought that Odeo or Podomatic were more in line with the vision of WildVoice. WildVoice’s differentiation was our great recording tools and the integrated hosting they provided. WildVoice users never had to know anything about FTP or XML or RSS in order to create a show and post it to the site. It was all done seamlessly by the software.
Of course, the elephant in the room for all of us looking provide casual sharing of media was YouTube.
So, I think free sites still have their place. Sometimes you want to just post something fun and link to it from a social network. You may not expect to do a scheduled show and develop an ongoing audience. Some WildVoice users grew to become more serious about Podcasting and some stayed with WildVoice and posted fairly regularly (http://www.wildvoice.com/RonNasty/Posts). But for the most part, the people who posted on WildVoice didn’t think of themselves as professionals or content owners. They were just having fun.
By the way, WildVoice Studio for Windows XP will still be available for download. Take a look at
http://wildvoiceblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-can-i-get-wildvoice-studio.html for details.