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Shel Holtz
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Like podcasts? Pass on the iPod Shuffle

Apple Computer unveiled its latest iPod product at MacWorld, the iPod Shuffle, a flash MP3 player about the size of a pack of chewing gum. The Shuffle mounts as a hard drive on your computer, and its AutoFill software automatically chooses songs from your music library. You decide how much of the space is allocated to music and how much to data. AutoFill loads the part designated for music.

For those who listen to podcasts, this approach renders the Shuffle useless. According to an article on Internetnews.com, podcasting innovator Adam Curry noted in his Daily Source Code podcast, “Apple hasn’t picked up on podcasting because they are thinking about how things work from Apple to the rest of the world. They are not seeing what is happening.”

Indeed. The basic iPod model is already only barely adequate for podcasting, and many listeners are opting for alternatives such as the media player from iRiver. While no company has produced a podcast-centric device (podcasting is too new for such a device to have undergone the product development cycle), Apple seems to be going in the opposite direction. As Doc Searls notes in the Internetnews.com article, “Navigating inside a long podcast—and many are very long—is difficult even with a regular iPod, as it is with all players. So, rather than fix the one feature that’s lame about the iPod, they eliminated it completely.”

What do podcasters want in an MP3 device? A lot:

  • The ability to bookmark a spot in a podcast so you can easily return to it later
  • The ability to move through the various parts of a podcast and get just to the part you’re interested in
  • WiFi connectivity, so you can get your podcasts wherever you are
  • The ability to record directly to the device (the iRiver features this), desired mostly by podcasters

Podcasting is gaining steam and will go mainstream this year. Somebody will be well-served to offer a device that accommodates them.

06/22/05 | 17 Comments | Like podcasts? Pass on the iPod Shuffle

Comments
  • 1.I have to respectfully disagree with you on this. First of all, Curry's comment had nothing to do with the design of the iPod but rather with the fact that Apple hadn't done anything to capitalize on podcasting and support it with software tools.

    Second, the basic iPod model is hardly "only barely adequate for podcasting." Granted, it would be nice to be able to bookmark spots but that's a fault of the fact that podcasts are delivered as MP3s rather than a fault of the iPod. And as far as navigating through a long podcast is concerned, it's extremely easy on standard iPods to scrub through a song quickly. You can also fast forward or backward by holding down the skip buttons (a feature most iPod owners are oblivious to), which presumably you can do on the Shuffle as well.

    Finally, the way I see it the Shuffle is designed to function as the equivalent of a digital radio, with the addition of pause and skip buttons. Podcasting is designed to be the equivalent of time-shifted radio to some degree, so the two will be a natural match for each other for SOME people.

    Granted, the Shuffle isn't perfect (it needs a way to mark tracks of interest for later review) and it won't be for everyone, but I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say that it's useless for those who listen to podcasts.

    Craig Patchett
    The GodCast Network at godcast.org

    Craig Patchett | January 2005 | San Diego, CA

  • 2.I have a 40gig 4G iPod, and when I download podcasts, I always convert them to "Bookmarkable AAC" format before listening (except in the case of podcasts that only run a minute or two in length anyway). This way, the iPod will keep my place when I shut it off, just like when I listen to an Audible.com book or an iTMS audiobook.
    I also record all the radio shows I want with Audio Hijack Pro into Bookmarkable AAC, so that they have the same feature.

    The only that Apple really needs to add, IMO, is some method of creating one's own "chapters" within a B-AAC file.

    (It also wouldn't hurt if more podcasts would offer this format as an option to begin with.)

    Johnathan | January 2005

  • 3.I appreciate your comments, Craig. I've had a 30-GB iPod for over a year and must admit I'm not wild about it. As a listener to symphony, opera and jam bands (an incongruous mix, I know), I am frustrated every time I hear the gap between tracks that should be seamless (and was seamless on my last digital media player). I also don't like having to store music on the hard drive instead of going direct to the player. I don't like the fact that the iPod doesn't mount as a hard drive. Other things about Apple bother me, like the inability to play iTunes-purchased music on other players. Imagine buying a CD at Good Guys and discovering it won't play on a CD player bought at Circuit City.

    The problem with the Shuffle, as I understand it, is that you don't select the music that's put on it -- it automatically pulls tracks. If that's the case, how could you select the podcasts you want to hear? Do you have to wait for the Shuffle to get around to randomly selecting them?

    As podcasting evolves, I'm sure a player will emerge designed more for it than three-minute tracks. The iPod certainly works -- I use mine for podcasts. But there's certainly something better waiting down the road.

    Shel Holtz | January 2005 | Concord, CA

  • 4.Jonathan, I don't know the AAC format, but I'll certainly look into it.

    Shel Holtz | January 2005

  • 5."The problem with the Shuffle, as I understand it, is that you don?t select the music that?s put on it?it automatically pulls tracks."

    This is false. One can point the Shuffle at a dedicated playlist with audio files of your choosing. One can also turn off shuffling of the playlist, playing everything in order. The iPod Shuffle is actually very well suited for podcasting, especially if one uses Bookmarkable AAC as the file format.

    Random | January 2005

  • 6."I don?t like the fact that the iPod doesn?t mount as a hard drive."

    Actually, the iPod can be mounted as a hard drive. You simply have to turn that on in iTunes preferences.

    Random | January 2005

  • 7."What do podcasters want in an MP3 device? A lot: The ability to bookmark a spot in a podcast so you can easily return to it later"

    Create or convert your files to Bookmarkable AAC. I also use Audio Hijack to do this, recording NPR and other internet radio stations for my podcasts.


    "The ability to move through the various parts of a podcast and get just to the part you?re interested in"

    You can "scrub" through files with the iPod or iPod mini; sadly, the iPod shuffle won't do this as it requires a screen to set the scrub point.

    "WiFi connectivity, so you can get your podcasts wherever you are"

    My PowerBook has AirPort (802.11 g, a.k.a. Wi Fi) and Bluetooth which I can use with my cellphone to connect to the internet at EDGE data speeds. I'm happy enough letting my PowerBook gather all my shows with Audio Hijack and using the iPod for playback only.

    "The ability to record directly to the device (the iRiver features this), desired mostly by podcasters"

    This can be accomplished with third-party hardware. For example, the iTalk works for this:

    http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/italk/

    Hope you find this information of use. Best wishes.

    Random | January 2005

  • 8.lets take these one by one...

    The ability to bookmark a spot in a podcast so you can easily return to it later... Mp3 does not support this feature, podcasting will need to adopt a new audio format for this to happen.

    The ability to move through the various parts of a podcast and get just to the part you?re interested in... Hold down the skip or back button, this acts as fast-forward or rewind.

    WiFi connectivity, so you can get your podcasts wherever you are.. Most of the places I go don't have WIFI, so we need more than a player with WiFi, we need ubiquitous wireless internet access.

    The ability to record directly to the device (the iRiver features this), desired mostly by podcasters... The iPod shuffle does not do this. (the larger iPods do this out of the box, however)

    Keith Simmons | January 2005

  • 9.I appreciate everybody's comments. For a PR-focused blog, it's interesting that more comments come in a post about the iPod than any of the posts about communication!

    Keith, the bookmarking issue is this: I'd like to be able to bookmark my spot in an podcast (or audio book) so I can leave it, listen to some music, then pick it up just where I left off. Right now, I have to note the time, the fast-forward to it when I come back to it. It works, but not anywhere near optimally.

    I travel about 1/3 of the time, and it's easy for me to pop into a Starbucks (and many hotel lobbies have WiFi as well), so that would work fine for me.

    As for recording, I want to record my voice -- do my podcast directly into my iPod. As for recording music without storing it on the hard drive -- how do you do this? I have a 30-GB iPod and haven't been able to figure this out.

    Shel Holtz | January 2005 | Concord, CA

  • 10."I appreciate everybody?s comments. For a PR-focused blog, it?s interesting that more comments come in a post about the iPod than any of the posts about communication!"

    You got linked to my some Mac oriented sites. This is my first time here. I followed a post from a blog I read in NetNewsWire that led me here. The idea that the iPod or iPod Shuffle was unsuited for podcasting was so contrary to my own experiences I had to comment.


    "I?d like to be able to bookmark my spot in an podcast (or audio book) so I can leave it, listen to some music, then pick it up just where I left off."

    This is exactly what happens when you use Bookmarkable AAC as the file format. I do this all the time -- listen to a segment of a show, like Wait Wait Don't Tell Me that I record using Audio Hijack, switch to music, come backlater and pick up where I left off.

    "Right now, I have to note the time, the fast-forward to it when I come back to it. It works, but not anywhere near optimally."

    I "scrub" through files on my iPod when I come across a commerical or something I want to quickly go through to get back to the show. This is different from the bookmarking feature. I didn't realize the Shuffle could scrub, but the other comment in this thread seems to say that is so.

    "I travel about 1/3 of the time, and it?s easy for me to pop into a Starbucks (and many hotel lobbies have WiFi as well), so that would work fine for me."

    You might be in a fairly unique situation. with my 20 GB iPod, I have about 10 GB allocated for music, and more space allocated for about 6-10 hours of recorded material. Again, I use Audio Hijack to record internet streams, and NetNewsWire to pick up podcasts, which I then convert to Bookmarkable AAC format using an AppleScript that automates this through iTunes.

    If I'm in a Starbucks with Wi-Fi, I'm likely to want to check my email, etc. in addition to iPod related stuff, so for me, my PowerBook is the conduit to the internet to gather things, then a quick hookup to the iPod updates that for the rest of my day.


    "As for recording, I want to record my voice?do my podcast directly into my iPod."

    As mentioned above, the iTalk will work for this with the regular iPod. The iPod Shuffle is too new to have anything for it, and the lack of a display for control may make this difficult. Nevertheless, I see *creating* podcasts as different from *consuing* podcasts, and for the latter the shuffle should do fine.


    "As for recording music without storing it on the hard drive?how do you do this? I have a 30-GB iPod and haven?t been able to figure this out."

    I'm uncertain of the question here. Could you clarify?

    Random | January 2005

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