More on the Busines of Podcasting

Business Week's Jon Fine took on the issue of the business of podcasting in a recent posting. Mr. Fine made the observation that some questions about the medium remain unsettled, especially advertising:

"But it's not clear if listeners will ultimately regard podcasts the way they do downloaded songs, in which case an ad is unwelcome, or as a form of radio, in which case it's acceptable."

Jon even mentions the recent release of Wordcast from Audible.com, a listener tracking service which is getting the old 'look-down-their-noses-at-such-insanity' reaction from many of the old-timer podcasters (old-timer, meaning anyone who has been podcasting for more than say, about 8 months).

For what its worth, I've been flip-flopping on the advertising issue, like any good politician. At first I thought people would rebel - "what, listen to ads on a PODCAST!??" But now, I think people will simply accept it as the cost of getting free unique content, which they're NOT getting on mass media.

The success of podcasting shows that those millions of iPod owners are starving for good content, whether its music, tech-talk, sex talk, wine talk, goof-ball talk, original music or interviews with cool people.

So we might as well give it to them, and let the sponsors pay for the freight, like any other medium.