Internet Broadcasting Makes A Comeback

Mark Leaman writes "About six years ago I founded an internet broadcasting company called GT2K (Gametalk 2000) which featured Real Audio based radio shows on gaming in all its incarnations (table top, strategy, computer...). During the dot.com "plague years" we saw hordes of internet broadcasting companies belly up. But now internet broadcasting is making a comeback thanks to Podcasting. Although Podcasting isn't new news Yahoo has some nice coverage on the re-emergence of the medium."

Comments

NPR's coverage of Podcasting

[bigtallmofo]

NPR had a recent story on podcasting. They interviewed a guy that would record his commute to work every day and then put it on a web site so that people could then listen to his musings on their IPods. Scintillating.

Re:NPR's coverage of Podcasting

[ShamanDave]

There is some useful information available via podcast too. For example, Air America Radio makes The Al Franken Show and The Majority Report available via podcast in case you can't catch them at their regular broadcast times. Unfortunately, they overcompress the shows a bit.

wolfFM.com

[SamSeaborn]

Internet broadcasting was on a down-trend?

Wierd, I listen to wolfFM.com and local talk radio over the internet everyday. Have done so for years.

Sam

Re:Not "Broadcasting" (on-demand)

[turnstyle]

Warning! Plug coming up...

Personally, I'm more into "on-demand" playback rather than "broadcast" -- that's why I built Andromeda -- it turns your folders and files of MP3s (OGGs too) into a complete browsable/streaming site (needs PHP or ASP)...

P2P Streaming

[popo]

I'm not sure PodCasting is creditworthy when it comes to bringing back web broadcasting.

If any technology or trend is responsible for the rebirth of web broadcasting, it is undoubtedly P2P Streaming (like PeerCast.org).

I can't figure out why p2p streaming isn't getting more hype than it is. I downloaded my first P2P streaming client about a month ago, and was pretty amazed at both the quality and the possibilities.

Re:P2P Streaming

[tunabomber]

Maybe because:

1. There aren't that many P2P streaming stations.

and

2. Streaming is overrated.

Seriously, the main reason streaming exists is so that the content provider can force you to watch/hear commercials and make it harder to watch/listen to the same 'cast twice.

I think if we could timeshift every piece of media we watch at will, timeshifting will be the rule rather than the exception. After all, why the hell should we adjust our life to the schedule of a broadcaster?

PodCasting/streamripping/TiVoing are just hacks that allow timeshifting despite the fact that most of our media is streamed. Combine all this with Bittorrent and it'll be a lethal combination for the content industry as we know it.

In the future, I can imagine having a MythTV-based PVR that I can tell which shows I want to watch. It would then search the net for .torrent files for these shows, and if it can't find them, it'll record the show into an .avi and publish a torrent for everyone else's enjoyment.

Re:P2P Streaming

[popo]

I'd have to respectfully disagree on two fronts.

First off, you're taking streaming to mean sequential songs or shows, whereas streaming simply means "you watch as you download" (typically with a slight buffer).

P2P streaming essentially offers video-on-demand (or audio on demand) while skirting bandwidth related expenses.

Secondly -- with regards to timeshifting being better than a broadcast (not that timeshifting doesn't rule) I'd have to say that I'd rather listen to a commercial free audio broadcast than timeshift my music. First off, timeshifting audio is a pain in the ass, and secondly -- a good commercial free music station (and I emphasize the word 'good') is how I learn about new music. I'd rather have the variety.

P2P streaming essentially restores the promise of what internet broadcasting originally set out to be. Granted, it has succeeded by skirting the law, but more importantly it has skirted the costs involved as well.

online radio made me stop downloading mp3s

[novakane007]

I listen to Digitally Imported Radio (DI) every day. In fact, since I have something always available I rarely download music anymore. It's simply more convienent to just tune in than it is to go searching for what I'm interested in.

Yahoo! and RIAA killed net.radio, not dot-bombs

[Anonymous Coward]

During the dot.com "plague years" we saw hordes of internet broadcasting companies belly up.

This had little to do with "dot com" ("dot.com" is redundant) failures. Internet broadcasting failed because Yahoo! bought out all the major net 'stations' to merge into its net.radio project - which it then killed itself through gross mismanagement once every competitor had been acquired. It still exists, and it still sucks.

After this 'coincidence', the RIAA attacked every remaining net.broadcaster viciously; the preponderance of "stolen" radio broadcasts was their major propaganda line about the net pre-p2p mainstreaming. This law, which was completely an RIAA creation, is what killed internet broadcasting, not some ambiguous economic situation.

Narrowcasting it is.

[Anonymous Coward]

Admittedly a lot of this is like a lot of blogs and not of very great moment. But there is a lot of other stuff that you cannot get any other way. Try http://www.itconversations.com/ for some really good stuff. Conferences you couldn't go to, in depth interviews with authors (40 minutes rather than 5) and The Gilmore Gang which I wait for each week.

Also there is stuff from the BBC which I am unlikely to ever hear on this side of the Atlantic plus NPR stuff that isn't carried on my station.

Two of the more important points of the podcast are that is like Tivo, you listen when you want to and you can listen when you are unhooked from the network (i.e. in a car).

Shasradio, radio that listens to you.

[sukotto]

I want my Shasradio back. Shas, where are you?

Shasradio was one of the original listener-driven internet radio stations. (No link since the domain no longer exists). Listeners rated songs either as they played or by browsing through the playlist database. For each block of 5 songs, the station chose 3 or 4 of the highest rated songs (based on the user ratings of whomever was *currently* listening), a request (if any), and 1 or 2 "no votes yet" songs (to keep it fresh).

I loved that station and felt really bad when it went under (lack of funding).

Shas, if you're out there, any chance of reviving it?