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Apple Goes After the Term 'Podcast'
Udo Schmitz writes "Earlier this year, Apple went up against companies using the word 'pod' in their product names. Now, Apple is going after the term 'podcasting'. Wired has the complete text of Apple's cease-and-desist letter to Podcast Ready." From the article: "Robert Scoble -- whose own company, PodTech, may be at risk in this witch hunt -- has weighed in on the issue by suggesting that the tech community as a whole adopt other terms like "audiocast" and 'videocast' (or alternately, 'audcast' and 'vidcast') to describe this type of content, while other folks feel that fighting Apple and generating a ton of negative press for Cupertino is the best solution. Our take? Apple should be happy that its golden goose is getting so much free publicity, and if it isn't, we know of several companies that probably wouldn't mind if zencast, zunecast, or sansacast became the preferred terminology."
and I never got the whole "I too stupid to understand what a podcast is" mentality.
why can't you guys see that "audio file + rss feed + support for chapter art and hyperlinks" is a combination that makes use easier in the same way that http made it easier than to manually ftp all the files on a website, and now rss makes it easier than http to check for changes?
to continue with the time magazine analogy,
We call it a magazine whether it was delivered to us in the mail through a subscription, or we picked it up ourselves at a news stand.
Is milk a different thing just because it was delivered by a milkman rather than bought at a grocery?
I really dont think so.
Do we have different names for mp3's that are downloaded via torrent, kazaa, ripped from a CD, or bought from an online store like iTunes?
NO.
Why should an rss fed mp3 be any different?
well, its simple really, because the self-important jackoffs who record them want to be special. Just like the self-important jackoffs who write blogs want to be special by having a blog instead of a weblog, or, *gasp* a website.
Oh, and to the people talking about how younger tech-savvy generations spawn lingo to separate themselves from the fogies? then how come my 78 year-old tech illiterate father knows what a podcast is? certainly not because he knows how it works or could set one up itself. its because its a term which has entered the general parlance, and hence is no longer a badge of separation between young and old.
now, rss feed on the other hand, is still greek to him....
so if you want to keep the fogies out, why not just use the proper fucking term for it and stop being such fucking wankers?
Come read my stupid blagablog. Rants and Giggles
How is a blog not a site where a person, or corporate entity, is able to opine on any topic they choose, post pictures, or links to any other sites they choose. How, in short, is a blog simply not a particular type of personal website.
One which, has admittedly become a very lucrative business model for some, but nevertheless is, in essence, just some jackoff writing his/her/their opinions about things.
yes, some blogs are very informative. Product review blogs in particular.
But still, its not journalism, and its not special. Following a particular format of website doesnt give you the mandate to create a label for yourself.
Yes, thats right, i said its not journalism. It isnt.
Journalism has standards, journalists have ethical criteria to which they must adhere. A blogger is some jackoff with a website. Does that mean that society derives no value from people operating outside the sphere of journalism? of course not. We always need people critiquing and offering alternatives to any established structure of power. But its kinof hard to be set up at an alternative to something if you're also claiming to be a part of that something.
I realize i got a little off topic there, we'd just been arguing about this very thing in the office 15 min ago.
Come read my stupid blagablog. Rants and Giggles