A lot of nerd sites at the moment are going ape of podcasting. They talk about it in terms of being able to download interviews off websites so you can listen to the website instead of reading it. The idea is a little like your own news radio station tailored to your interests. The whole thing sounds a bit like the push/pull technology Microsoft was screaming about in 1997/1998 (but this way is much more communal). Personally, I find using it for audio news a little lame as I’d rather use my mp3 player for music but I can read news on the train. For car commuters this could be extrememly useful.
If the big music corporations were thinking smarter they could use this technology for their own greedy gains. Imagine subscribing to the Sony music rss feed. Sony would use this site to promote new artists or new releases from established artists. Every night your cable internet connection would check to see if there were any new postings on the sony site and automatically download any new music. The next morning you get up and discover Coldplay have a new single out and although you don’t have the whole song, you have a sample and really like it. With a podcast feed Sony would have a way of directly marketing to interested parties with minimal outlay. Combine this mp3 download with text about concert tours and they have a ready made cash cow.
But I know they aren’t going to do this, so instead we’ll all get our music podcasts through illegal feeds of mp3 blogs and Sony, EMI and Virgin will have missed their chance.
Don’t be so sure the ‘big boys’ will miss this boat. I would agree that they are likely to let another opportunity slip but when the BBC & ABC (Australia) is trialling podcasting there is a chance the business world might just pick up ideas like yours and run with them. We shall see.