The traditional radio as you know it today - Reshet B, IDF Waves, Galgaltz and the like - is about to pass away from the world. The reason, as always, is the appearance of a new player on the stage: the podcast. Here's everything you need to know about the next revolution
First, what is a podcast.
A podcast is an audio file - usually in mp3 format - that contains a normal radio program, like any radio program you are used to. What makes this routine file a 'podcast' is the way it is distributed: the listener subscribes to the radio program, and receives the program's audio file on his computer as soon as it is published, automatically.
Here is a tangible example. My podcast show is called 'Making history!', and she deals with science, history and technology. Every two weeks I record a new episode of the show, and upload it to the web. The next day, a listener who subscribes to the program sits down in front of his computer, runs the appropriate software - and my new episode arrives on his computer. He doesn't need to go to the show's homepage, he doesn't need to remember that every few days a new episode comes out: if there is new content for the show, the new content will reach him. This principle is exactly the same, by the way, also for video podcasts, and not only for audio.
Now that the listener has the audio file in their possession, they can choose how they want to listen to it. He can listen to it in front of the computer, or download it to his portable mp3 player and listen to it while he's googling, or burn it to a disc and listen to it in the car in traffic on the way to work.
You know, I used to hate traffic jams. I was busy constantly looking for ways around the traffic. I would pick a car from the other lane and measure at any given moment which of us crawls faster.
But since I discovered podcasts, everything has changed. There is a certain BBC radio program hosted by a scientist named Dr. Karl that I really like. He's funny, he's witty, he's smart - an excellent show. The only problem is that this show is broadcast in London, and not just in London, at three in the morning. If Dr. Karl's program wasn't broadcast as a podcast on the Internet, I would never have been aware of its existence, but today I am able to listen to it when I am stuck in traffic. Since then, if someone in front of me in traffic moves too fast, I honk at him - slow down, where are we rushing?
Some will ask why podcasts are needed at all. After all, there is a regular radio that you can listen to anywhere!
My favorite program on the radio is 'Historical Hour', with Professor Michael Har-Segur. 'Historical Hour' has been broadcast for almost thirty years (!), on Fridays at seven o'clock. Think about it, thirty years, every week. Hundreds and thousands of episodes over the years - and I've heard at most thirty of them. And this is my favorite show! Why did I listen to so few episodes? Because on Friday at seven o'clock my family eats Friday dinner. You know how it is with Friday meals: not only are they not to be missed, I'm also sitting in the same place at the table I've been sitting at since I was four.
So it's true, there is regular radio - but a podcast is an upgraded and improved radio. The podcast is to regular radio what the cell phone is to the landline: it enriches it, expands it and makes it more accessible. Like the cell phone, the podcast will gradually replace regular radio, all thanks to that wonderful invention, the Internet, where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents.
The podcast has other advantages that are worth mentioning. Podcast advertising, for example, is highly effective advertising. When an advertiser buys airtime on radio or television, he doesn't really know how many people have been exposed to his ad. He can pay tens of thousands of shekels for the advertisement, but just then something interesting happens in "Survival 2" and everyone changes the channel. True, I know what you are thinking to yourself - what nonsense, nothing interesting happens in 'Survival 2'. But with podcasts, the advertiser has perfect control over his campaign: he can know exactly how many people downloaded the audio file to their computers, and understand if his advertising really hits the target or if he might be throwing his money away.
Think for a moment about all the time we waste in our lives. I go to work every day, half an hour each way: that's an hour a day, five hours a week, two hundred and fifty hours a year. I can listen to Galgaltz on the way to work: that amounts to two hundred hours a year of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, fifty hours a year of traffic reports that are repeated every day, and thirty-five seconds of oriental music.
Alternatively, I can listen to the UC Berkeley podcast, for example, and use those dead hours to acquire two hundred and fifty hours of academic education in any field I choose - astronomy, biology, medicine, etc. Think about it: two hundred and fifty academic hours. This is equivalent to several full semesters. If I am a photographer I can listen to programs about photography and expand my professional knowledge. If I'm a chef, I can listen to programs about cooking, and if I'm a politician...then I don't really need an education.
Podcasts have existed in the world for a total of five or six years, but they are already causing a huge revolution.
Leo LaPorte, for example, hosts a podcast called 'This Week in Tech', a very popular weekly technology show. The worst thing that can happen to a website is that Leo recommends it on air: one hundred and fifty thousand listeners try to access the poor website at the same time, and the server immediately crashes.
Leo LaPorte had a TV show that dealt with exactly the same content. The production cost of the TV show was tens of times higher, the number of crew members was ten times greater, and the number of listeners was half as low. This is the revolution generated by podcasting.
Here in Israel this field is in its infancy, and only a few thousand people have heard of podcasts or listen to them - but I believe that this situation is going to change soon. In the big world there are hundreds of millions who listen to podcasts, podcast listening rates increase by tens of percent every year, and there is no serious institution that does not have at least one podcast: CNN, Disney, Scientific American, NASA and the list is endless. All the signs indicate that we can expect similar success in Israel as well.
This article is a script for a lecture given at the meeting "Science on the cutting edge" At the Icon 2008 conference.
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A new lecture has appeared on the audio-didact website "waiting in traffic jams" on the subject: the psychology of persuasion.
http://www.audio-didact.co.il/?p=2893
There are dozens more fascinating lectures, all free to download and listen to!
Pleasant listening.
PS - Ran I always enjoy receiving updates of comments from this excellent article.
Thanks
I put over 160 recordings of a historical hour and several courses of a broadcast university on a web server.
Those who are interested should look at the "Historical Hour Listeners" page on Facebook.
Does anyone know how to download the broadcast Del University lectures?
I got to know the lectures while driving one day and was hooked, but I can't find any way to download the episodes so I can listen whenever I want. I understood that they are not ready to release the episodes for download because of copyright or something like that. Would appreciate help…
eitay_z@walla.co.il
Thanks
There is an Israeli website for free download of lectures in a variety of fields.
From today no waiting in traffic jams, it's time to wait in traffic jams!
recommended!
http://www.audio-didact.co.il
My brother studied all the books for his graduation in literature by listening instead of reading :-S which is the worst side of all this hot technology and its derivatives.
Ren, I am a regular listener to your podcasts. Fascinating, and well presented.
rise and prosper,
Jacob
There are audio books -
audiobooks
which are books recorded on MP3.
Same principle, only it's not broadcast on the radio.
Allows you to use every free minute of the day to listen to interesting books or lectures.
For example, when washing dishes or doing other housework - listen to your favorite book. I could wash dishes all day in this condition.
Even when going to the gym or stuck in traffic or riding the bus or any other dead and unused time that does not require an investment of thought.
Really highly recommend.
for 13 and 19. Precisely because everything is based on MP3, if you are able to play the files on a system that is a bit sophisticated, you can change the playback rate. Windows Media Player for example, gives it.
There are also programs that will allow you to change the tempo and then save again as a normal MP3, so you can play the files on any standard player.
Every student at the Technion knows that when he watches recorded lectures from home, it is advisable to move the tempo by 1.2 and sometimes even up to 2 times. This is a very simple, effective solution and it is possible to complete more lectures at the same time (:
Successfully
Well done Ran, for your contribution to the scientific community, you deserve an award!
I can say that I am a fan of your work.
Well done!
Another issue following 13 - I encountered a similar situation with AUDIOBOOK, the reading was slow and frustrating, and my decision to listen to Asimov's Mossad series while traveling went to waste.
Thanks again to the commenters.
For those looking for quality podcasts, it is recommended to contact the 'Galaxy Podcast Guide',
A link to which can be found on the main page of my website- http://www.ranlevi.co.il.
For the Berkeley podcasts, here is the address:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php?semesterid=2008-D
Select semesters on the top right. To listen, click on the yellow sign on the right side of each course (in the audio column). You receive links to download each lesson separately.
Regarding the speed of my speech in the show: Thanks for the review, Tal, I took it to heart. I would appreciate any suggestions and ideas for improvement!
Anyone who has a question about podcasts, where you can find them, how you can start your own podcast, etc. - feel free to contact me by email. ran.levi@gmail.com
Let's hear,
Ran
Laren - do you have a link to the UC Berkeley podcasts?
My favorite podcasts for all science lovers
Skeptics guide to the universe
skeptoid
this week in science
The big question is where exactly can you find these podcasts, of Network B, etc.? Google does not answer…
Everything is true, but, until every car has direct communication to the Internet, the procedure of downloading to the player, etc. is too cumbersome
Ran, I've had the chance to listen to several of your podcasts in recent months, and the content itself is very interesting, but your slow speaking is very, very disturbing, almost after every word, you pause, it's quite annoying, maybe try to speak a little more continuously without so many pauses between words ? (Really, no offense intended, but this slow motion in speech really bothers me)
"The Internet, where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents."
I would make a sticker out of it!
to Ren
A view of a project, and it's nice to find the articles and the broadcast segment all under one roof.
What's more, publishing long articles on the science website interrupts the articles at a certain point
Thank you and good luck
Doron
Definitely agree with the author! Good to hear about the new development! I've been listening to books in headphones on the go for years. And many times I don't want the trip to end (the last one I heard was 80 days around the world - nostalgic and entertaining). Recently, I started learning Arabic with the help of an MP3 and a small booklet that I bought especially for traveling to work by train.
Today, when we are all so busy, who has an hour and a half free time a day to read a book? Or learn something new (and not practical! Like a new language or history) only on public transport friends! And beneficial for the environment!
I have come to a situation where traveling by private car is seen as a waste of time! Drive for an hour and a half or study/read for two hours!? (PR always takes more time...). And if you have to use a private car, then the podcasts and the audio box are the solution for you!
Let it be interesting for all of us!
Where do you download podcasts from?
Ran,
Thanks for the interesting article. I agree with your opinion about travel. In the past year I traveled every day from Haifa to Nahariya and back, and on the way I listened to lectures by The Teaching Company - a commercial company that provides CDs with recorded lectures from university courses on a variety of subjects. I did almost ten courses this way, and the way became a pleasure. As you write - I started to like the traffic jams on the way.
I wish ads would die
Thanks to all the responders.
Regarding the matter of the advertisements: the advertisements actually go over well in podcasts (this is what happens
Now in practice in the USA). They must be short (no more than thirty seconds) so that the listener does not want to move them forward, but there is no problem if this is and it works in practice, as mentioned.
Let's hear,
Ran
The Internet, where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents.
It's nice, but probably won't replace regular radio broadcasts. Who would want to hear news on a podcast?
Besides, who the hell would want to download an advertisement file to their computer?! Advertisements will die.
There is something close called an audiobook, and there are lectures and classes that can be downloaded (...) in this format.
I usually choose trucks or buses, they stand out more and besides, it's hard to remember after an hour in traffic what color car you chose.
Finally useful science 🙂
Ran - I enjoy reading your column here!