Podcasting has allowed us to now have radio in the palm of our hands. I think of podcasting as a talk show or radio show. However, when a radio station such as z100 has people talking for more than a couple of minutes, I will immediately change the station. This is because z100 is supposed to be playing music. I weirdly stay engaged in some podcasts because they are supposed to only contain talking. I like how podcasts have “the reach of a network and the intimacy of an instant message” (Steven Levy) since you can listen to it on your iPod, computer or car radio, to name a few.
I have been exposed to podcasts for a while now. Sophomore year of high school, my European history teacher had us listen to weekly British podcasts and Junior year, my AP chemistry teacher made daily “vodcasts” for us to watch and listen to. More recently, when I created a Twitter I chose to follow one of my favorite celebrities, Hunter Parrish. When receiving his updates on my Twitter, I noticed that he would post when he was live on “Two Guys and a Girl“, a podcast available on iTunes, as well. I enjoy this podcast because it is like a gossip and entertainment magazine or blog but transformed into audio. This podcast can be listened to live or at a time of one’s choosing, which is called “time-shifting” according to the Economist.
My sister once worked for Teen People. When she was let go and moved on to Entertainment Weekly, I asked her, what happened to Teen People magazine? She always said that magazines were constantly folding due to the internet. Now I finally understand why. New media is constantly evolving and new outlets of entertainment, such as podcasts, are taking over. Especially in this economy, who would want to buy a magazine when they can get the same information for free from iTunes?
Interesting that you brought up magazines folding and podcast information from magazines. I recently read that the magazine “Nylon” (one of my favorite magazines) has just set up a Nylon TV podcast. Although it is for the magazine, it puts up different things that they think their usual readers would enjoy. So it does not directly correlate with the magazine, so if more magazines did things that way, they would not shut down, perhaps.
I thought it was interesting that your sister said “magazines are constantly folding due to the internet”. I think that can be true because you can see what is in magazines on the internet. However, with podcasts, I do not think they are taking over magazines. Magazines engage the reader with pictures and text, whereas podcasts do not usually have pictures nor do they have text to follow. With magazines you read the magazine at your own pace and are able to flip through pages. Podcasts allow you to go back and replay them, but you have to listen to the same person’s voice over and over.