Silly Survey Sunday: Should TUAW Have a Podcast?

I say no. As others have mentioned, podcasts are impossible to search, very slow to "read", and have no mechanism for linking. It's a great format if you want to listen to people blabber about a specific topic, but it's a horrible format for getting lots of information in a short time, which is really why we're all reading TUAW and other blogs in the first place. (...as I glance at the long list of RSS feeds in my news reader...) The main problem I have with podcasts (other than being a kneejerk anti-trendy kind of guy) is that unless you're very careful to duplicate everything from your podcasts, there's likely going to be things ONLY covered on your podcast, which us actual readers will miss. So yeah, skip the podcasts. I'm sure it's fun to post MP3's of yourself talking about Apple stuff, but while you can talk faster than you can write, we read MUCH faster than we listen. And we can do it much more easily at work. :)

Mixed opinion. Recently I prefer to browse the web. It's faster and less maintenace. While I do like podcasts, my iTunes library & iPod are so cluttered for a variety of reasons: I need a podcast app which will load my iPod once a week and delete all previous files with 2 clicks. Some promise, but nothing works as good as it could. Is there a perfect simple solution? Names & tags. Most podcast file names are a mess, and tags could be better. Podcasters are tagging inconsistent causing an iTunes nightmare. Also a filename like "shortname20050509" couldn't be easier to keep things sorted. Instead we get files you cannot sort chronologically on your ipod with 32+ character names you can't read ... Don't get me wrong. I like podcasts in general, but it should be hassle-free. Until then my enthusiams is average.

Nah. I for one think that podcasts are a complete waste of time. That's all I'm going to say.

I SAY YES

Neh Who has the time to listen to someone without doing something else meanwhile? Let me read content and skip the parts I'm not interested in, let me read at my own tempo

A podcast would be OK if: 1) It starts out as a weekly or monthly summary. 2) You actually say something. Many podcast hosts simply like to hear themselves talk. Content is king (where have I heard this before).

LOL @ C.K. ;) "I would enjoy it only if there is a lot of swearing and fighting and yelling..." Me too!!

if it is done like the original engadget podcasts were done with just a couple of guys hanging out and talking tech that would be cool (on macs and made like an at home one) don't do the radio style kind that seem to be popping up, i had to delete engadget from ipodder cause i can't stand the new format and find the loudness of the radio effects extremely annoying other than that keep the cast short and make if weekly say no longer than 10-15 minutes so it can be downloaded in a reasonable amount of time

No.

I would enjoy it only if there is a lot of swearing and fighting and yelling (but don't hurt my ears). I actually don't dig podcasts because I haven't found a solution elegant enough for me, but sometimes I just listen to the mp3s when I'm surfing.