Poll outcome: Do you listen to podcasts?

I say fair play to 'em. I especially like Dave Slusher's approach on his podcast, where he pimps iPodderX with so much hyperbole ("It will do your laundry. It will get you laid.") that you can't help but chuckle. Pre-recorded spots might get to be more annoying, but at worst they would give me a chance to practice my scroll wheel technique. In an ideal world, podcasters would sell only the products they really liked, and get paid for their efforts. (I wonder how many Senseo coffee makers Curry has sold today?) The diehards say that podcasting is all about "keeping it real," and I'd say talking about things you like qualifies.

I avoid listening to podcasts with ads. I do however contribute money to certain podcasts that I enjoy very much. I would rather podcasters find other creative ways to make money on their work and not pollute there casts with ads.

I have no problem with ads or with podcasts making money off of ads. I think those podcasts with colorful content will find the right advertisers for their audience, even if the search is not as easy. I used to listen to the DV Guys all the time and sometimes wished that instead of their 2 minute music breaks they'd put some industry advertising in there.

I don't have a problem with Podcasts including recorded spots for a sponsor. Pays the bills. I don't think it'll affect content -- a smart advertiser won't try to alter content, but rather, place his ads intelligently so the content aligns with the ad. If the Podcast is an adult-oriented podcast, it should have adult-oriented ads. The same goes for family material. I think common sense will take care of that potential problem.

Nope, I wouldn't listen to a podcast with ads, although of course I don't object to podcasters finding ways to make money off of their work. I just don't do things with in-line ads. I don't watch much TV, and when I do it is commercial-free or ad-skipped with TiVo. I only listen to non-commercial radio. I don't go to AMC theaters because of the ads either; after all they don't have any unique content compared to the theaters that don't show ads. (I'm not counting trailers; they are germane to film fans, and entertaining.) I don't have any problem with web sites, blogs, magazines, newspapers and the like with ads, because they can be looked at or not as my interests at the moment dictate. But in-line ads that are hard to skip are another thing altogether. The older I get, the less I am willing to waste my irreplaceable time on things which do not interest me, and ads are high on that list.

I wouldn't mind if podcasters starting dropping in ads, primarily because right now there is no way for them to force me to listen to them. Even if I couldn't fast-forward through the ads, I still wouldn't mind too much as long as there weren't too many of them.

I don't mind people making a buck out of something they like to do. I think we will see some people trying to "adapt" or "modify" their content to suit or get more advertising and I think, maybe, I wouldn't mind either, because then I'll know who makes podcasts because they want to and who does it for the money.

I think that it'd be ok if it was done well. The ad would have to be done in the same style of the podcast(no car ads with warning horns blaring in a podcast about classical music, as an extreme example), and probably done by the podcaster themself. The text would need to change for each episode, so that it doesn't get stale. Another idea is to put the ads in separate chapters and interleave them with the regular content.