Damn you Greg Schwartz, for making me listen to your podcast to see what you had to say about me! Fascinating stuff, though once again I would have rather read it quickly than listened to it slowly. Greg on the other hand, probably liked getting to talk rather than type for a change. Plus, he has a mellifluous voice, so it was a painless and rewarding eleven minute intro to the podcast world, thanks Greg. I wonder if my “Why I don’t listen to podcasts.” pronouncements sound like my friends when they tell me they just don’t use RSS, or me when I explain why I don’t TiVo. There are two parts to these arguments I think
1) I don’t need the new technology to improve the experience I have [“I read blogs pages by page, who needs RSS?” or “I have an answering machine who needs voicemail?”] versus the subtly different
2) what the new technology brings me is something I don’t feel that I need in the first place [“I don’t need a cell phone.”, or “I don’t need an MP3 player.”].
There’s more room to move and convince in the first kind of argument than in the second. As for my personal choices, I have an answering machine, MP3 player, RSS reader and no cell phone, all pretty much intentionally.
This has more to do with technology adoption generally than podcasting in specific. Greg makes some really good points about the strengths of getting your news and/or new music this way. If you listen to a lot of radio, you should look into podcasting. The radio I listen to here has my traffic reports, weather updates and the status of the parking garage demolition. I’m sure over time I’ll be refining my “why I am not listening to your podcast” line like many people greet me with the “why I am not reading your blog” line but right now my answer is “I’m waiting for the local podcasters” Tell me if you find them.