The iPod Has Nothing To Do With The Radio Star

This article makes the incorrect assumption that the iPod was the first ground breaking device in the portable media player (PMP) realm. The Creative Nomad predates the iPod by several years, but the Nomad just didn’t happen to have the same unwarranted “hip” appeal that Apple brings to underwhelming products. Either way, as the article contends the podcast phenomenon is not strictly tied to iPods, even though the highly contentious name (even Apple doesn’t like it) suggests it’s an exclusive feature of the iPod. In fact, Apple has gone out of it’s way to try and prevent others from using the term Podcast with some legal enthusiasm much to the displeasure of it’s loyal supporters. Laughably enough, Apple has even gone so far as to claim to ownership of the copyright on the term “pod”. As others have echoed in regard to this same article, I honestly don’t see the appeal of listening to talk radio even if it happens to be on demand. If I wanted to listen to people talk I’d just turn on the regular radio which has plenty of mindless banter already. Simply providing me with a new way of listening to a plethora of equally uninteresting podcasts does not seem all that revolutionary to me. Podcasts just seem like a new trend for anyone geek enough to find them interesting or useful.