Mark Ramsey of Hear 2.0 thinks that podcasts should be called Audiomags. His reasoning is:
"Podcast is, when you think about it, an absolutely horrible name for the technology," writes Ramsey. "We don't watch a TVcast, we watch a TV show. We don't listen to a Radiocast, it's a radio show or a radio station. And much of podcast listening isn't even done on an mp3 player, let alone an iPod."
OK, Mark - fair enough. Explain "audiomag" to me then. We don't watch a Picture Box, we watch TV. We don't listen to an Audio Box, we listen to a radio. Never mind the fact that we don't listen to magazines at all.
While I'm open to calling podcasts whatever the heck anyone wants, arguing that the name of a product or action being present in the name only makes sense when you're proposing something different. Introducing a name that connects the sense used to partake of the medium and an otherwise utterly different type of media is meritless.
Back to work, Mark!
We don't watch a Picture Box, we watch TV.
And what exactly does "TV" stand for?
Television.
Tele - remote
Vision - picture
That said, podcast has some buzz. I suspect it will become like kleenex and xerox, brands that fall into common usage and lose their specific brand association.
Posted by: Erik | June 11, 2006 7:07 AM | Permalink to Comment