NPR’s All things considered , has a very interesting piece on Podcasting in China.
Like everything else Internet-related in China, podcasts are exploding in popularity. From film parodies to pornography, audio and video downloads are pushing the boundaries of the law and decency.
There is any interview with Irishman Ken Carroll started podcasting Chinese lessons just over five months ago. His learn-with-Ken podcasts now attract more than 10,000 visitors a day, making it China’s No. 3 most popular podcast show. Quite amazing.
Another interesting story is about the video spoof of an epic film by Chinese director Chen Kaige. His movie, The Promise had a cast of thousands and cost $40 million to make. It took one 32-year-old 
sound engineer just four days to turn the film into a laughing stock. He re-edited the movie into a 20-minute parody, titled The Bloody Case of the Steamed Bun.
Hu Ge, the spoof creator, said he never intended it to become an Internet phenomenon. The film “was very bad, so I thought it would be fun to parody it. When I finished my video, I gave it to friends. They passed it around and eventually it ended up on the Internet.”
A copyright violation or true media democracy ? What ever you say, it sure demonstrates the power of user generated (or should I rather call it “user edited content” ?) content and the power of word of mouth. Now no movie director is safe anymore, if people don’t like your movie, they’ll just make their own version or it., and who know perhaps even a better one..
Tags: NPRÂ Tags: All things considered Tags: Podcasting Tags: China Tags: Ken Caroll Tags: Chen Kaige Tags: The Promise Tags: The bloody case of the steamed Bun Tags: Hu Ge Tags: Word of mouth Tags: Consuer generated content Tags: Film Tags: Movie Tags: Media
Today when I when to the gym to for my daily dose of self-inflicted pain, I was listening to The Chris Evans Show (a weekly radio show from BBC‘s Radio 2, also available as a Podcast) on my iPod, when it just occurred to me why I love Podast’s and what I love about Podcasting. Simply because I love Radio – and have always done. Podcasting has simply made some of the best radio shows available for download and consumption at anytime. So then, what makes a good Podcast? There are so many Podcast available out there, and to be honest, most of the are quite boring unless you love to hear to geeks talking for 40 minutes about RSS. Most Podcast’s simply lack either an entertaining voice or good enough sound quality to make listening worthwhile. But while I was listening to Chris Evans, I realized that what makes a good Podcast:
- an interesting, engaging and entertaining VOICE
- humour
- an interesting subject
Most podcasters unfortunately fails here – the are simply dead boring and don’t understand the value of the VOICE. My favourite Podcasts at the moment are:
- The Chris Evans Show – because it is so fun & entertaining
- The Daily Source Code – entertaining & Podcast relevant content
- Shrink Rap Radio – Psychology meets Podcasting, top quality content
- NPR’s On The Media – great weekly media round-up
- In The Groove, Jazz and Beyond -a fantastic jazz Podcast
- NPR Books – interesting book reviews
- For Immediate Release – Good update on what’s cooking in the PR world
Although Podcasting like blogs has opened up the world for anybody who has something or noting to say, and in that sense lowered the barrier for publishing, I believe that very few will be make it in the long run. Just like blogging in the near future probably will be a part of the traditional media, I think the professional broadcasters will be dominating the future of Podcasting. However, there will be some “amateur podcasters” that will break through thanks to the democratic broadcasting tool Podcasting is, but they will eventually be snapped up by the big media guys and join the traditional media establishment. But again, they will make it because: they are entertaining, engaging and has a great voice…
Technorati Tags: Podcasting, Podcast, Chris Evans, Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, Radio, BBC , Jazz, Shrink Rap Radio, NPR, Books, FIR
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