Blubrry.com – YAPD not ready for prime time
Blubrry.com was launched in beta recently. Blubrry is a yet another podcast directory.
I did my duty to try it out, and it is not yet ready for prime time. Adding casts to “mycasts” didn’t work and the rendering was screwed up using Internet Explorer. Todd Cochrane is the guy behind Blubrry and I hope it gets working better for him. Todd is the guy who got the Tech podcasting network started and has been very active getting podcasting networks off the ground. Blubrry seems like another attempt at getting a network model off the ground.
I’m all for something like this working, but so far all these networks seem to be focusing on creating benefits for advertisers, not listeners. I know the advertisers want to be able to deal with a small number of aggregators so they can spend their big bucks and the aggregators can parse out the money to the real workers, the podcasters.
But what’s in it for the listeners. I’m looking for quality content in genres that interest me, not general unfiltered stuff for everyone.
I wish Todd and crew well.
July 5th, 2006 at 2:18 am
First of all the site is not a directory and will never be a directory. It is a Community Podcast site for Listeners with listing requirements. Do you see any advertisments on the site no. Do you see people interacting with podcasters already Yes. This site is designed from the ground up for listeners and I am not sure what version of IE you used as all pages are rendering fine in IE. I am unable to duplicate what your talking about on the Mycast page as well..
July 5th, 2006 at 10:51 am
Well perhaps I miss the distinction between Community Podcast site and a directory. As I see the site, it has categories and tags with podcast listings for me to browse. Users submit listings to categories and it looks like they get posted into the directory (or community podcast site if you prefer). Whether the site has advertising or not isn’t what makes it a directory.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with a podcast directory site and I think it’s great that you want to help podcasters advertise, but the site seems focused on the podcaster not the listener. DP has had this problem as well.
I think that in the future we will see communities of interest that are organized around topics/genres integrate focused podcast directories into their sites. So if I have a great sports community site, I integrate a sports podcast directory into the site. Enabling this is one of the things that we are working on at the Open Podcast Directory Application project http://www.openpodcastdirectory.org
As for the rendering problem, I’m using IE6. The middle div box on IE6 drops out of sight when you go tags page or a detail page. Here’s some screen shots if you
want to see more:
firefox version:
http://www.digitalpodcast.com/podcastnews/img/newsimage/blubrry2-firefox.png
IE6 version
http://www.digitalpodcast.com/podcastnews/img/newsimage/blubrry-ie6.png
As for the Mycast page, I assume that when I click on add/remove button for a podcast it should show up in the subscription list on mycasts – but it doesn’t.
In this screen shot you can see I have hit the add button, but nothing shows up in the subscription list( and I did reload the page to make sure) – I assume that’s how it should work
http://www.digitalpodcast.com/podcastnews/img/newsimage/blubrry-mycast.png
Hope this helps you get it fixed.
July 5th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
I’ve been trying to understand what need a site like Blubrry is trying to fill. I’ve emailed Todd and left a comment on his site. I haven’t received an answer from Todd to my questions. I just don’t see what a podcast listener like me will get out of Blubrry. I realize that it’s only a Beta, but I have to wonder just how many podcasts Blubrry will attract to it’s network. For this to work, it has to have a large amount of podcasts on board. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I’m what you would call a very active podcast listener. With that said, the only podcast I regularly listen to that is part of the Blubrry network (not directory) is Geek News Central. None of the shows I listen to are members of Blubrry. I’ve never even heard of the Blubrry member podcasts I’ve seen so far. Even if I did, I didn’t see links to add the shows through iTunes.
I also don’t understand the spelling of the name. I understand it has something to do with the fruits of labor, but to purposely misspell the name of a website dedicated to audio content seems … strange. When you are told to go to blubrry dot com while listening to a podcast, where are you going to go? Before I actually found the correct website, one of the sites I stumbled on tried to change my home page and I was flooded with popups.
I too have the same problem when I use IE to look for podcasts on Blubrry. The middle column drops all the way to the bottom of the page. It looks okay in Firefox.
I hope that Blubrry is very successful. Anything that helps promote the medium of podcasting is a good thing.
July 6th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Alex,
You’re missing the point on Blubrry. Todd has said all along that they wouldn’t just be loading Blubrry up with podcasts. Each podcast producer enters into an agreement to be a part of and support the community. And unlike directories Blubrry supports a podcaster’s own branding.
I don’t see where you’re going with the “benefits for advertisers” comment either. There are no ads on the site so people are clicking on podcast links and not banners for online gambling, minute rice or adsense. Perhaps you are a bit biased given that you would prefer people utilizing this space as opposed to Blubrry.
As far as bugs go there are a few. But the site was released as a Beta and the team is soliciting feedback. They’re taking the same approach that many tech companies do these days. Even Google releases with some bugs because the community can shake out more bugs than just a few testers.
I have no stake in Blubrry other than being a prolific podcaster who welcomes models that are geared towards helping podcasters get heard while allowing them to retain the rights to their content.
Rob Safuto
Podcast NYC
July 7th, 2006 at 10:02 am
I guess I wasn’t listening to Todd when he made his announcement describing how the site worked. I just visited it when it popped up on one of the rss feeds I subscribe to. It looks like a directory to me, but whatever the world chooses to call it will be up to its users not me. I hope that whatever its called it works and helps podcasters make a few bucks.
I do think that the wording about what it means to sign up needs to clarify the message. I had to read through a lot of fine print to find out that people who submit their podcast are signing up to promote blubryy – seems like that should be right on the sign up page, not buried in the fine print.
As for the benefit to advertisers, that’s simple – aggregation of listeners. For a big advertiser who needs to spend $100k or more on a campaign going to 500 to 1000 podcasters is just not possible, but if blubrry can get 500 to 1000 podcasters in one place and the advertiser can do one deal – that’s a big benefit to the advertiser, and probably to the podcaster as well – although they have to share with blubery which is only fair if blubrry brokers the deal.
As for bias, I would lke to see DP continue to do well, but I think there is room for everyone to do well, including sites like blubrry. That’s why I’m investing my time in sponsoring the Open Podcast Directory Application – so anyone can run their own directory – with or without ads/community etc.
I don’t understand the “retain the rights to their content” issue- is someone taking away people’s rights to their own content?
July 7th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
PodShow’s Quit Your Day Job agreement transfers the exclusive right to all of your podcasts to PodShow for their use, commercial or otherwise, in perpetuity.
July 7th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Sounds like you get a new job working for Podshow – hope it pays well