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July 02, 2005
Apple screws amateur Podcasters
First off, many amateur Podcasters were a little miffed that Apple did a lot of work to promote the "corporate" content, but gave very little attention to the grassroots Podcasters.
Now, DailySonic has proof the Apple is caching Podcasts. Why is this a big deal? DailySonic needs to accurately count downloads to support its advertisers. And they also do some dynamic ad insertion. If they don't have control over their feed, then their advertising model breaks.
I can see the Apple developers saying "what if the independent site is down", and doing the extra engineering to ensure reliable service. But for Podcasters who are trying to make a living doing this, it totally screws them over. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't validate their feeds, so the argument doesn't really hold water.
Supporting the grassroots is one of our basic philosophies. We're working on ways to support the "little guy" who promotes Replay Radio as the best way to subscribe and download Podcasts. We have an affiliate program already in place, and another awesome program is coming soon.
Posted by Bill Dettering at July 2, 2005 11:08 PM