video podwhinge

I used to love video podcasts. I had two or three I would download every day until the BBC decided they can't allow foreigners to view their TV programmes. But lately I've got back into it with some American ones.

Okay, I've got one video podcast I download, but goddammit I like the idea of them. The podcast is Countdown with Keith Olbermann. For a very short period I included CNN's Today Politics podcast and ABC's Nightly News podcast, which had the best format of any of them. ABC Nightly News video podcast, you see, had chapters. If you were interested in the third story they did that night, you could skip to that by pressing the "next" button on your computer or iPod. I stopped downloading it because I prefer to get my news from the BBC and my comment from the US (I'm weird that way I guess.) But nights like tonight, when Keith isn't on Countdown or like last night, when some of the earlier stories aren't as interesting to me as some of the others, I want to be able to skip to the "Good stuff".

This brings me to my question: Why the hell don't more podcasters use the most advanced format they have? Okay, sure, some people don't have iPods, but everyone can use iTunes. Some of the people who don't have iPods have other brands of mp3 players. Well, that makes them stupid. Seriously, the Zune is the worst thing I've ever heard of. I don't want to listen to my friends' music because they have awful taste in music. The smaller ones, well, odds are they can't play video anyway, so it doesn't matter.

This isn't just video podcasts I'm annoyed by. I've only found two or three audio podcasts with chapters, which since I got a Mac with GarageBand, I've learnt is only possible if you record in AAC format. My main questions include yeah? and? so? what? I would really like to be able to skip callers for the odd call-in podcasts, and I'd like to skip to topics I like more than ones I don't. It's not that I don't like the podcasts, it's that I don't like PARTS of them. It's tricky to spool on when I'm driving ... or walking ... or even listening on my home speakers. It's one simple step in post! That's all I ask, one extra small step for convenience!

Or maybe I'm just a big tech geek who wants to have every feature available. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the one.

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Now playing: Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan - Unplayed Piano
via FoxyTunes