I was at the TechCrunch HQ tonight (see their post here) and learnt about the latest embargo expiring at 9PM PT tonight: Yahoo was about to release a free open podcast search and directory service, which will be available on podcasts.yahoo.com once the URL resolves (hint: if you were using UltraDNS, it would after a few minutes :-). The announcement has come by way of an exclusive podcast interview of Geoff Ralston, Yahoo’s Chief Product Officer, just released by PodTech.net’s John Furrier.
Since the directory is was not yet available, the only thing that can be done is read through the transcript of the interview. Besides offering functionality similar to iTunes 4.9 in an “open world” of multiple devices (discover, subscribe, deliver,…), Yahoo has reportedly taken the bold step to integrate podcasts throughout their properties:
[…] We think that podcasts should show up where it makes sense on Yahoo. They will be integrated across Yahoo. Right now we’ve done an interesting integration into the Yahoo Music engine where you can have the same kind of experience on the web directly on the Music engine, or you can download it to your device right there. You’ll start to find podcasts showing up throughout Yahoo if it makes sense like in Yahoo News. There (Yahoo News) you have blogs, so why wouldn’t you have podcasts? Take Yahoo movies, for example, there is already some great podcast out there like Ebert and Ropet and others by a bunch of guys just talking about movies. Why shouldn’t those be findable by Yahoo Movies? And, if you’re interested in a particular set of podcasts, we think there ought to be a personalized experience for you. So when you go to Yahoo Movies, and when we know that it’s you, we should show you the podcasts that you’re interested in.
It is interesting to note that Yahoo decided to release this just a few days after the Web 2.0 conference, maybe to make sure that there is no interference around the buzz that this will no doubt generate. Let me guess the headlines: “After Apple, Yahoo brings podcasting to the masses”, “Yahoo does not get podcasting”, “Bye bye Odeo”. How do I know ? Because this is what we have had every time a major actors launches a Web 2.0 functionality: praise, disgust, doom for at least one Web 2.0 company if not all of them.
I find quite cool that Yahoo reached out to the podcasting community by doing a podcast announcement. Bravo to John Furrier for pulling this one off.
Update: the site is now available, and the first thing that I see missing is an "Import OPML" functionality that would allow me to load up my subscriptions (from Odeo in my case).
Searching for one of my favorite shows "For Immediate Release" leads to a result page listing two feeds and a few shows. Clicking on the feed with the largest number of podcasts leads to this feed page. From there, it is possible to download or listen to individual shows, leave a rating or a review and tag the feed. Reviews are manually moderated, so they don't appear immediately.
Subscribing to a feed gives the choice of using iTunes or the Yahoo Music Engine, which has been modified to deal with podcasts. This in turn will take care of the automatic downloading of shows and synchronization with a portable device.
The podcast directory also includes instructions to publish shows, but this does not seem to include any automation of the process - yet. This actually shows how challenging the process of publishing a podcast is without tools.
And since Yahoo is about to bring podcasts to the mass market, they also tell you about "what the heck is a podcast"? Feeds and shows can be searched through categories, tags or keywords.
Besides the lack of import functionality, this sounds pretty complete to me. The integration of podcasts throughout Yahoo is really what I find most notable.
The Yahoo Search Blog adds some interesting data points:
Our web-based player makes it simple and painless to listen right through your web browser. An accelerated playback feature (IE only) lets you "scan" a program at 2x speed to get the gist of it faster. You can use Yahoo! Podcasts with aggregators like iPodder (thanks to Andrew Grumet), with desktop media players like the Yahoo! Music Engine (the integration is beautiful!), iTunes, and with the latest version of iPodder, the Windows Media Player and even Winamp. Or, you can download the shows you want to any mp3 player, such as the iPod, iRiver, Dell DJ, Creative Zen, etc.
But wait, there's more ahead… We're already working on personalized podcast recommendations and friendly, easy-to-use tools so that anyone can create and publish a podcast or audio blog and share it with friends, family, coworkers, and the World Wide Web.
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