Lessons from iMeme

Or, more accurately, Zing doesn’t have podcasting. I hadn’t heard of Zing before the iMeme conference, so when I saw the sponsor display in the hall, I asked about it. Zing, as it turns out, is the connector between providers of content and various kinds of mobile devices like the Sansa Connect and the Sirius Stiletto 100.

The Connect is of particular interest to me, because it’s a Wi-Fi–enabled MP3 player. That means it has the potential to bring podcasting to a wider audience. If my mother, who doesn’t own a computer, could buy an inexpensive device that let her not only find and subscribe to podcasts but download them at Wi-Fi hotspots (most public libraries provide free Wi-Fi access these days, as do many cafes, hotel lobbies, etc.), I wouldn’t have to send her a CD every time I appeared on a show.

Multiply my mother by all the other people in the U.S. who either don’t own computers or don’t have high-speed connections, but who do have interests about which people are podcasting, and you have the potential for a huge explosion in podcast listenership. That would benefit podcasters, listeners, and advertisers/sponsors alike.

Alas for the podosphere, the Zing representative explained that podcasting is not a feature of the Sansa connect. She further said that content is provided to the Connect through Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go. An examination of their site shows that the service costs $14.99/month and is only valid in the US.

That’s less than the cost of a high-speed Internet connection and comparable to the cost of signing up for a music subscription service on your cell phone. I wouldn’t pay it for music, myself; I don’t listen to much music. I might be willing to pay for podcast access, or for combined access to podcasts, YouTube, and music.

Right now, however, if I bought a Sansa Connect and paid the monthly fee, I would not get any podcasts. When I spotted someone from Yahoo! during one of the conference breaks, I asked him why not. While I had him there, I asked what was up with Yahoo! Podcasts in general, because the site appeared rather neglected.

He told me I should ask VP of Product Strategy Bradley Horowitz, who was also at the conference, but I didn’t get the chance, so I sent an e-mail afterwards. Horowitz referred me to David Mowrey of Yahoo! Music, who responded a few days ago.

I had never thought about who within Yahoo! “owned” podcasting. Mowrey explained that, podcasting, like most new offerings, started out in the advanced technology group, which develops products and technology but doesn’t manage them. Once it was sufficiently developed (I won’t say “finished,” because it’s still in beta, or so the site says), the music division took it over.

This got me wondering whether Yahoo! has misfiled podcasting. While Mowrey seemed quite pro-podcasting and assured me that podcasting will be included in a future version of the Music To Go/Zing/Sansa Connect partnership. It’s not just that most of the podcasts I listen to aren’t music podcasts. Even the music podcasts don’t seem like a good fit with a site that was developed in negotiation with the major record labels.

Apple has made it work with iTunes, but the fact that iTunes was created as a store is part of what makes it so annoying as a podcast directory/podcatcher. Yahoo! kept its podcast directory online—no software downloads are required to search it. I thought this was one of its big advantages over iTunes, and breaking away from the music model might also be an advantage.

In any event, I can certainly see why podcasting might not be Yahoo!’s first priority in arranging something like Y! Music to Go. Because most podcasts are free, there’s nothing for Yahoo! to take a cut of, and no particular indication that people would pay more to have podcasts included with the To Go service. David Mowrey acknowledged that between time-shifted consumption and the one-time subscription to receive content indefinitely, podcasting is difficult for Yahoo! to monetize.

That’s hardly surprising. Podcasting is difficult enough for podcasters to monetize, let alone anyone else. The economic incentive to provide podcast support in mobile devices is not likely to be the money to be made by offering it, but money lost to competitors by not offering it.