Odeo: The Next Big Thing?

Stone hosts the Couch Sessions Podcast. Check out this week’s interview with Atlanta R&B artist Anthony David.

I was recently invited by the guys at Odeo to check out their new Podcasting application. Odeo is the brainchild of former Google peeps Noah Glass and Evan Williams. It's supposed to be a more user friendly way to organize, filter, and profit from emerging Podcasting technology. But does it stack up?

So far, I like the look and feel of the site. Odeo solves one of the biggest problems that I have with Podcasting: searching for Podcast shows. Right now, there are directories such as Podcast Alley and Podcast.net, but their interfaces are too clunky for the non tech savvy user to navigate. Odeo ups the bar with a slick user interface, and it simplifies a lot of the manual processes that we non-Ipod users face.

Since Odeo is still in beta, the most exciting part of the service is still unavailable. Odeo Studio will be, according to their website, a "browser-based tool that makes it easy to record and publish audio," I'm guessing this program will be similar to Audacity. Odeo will also have features for phone posting and RSS feed creation.

Odeo's services are free for now, but when the full service launches, it will come with a price tag. It’s not determined whether this site is going to be a subscription service or a pay per use system.

All in all, I'm impressed with Odeo. It has the features to take Podcasting to the next level. However, as a Podcaster, I wonder if using this new media to turn profits would be good for our grassroots medium.

Article Author: Stone

Stone is the head writer The Couch Sessions, the place for underground and alternative urban music. In addition to his writing duties, he also hosts The Couch Sessions Podcast and spends his days as a computer programmer and freelance web designer.

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