A HIPPO Internet Marketing Training blog by Corey Creed

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ITunes Gets Updated, but still hurts Podcasting

November 30th, 2012
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As of yesterday, iTunes sent out a new version 11. Some are heralding it as the iTunes you always wanted.

Let’s face it, Apple products are pretty nice. But their software has not been that great. For years now, iTunes has been clunky and weird. If you’re honest about it, you only like it because you are used to it.

Interestingly, this week’s TWiT podcast stated that Google has been great at Internet services, but not so great at design of physical products. Yet, Apple builds great products, but is not so good at software and Internet services.

What makes this interesting is that Google is getting better at products. The Nexus line of products are very nice. But Apple is not making much progress with software and services. Itunes version 11 is just another example of that.

Don’t get me wrong. The new iTunes is simpler and cleaner.

But the one thing that bothers me the most about iTunes is the lousy way they handle podcasts. Anyone that knows me well appreciates that I LOVE podcasts. I listen to them every day as I drive and exercise.

But no matter how hard the industry tries, they’ve never been able to get away from that term “podcast”. It makes them sound like they are connected with Apple iPods. And honestly, Apple has not done much to help the image and accessability of podcast shows. There are some really great ones out there and would be more, if they were just easier to find.

Once again, the method for working with, signing up for, and most importantly, FINDING podcasts is still clunky with the new iTunes. Just try finding all of the podcasts in the category of Internet Marketing or Social Media on iTunes and you’ll quickly see that it’s not easy.

AS an industry, online content creation needs to get away from the word podcast. Thankfully, we’re seeing more and more use the term Web TV, which is better. (Although that does not help the audio podcasts.)

But will Apple ever really make finding and listening to podcasts easy, friendly, and enjoyable? I doubt it. It’s frustrating.