“Podcasting in audio form still has some potential value, but with almost all traditional media sources rebroadcasting their radio properties as a podcast, the landscape is far more competitive than ever before. I can’t strongly recommend staying with an audio product, unless you have a very strong niche, and/or a strong strategy to distributing your product to a core audience.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I disagree with this. Yes, the field is getting crowded, but it’s still “pull” content. Nobody will be faced with all the options; instead, people will seek podcasts that meet their needs.

The value of audio remains exactly what we say it is in the book: You can listen while you’re doing something else. Video (and every other channel of communication) requires 100% of your attention. I’m fine with somebody listening to an audio podcast while they’re driving. No way I want to see somebody watching a video podcast while they’re driving! Video podcasts are also useless when walking the dog, mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, jogging or engaging in countless other activities where listening to audio is feasible and, frequently, desirable.

What’s more, most of the video podcasts I’ve seen should have been audio in the first place. I find little value to watching talking heads. If you’re going to do a video podcast, do it because the information you’re communicating has rich visual elements, not because somebody tells you video is better than audio.

For example:

That’s Brian Lanigan’s copy.

And this is Bernie Goldbach’s copy:

So, we know the book has reached Ireland. It’s also got to Australia, as Lee Hopkins has a video with the evidence. We know it’s in some parts of the US as Chip Griffin has his copy.

Anyone else have visual proof that the book is out there?

[Edit] Heh! I should mention that Lee in Australia has his copy because I sent him one!

• Podcasts – Favorites
• Podcasts – Mentioned in the Book
• Reviews, press and others
• Software for podcasting

It was great to get the Reviews page started. Commentary and opinion about the book is beginning to appear. All quite positive so far!

One new page I hope we can get populated soon is the Samples page. This will have at least once complete chapter from the book. Plus, Shel and I plan to record an audio of one chapter. Maybe the same one, maybe a different one. All depends on what permission McGraw-Hill will give us. Stay tuned.

Loads more content still to come.

A good half dozen FIR listeners have told me that they’ve had the book on order, just waiting for its release by publisher McGraw-Hill.

That’s terrific!

But news yesterday from a listener in the US reporting that he’s received notification from Amazon US that shipment is delayed:

[...] Unfortunately, we are unable to ship the item(s) as soon as we expected and need to provide you with a new estimate of when the item(s) may be delivered:

Shel Holtz (Author), Neville Hobson (Author) “How to Do Everything with Podcasting (How to Do Everything)” [Paperback]
Estimated arrival date: 07/12/2007 – 07/25/2007

If he’s had that notification, then I would imagine other purchasers will as well.

I don’t have any idea what’s causing the delay. Perhaps a rush of orders

It seems it’s not only the US, as I received news a few days ago from a listener in Ireland reporting that he’s been told to expect a delay in shipment. As he’s in Ireland, I guess he ordered from Amazon UK; the book isn’t released in the UK until July 1.

Sorry about this. I’ll ask McGraw-Hill if they have any information on delays. If I get any news from them, I’ll post it here.

[Update June 26:] Thanks to Roger Stewart, our editor at McGraw-Hill, we have a bit of light thrown on this situation.

Roger says the books are working their way through the distribution system and will be shipping from Amazon’s distribution centres soon.

Good news, then.

In addition to the basics (about the book, who the authors are, etc), I’ve made a start on adding content, mostly some of the listings information contained in the book itself. Time consuming copying and pasting from Word tables, that’s for sure.

So to kick off, we have a list of podcatchers and podcast directories. We’ll be adding (and maybe substracting) from such lists as the site develops in the coming weeks.

One thing I’m keen to include in this site that isn’t really covered in the book is our personal take on the podcasts we listen to. Maybe a critique that, while inevitably subjective, will focus on podcast production and communication effectiveness in line with what we say about such things in the book.

But that’s in the future.

Meanwhile, please enjoy this embryonic site. Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions.

Time now to move from the development website to this live site.

Setting this up today so things will change during the course of the day. Not yet decided on the final theme so if you land on this site, the appearance will probably be different each time you visit.

All should be done soon!