iTunes 4.9 Stealing Odeo’s Thunder?
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005 by MR
Well, iTunes 4.9 is out and it has podcasts built-in. Weblogs around the world are already pimping screenshots, uses, their favorite podcasts, and because it’s a new Apple product everybody flocks to it like flies to papaya.
Wait, wasn’t there another thing that did podcasts? You know, um, I think they were still in beta or something, and they had that cool domain ….. oh man what was their name…
It was Odeo. And I hope that they don’t get trounced by iTunes 4.9’s podcast support because Odeo kicks ass.
I was hand-picked (randomly selected) to tryout Odeo and it freakin’ blew me away. It’s like a combination of all the good things of all the “Web 2.0″ applications like Backpack and Flickr, but rolled into a fantastic user interface with cool functionality attached to boot. It even has a desktop syncing client that interfaces right with your iPod. It’s not public yet (screenshots on Flickr), but I can bet that when it goes public, it will be all the rage.
But will iTunes 4.9 steal all their thunder? Is there a reason one would use Odeo over iTunes to find, subscribe, and download cool podcasts? Is the great Odeo ship dead in the water before it even sailed? I really hope Odeo still survives, because it was a fantastic application, but only time will tell.
Reader Comments
16 Responses to “iTunes 4.9 Stealing Odeo’s Thunder?”
Well Odeo took too long. It seemed to take forever to get out the door. Only one week before Apple’s impending launch. And don’t forget, Odeo may still distinguish itself by offering podcast creation and syndication from within the browser.
June 28th, 2005 at 10:29 am
I was just thinking the same thing. I downloaded iTunes 4.9 this morning and subscribed to some podcasts. The interface bugs me a little, for instance, unlike when I purchase a song, it does everything in the background. However, when you subscribe to a podcast it takes you away from the podcast directory and to your subscribed podcasts. I like Odeo’s interface much better. I subscribe and it leaves me on the same page.
June 28th, 2005 at 11:14 am
I’ve faith in Evan & Co.
I first saw Odeo back in, maybe March? Since then, it doesn’t appeared to have changed much.
In the meantime though, I know Dunstan has worked his magic, and I know rabble has been working hard on smoothing out the back end to the point that it could probably scale to support the whole of China blabbing away on Odeo at the same time.
I also know the Odeo’s have talked with Apple.
But like I said, it doesn’t appear to have changed much.
Evan’s no dummy, and I’m sure they recognize that being first to market, which they certainly could of achieved because it looked/behaved production ready for at least the past 4 months, could have had very beneficial consequences for them.
That being said… Evan’s no dummy. I’m sure they’ve an ace up their sleeves. Whether it be partnership/integration with Apple, or simply not buying into the whole “build half an app” phase… they’ve certainly had some reason for holding back and there certainly appears to have been some strategy behind it.
If not? No mind, Odeo is still the best web based application for podcasting, and as ubiquitos as iTunes might be, it’s not quite as convenient as being able to get on the Odeo loudspeaker from anywhere at anytime.
June 28th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
Will be interesting to see.
On the iTunes front, I like how podcasts are promoted in the same way albums are — the icons, visuals do help. Also the fact that it drops right into my own library and is so well integrated is a plus.
ODEO’s benefits come from its Flickr-like nature, the fact that it’ll support recording and distributing podcasts, and that it allows comments and ratings.
This, IMHO, is one of iTunes biggest drawbacks. While I can see items others purchased and some basic level of popularity, it really doesn’t feel democratic at all and on an album-by-album or song-by-song basis, I really have no clear sense of how good something is. I often have to go to other locations to find out — particularly Amazon.
I miss seeing what people say, seeing star ratings, etc. If a company offered this for the Mac and an app similar to iTunes with the same otherwise seamless implementation, I’d convert in a second.
This is where I think ODEO can really come out on top. Finding a good podcast directory is still difficult and I think, as a result, we’re seeing a lot of pointers to the same dozen shows as a result.
Also think that, by its nature, ODEO will be able to add features probably more quickly than iTunes, as iTunes tends to be constrained within their existing UI (show notes for the podcasts, for example, aren’t anything I’m really able to read in iTunes).
June 28th, 2005 at 2:52 pm
Already in the process of developing a browser-based podcast aggregator, I cringed a little when Apple first announced that iTunes would support podcasting. Then I got my Odeo invitation, and after seeing their offerings, have all but given up on Podster. I’m thinking hard (and accepting suggestions, btw) on ways to take what I’ve already done and continue on, but this has been a hard week, needless to say.
June 28th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
Being the first out the door doesn’t mean you’ll takeover. There is a big difference being first and being done right. If anything, the release of iTunes 4.9 now could actually draw more attention to Odeo assuming they can get their product out the door in the next little while (i.e. in next month or two) so that they can ride on the Podcasting awareness that Apple is raising with iTunes.
June 28th, 2005 at 7:07 pm
Nollind, I couldn’t agree more.
Particularly “There is a big difference being first and being done right.”.
You know what they say… Slow n’ steady if you’re in it for the long haul. Short n’ fast… well… I don’t need to expand upon that I’m sure. ;)
June 28th, 2005 at 10:59 pm
When I got my invitation to Odeo I looked around and though it was a neat little app. At the moment, it still has a very “beta” feeling and hopefully this should go away when it comes public. However, looking at Google’s use of “beta” this might be never.
Knowing that Apple was going to bring out Podcasting in iTunes I have purposely didn’t really subscribe heavily to any podcasts. Now having used iTunes 4.9 I’m actually very glad that I didn’t.
While Odeo might be a great app, its fundamentally flawed because to get a Podcast, users now have to go through an extra layer. Sign-in to the Odeo site, search, select, sync, organise and finally listen. Thats 6 steps. With iTunes the flow is: open, seach, select, listen. 4 Steps. (This not totally accurate hopefully my idea is conveyed). As an app of its kind, it might provide less steps than Ipodder or one of its compeditors, but having podcasting integrated, iTunes certainly has the one up.
Were Odeo fights back is how users can add comments, tags, ratings, etc. making the product more community based. This will be very peopular with the experienced web community, namely designers, developers and tech staff because it is “supporting the good apps” and going against the mainstream. Thats why the iPod was so succesful in the first place because it captured this audience. Admittedly iTunes still has a long way to come with this community integration. However, as looking at the way Apple has has gone with iMixes and the music store, I suspect that future versions will probably have these sorts of features.
Another thing going for iTunes is its ability to take direct links from the web and subscribe to a podcast from them. I recently subscribed to the MAKE: audio blog by just clicking on a link and iTunes automatically downloaded the feed. In Odeo there is no way to find feeds other than to search for them or browse, 2 features that iTunes has as well.
In the end, what makes a successful product is how well it works (both do the job well) and how easy it is to use (so far, iTunes looks its pulling ahead). It ultimately doesn’t matter when a product is released, the better one generally wins.
June 29th, 2005 at 3:26 am
The breaking point for me was mentioned above. I thought I had signed up for my Odeo account in Safari but when I went back a couple days later, my login didn’t autofill (I’m lazy). So I thought I had signed up in Firefox. Nope. So I just used iTunes instead. End of Odeo for me.
I like Odeo but it is another layer that I don’t want to deal with if I don’t have to. I hope iTunes gets a bit better organized in the podcast department. Otherwise, it’s seamless for me.
June 29th, 2005 at 2:33 pm
I see the community aspect of Odeo as being it’s best feature. I think it’ll be great for finding content and can work in conjunction with iTunes.
More thoughts…
June 29th, 2005 at 2:41 pm
I thought that Dustan had gone to work for apple?
June 29th, 2005 at 7:25 pm
Dunstan does work, full time, for Apple. He also freelances, part time, for Odeo.
June 29th, 2005 at 8:59 pm
In the end Odeo will win out if it is worthy. I assume it will be so because the built in Podcast support of iTunes is mediocre at best. Sure now Odeo has a way to go before it can catch up but sooner or later people do realize they are to eager to put their faith in a lackluster product because it debuts first.
I hate to make this comparison because most people will argue with me. Linux is starting to grow (most see it as dying), but because the distributions have had time to develop and grow a lot of people are realizing; hey my pc runs better and more stable with Linux as opposed to the other guy.
Now Apple has a lot of power. And unless someone major steps in to sponsor Odeo, they do not. But I think if there is a better alternative people will realize it sooner than later if they are exposed to the apparent flaws in their current method.
June 30th, 2005 at 12:42 am
I’m also a part of the beta program, and I’ve got to admit that Odeo itself is awesome. At least for me, they’ve still got the “total coolness” factor.
The most interesting thing is that I thought they were cool before I knew that you could listen to podcasts through them. I had thought that they just helped you make podcasts. So I think that will probably be their biggest advantage.
Not to mention, iTunes isn’t the only media player on the planet. Windows Media users still need the Syncr :-D
June 30th, 2005 at 3:27 pm
Odeo just introduced me to Podcasting when it came out of beta. I have been using iTunes, I love it, and Odea supports it so I went that route: using both together; and it seems to work okay for now. I may switch to FireANT in the future when I’m more serious about it (or start publishing my own content). But for the moment, using Odeo’s web interface is fast, and for any other podcast I just drag it to the iTunes window. No biggie. Whats all the fuss about one or the other?
July 10th, 2005 at 11:50 pm
The weirdness with the situation I just described is that iTunes organizes all the feeds from Odeo in its own “Odeo” group, while subscribing to any other podcast outside of Odeo gives it its own group. This may eventually push me to ‘power-user’ apps like FireANT, I just like the ‘All-in-one’ness of iTunes… bleh I feel so mediocre.
July 11th, 2005 at 12:10 am
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