Yahoo to Begin Test of Podcast Service
Hoping to tune in to the latest craze in digital media, Yahoo Inc. is introducing tools for finding, organizing and rating “podcasts” -- the audio programs designed to be played on Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod and many other portable music players.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which operates the world’s most visited website, plans to begin testing the new service today at podcasts.yahoo.com.
Although it can do several things, the free service focuses on making it easier for people to sift through the tens of thousands of podcasts currently available on the Web to find the programming best suited to their interests.
“We intend to be the most comprehensive source for podcast content,” said Geoff Ralston, Yahoo’s chief product officer.
Yahoo isn’t the first website to search podcasts. Specialty Internet sites such as odeo.com and www.podcast.netalready do the same thing. But Yahoo is the first Internet heavyweight to tackle the task. “We feel like we are really getting ahead of the curve with this,” Ralston said.
It’s only a matter of time before Yahoo’s rivals, including online search engine leader Google Inc., introduce similar podcasting features, predicted Phil Leigh, senior analyst at Inside Digital Media in Tampa, Fla.
“Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the future of search is in audio and video,” he said. “Searching through text on the Internet has really reached a maturity point. If you look 10 years down the road, everyone is going to be searching for podcasts.”
Yahoo estimates that as many as 5 million people currently listen to podcasts, which include subject matter as diverse as President Bush’s weekly address and people ranting about their pet peeves.
The potential market is much larger. Apple has sold more than 20 million iPods, accounting for about three-fourths of the MP3 players in the United States.
But podcasting remains a mystery to most of the country -- something that Yahoo believes it can change by delivering more comprehensive search results and enabling users to store the podcasts in their computer’s music players.
