We were interrupted by the giant sound of trumpets on the speakers and then people came running in through the open doors. Literally, running in until the conference room was full. When I first heard about our time slot for the presentation I thought that it was too early in the morning for anybody to be there, but after seeing the energy that these people had this hour, sprinting to find the best spot, I started getting nervous, very nervous. Too nervous to even hear the speakers that came before
Ev and Tom took the stage.
Tom is a wild dervish of a man who owns the stage he is on, and he began by talking about audio on the web and how it is hard to find. Meanwhile, Ev and the technician were struggling over cables. and as they struggled..time passed..and time is very valuable at
TED. Just as tom was coming to the end of a long winded sentence, Ev plugged the right cable into the right spot and the massive projection screen came alive with Odeo. The timing couldn't have been planned more perfectly. Ev ran smoothly, and quickly thought the functionality of the site and people around me in the audience audibly gasped. and then they clapped. Tom mentioned my name. Something..."Noah Glass!" and I stood up.
It was one of those moments when stuff is happening all around you, but it doesnt feel like it is you...more like it is you watching someone that looks like you. People turned to me and shook my had and said, "great job", and "nice work, and "congratulations". I said...well, thanks. Then I needed some sleep.
Posted by Noah at 2/25/2005
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On evhead:
How Odeo Happened.
Posted by Ev. at 2/25/2005
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Ev says: What do you think about a lo-fi click through "history of Odeo", but have it be funny. Kind of like a
Tony Pierce photo essay
I say: Yeah, Yeah that'd be cool. We could do it with old photos and kind of illustrate a timeline...but have it be funny.
Ev says: Yeah. That could be good.
I say: Hummmmm, it could be good.
maybe:-) If I only had Tony Pierce's brain.
Posted by Noah at 2/25/2005
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Posted by Noah at 2/25/2005
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We're working night and day here, getting ready for our big debut at TED (which, we just found out, is on Friday, not Wednesday, so we have a couple more days—phew). No one will see this post until after that, but that's ok.
We were here until 1:30 am last night, and that was Sunday.
I'm getting closer to happy with how the site looks. Tom Reilly was here last night going over the demo. He's very enthusiastic, which was great to hear, since he has so much experience in this area (both radio/audio and the web).
So much to do yet, though. There are a couple of
big holes in functionality. Lots of little stuff (endless little stuff, really). And, assuredly, a lot of bugs we don't know about. But that's how it works!
Lots of infrastructure needed yet. We have our hardware, which looks great, but it's in my kitchen, instead of in the co-lo. Well, it's Odeo's kitchen, not mine. But we're working out of my old apartment in the Mission, which, conveniently, I just moved out of when Odeo was needing a place to set up shop. So I kept the lease for a couple months extra.
Oh, speaking of, Noah's IMing me to come look at a potential office around the corner. Gotta go...
Posted by Ev. at 2/21/2005
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AlwaysOn talks about how
audioblogger has been around so long that it is ancient. But, like fine wine...we are getting better with age!
"Podcasts, in the form of audioblogs, have been around for a while. I don't recall when Audioblogger launched, but it seems like it has been around for at least a year. That makes it ancient! But downloading MP3s from individual blog postings was a bear and not very efficient. It was like the old days before XML content feed aggregators and readers. Remember the old days when we had to visit each blog we wanted to read? Of course, we still do this on AO. (Maybe we're dinosaurs?) But I view AO as more of a community; it's more than a collection of blogs."
Posted by Noah at 2/16/2005
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Pew's more recent survey looks at iPod/MP3 player owners in the US. How many are there?
The answer is 11% -- or more than 22 million of those who are age 18 and older. It’s safe to say that there are several million more MP3 players owned in the teen world, but we did not survey teens in this poll.
Wow, I didn't realize it was that many already. More interesting details on the site. (Would love more worldwide numbers.)
Posted by Ev. at 2/14/2005
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"But this Web-based phenomenon puts the real back in reality programming, emanating not from slick studios but Anyhome USA, including this creaky 1800s farmhouse owned by performance artist Dawn Miceli, 28, and her Web-designer husband, Drew Domkus, 33"
Posted by Noah at 2/10/2005
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Podcasting News
is reporting that ASCAP (one of the big licensing companies that radio stations need to pay to play music over the airwaves) has
posted two new types of licenses for the Internets. One of them, "NON-INTERACTIVE 5.0," specifically mentions "pod-casts." (Cost: $288/yr.)
I need more understanding to figure out who needs the license—e.g., the individual show creator or can Odeo buy one for all our users?—but I'll take it as good news either way. At least there's an option there for those who want to play licensed music.
Posted by Ev. at 2/08/2005
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Here is
an early (by podcasting terms) but worthwhile riff on podcasting ("and the future of everything") by ever-astute media analyst Jeff Jarvis.
A quote:
The best of it is, of course, that anybody can now create content to add into this amazing metanetwork. And that has just begun.
I also like Jeff's "first law of media":
Give the people control of media, they will use it.
Posted by Ev. at 2/07/2005
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Doc Searls: "..if you're in the business of intermediating the sale of the artistic goods we still call 'content', your job is facilitating relationships between artists and customers."
I would say that's an accurate description of Odeo's job -- facilitating relationships between audio creators and listeners. How can we do more of that?
Posted by Ev. at 2/07/2005
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