CBC Threatens Podcast Apps For Letting People Listen To CBC Podcasts

from the the-stupid.-it-burns dept

I really thought we were beyond this kind of idiocy by now, but apparently wherever newish technology shows up, there are technologically clueless lawyers waiting to rush in. Today's example: lawyers for the Canadian Broadcasting Company have sent threat letters to the makers of various podcast apps for letting people listen to CBC podcasts. Apparently, the lawyers at the CBC think that because a podcast app is a commercial product, that means that you can't use it to access their public RSS feeds that offer up the CBC's podcasts. Here's the email that was posted to Reddit, with the name of the specific app redacted:

I am contacting you regarding the unauthorized use of CBC's podcasts that are being used in your <app name> app.

By using CBC's digital services you have agreed to our our Terms of Use located at cbc.ca/aboutcbc/discover/termsofuse.html.

Under section 2(b) of these Terms of Use, you are prohibited from using our podcasts for commercial purposes without a proper licence from CBC.

I would ask to cease immediately the use of our unlicensed podcasts.

If you interested in CBC content and podcast, we can discuss a license fee model.

I would be happy to have a call to discuss further our content and services.

I actually listen to a few CBC podcasts on my commercial podcast player -- but now I have to wonder if they'll still be there. Either way, this is ridiculously stupid and clueless. As Cory Doctorow notes in his post about this, this is a return of the old stupid and debunked idea where some clueless sites believed you needed a license to link to them. Because that's really all that the podcast apps are doing. They're picking up publicly available RSS feeds and letting people listen to publicly available podcasts.

But the CBC is going one worse here: their argument is that making a tool that allows someone to load a public URL without permission is violating copyright law -- it's the same thing as saying, "Because Google is a for-profit corporation, any time a Chrome user loads a CBC page in the Chrome browser without the CBC's permission, Google is violating CBC's copyright."

It is an absolutely insane idea, and as legally ignorant as one can imagine. It's shocking that a letter of such dangerous stupidity was sent on CBC letterhead, signed by someone who apparently got a law degree at some point. If the CBC is right, then all browsers are presumptively unlawful.

There is an implied license when you put something on the web that it is there to link to. If you don't want people to load your RSS feed, don't publish it, or add a password to it. To argue otherwise is to argue against the internet itself.

One hopes this is just someone who is incredibly confused, or was just searching for extra work at the CBC, because if this is seriously the CBC's policy, then that's extraordinarily messed up.

Filed Under: cbc, copyright, linking, podcasts, rss
Companies: cbc

EFF Helps Bust Bogus Patent That Was Being Used To Shake Down Podcasters

from the nice-work dept

Remember Personal Audio? That's the company that claimed it had a patent (8,112,504) from years ago that covered all podcasting and then sued a bunch of top podcasters over it. The company got itself lots of attention, including from EFF, who filed with the UPSTO to invalidate the patent. In response, Personal Audio tried to intimidate EFF's donors. Eventually, Personal Audio realized that podcasters don't actually make that much money and settled a bunch of its lawsuits -- even with Adam Carolla (which actually does make a bunch of money) who had insisted he wasn't going to settle.

Most of those settlements were for no money, but the company did win its lawsuit against CBS (in Eastern Texas, of course). However, the EFF's initial effort to invalidate the patent at the USPTO (which is a separate process from the lawsuits) has now resulted in the Patent Office invalidating the key claims in the patent. You can read the USPTO's decision, in which it notes that the key parts of the claim were clearly obvious to practitioners skilled in the art at the time of the patent and that the prior art invalidates the patent as well.

We are persuaded by a preponderance of the evidence that Petitioner’s rationale for obviousness is supported by rational underpinnings.

Kudos to the team at EFF, who have been doing some great work on patents lately (contrary to one of our grumpy commenters who insists that the EFF lawyers will never be seen as "serious professionals" by the US Patent Office, and will remain "marginal players at best"). Can't wait to see what patent projects they take on next...

Filed Under: invalid, obviousness, patents, podcasting, podcasts, prior art
Companies: eff, personal audio

Awesome Stuff: Podcast Apps

from the check-it-out dept

As you hopefully know by now, we recently launched the Techdirt podcast, and while I recently did an awesome stuff post on podcasts to listen to, I've been heard from a few people who don't yet listen to podcasts, and aren't quite sure how to use them. So this week, I thought I'd share a few podcast listening tools for smartphones.

• First up, Pocket Casts from ShiftJelly, because this is the app I use, and I love it. By far the most intuitive podcast listening app that I've tried. The interface is clear and simple to use (with a little learning curve up front) -- and, most important to me, it has the ability to speed up podcasts up to 3x speed (and they mean it, unlike some other apps that basically lie, because Apple used to lie). I also like it because I use multiple playlists with different filters -- so I have a "timely" playlist of podcasts I want to listen to as soon as they're available, and a much longer list of other podcasts that I work my way through as convenient. I'm stupidly completist, though, in feeling the need to at least listen to some of basically every podcast I download. That's why the 3x speed helps. Pocket Casts also syncs your account, so you can use multiple devices, or switch from device to device with ease.
• Soundcloud's mobile app. We're happily hosting our podcast on Soundcloud, and I know some people have just been using the Soundcloud app to subscribe and listen to our podcast. It's a nicely designed app that also gives you the ability to record via the app and directly upload it to your own Soundcloud account. Also, since Soundcloud is so popular with musicians and DJs and such, there's lots of good music to check out.
• It seems like Stitcher really stands out these days as one of the most popular podcast/radio listening apps out there. It's the one that I most commonly hear people say they use. You can also listen to radio programs via Stitcher as as well. I used it for a few months and it was nice, but personally I like Pocket Casts a bit more. Stitcher seemed more focused on streaming live over downloading first, but it does let you do either one. Stitcher was recently acquired by Deezer (a Spotify-like service that has a big following outside the US). It's not clear how the two services will integrate, but you could see how it might make Stitcher have even more variety going forward.

I'm curious what other podcasting apps people use. In the past I've also used AstroPlayer (worked great, but had a terrible and confusing user interface), and some friends have recommended DoggCatcher (which is Android only). On the iPhone side, I know Marco Arment recently launched Overcast (which is a great name for a podcasting app) and he tends to do really good work, so I'm assuming -- without testing it, since I don't have an iPhone -- that it's a good one. It certainly advertises some neat features, including "smart speed" to cut out silence to speed stuff up without having to speed up the voices, and "voice boost" to normalize volumes (which sounds really handy). What do you use to listen to podcasts?

Filed Under: awesome stuff, podcast apps, podcasts

Awesome Stuff: Podcasts To Listen To

from the something-a-little-different dept

Normally, each Saturday we use the awesome stuff post to highlight interesting (and sometimes not so interesting) crowdfunding projects. But every so often we like to shake it up with something different. This week, I'm going to discuss some of the podcasts that I regularly listen to, and see what suggestions other folks have for good podcasts as well. For a long time, I didn't listen to any podcasts at all, and wasn't quite sure how people found the time. But that was before I had a commute and a dog. Those two things leave me a fair bit of time to listen to podcasts now. In case you're wondering, I listen to podcasts using Pocket Casts, which is (by far) the absolute best podcasting app I've found to date (after trying a bunch). It has the combination of features and user interface that make it just about perfect. Some apps have good features, some have decent UIs, but Pocket Casts was the only one I found that really had both.

Also, I tend to listen to podcasts at a super high speed rate. Pocket Casts lets you speed up podcasts up to 3x speed (which is a true 3x, unlike some others that call something 3x when it's really 2x), which is about the limit I can do (another app I tried let you go up to 6x, and any higher than 3x was impossible). I know some people insist that anything above 2x is hard to keep up with, that's not really true. It takes some practice and training, but after a little bit it's not that hard. Given the right conditions (i.e., when I have little else to concentrate on and a very clear recording without strong accents), I've found that I can easily keep up at 3x speeds. When I'm driving, though, I tend to have to drop it down to about 2x, since I can't concentrate as much on the audio. Either way, at 3x speeds, taking the dog for an hour long walk and getting 3 hours of education and entertainment... is kind of amazing.

The podcasts I listen to tend to be a mix of educational, entertaining... and just random. I'm not, in any way, suggesting these are "the best" podcasts. They're just the ones that I've ended up subscribed to. I've left out the music podcasts, because they're generally quite specific and I know musical tastes vary tremendously, so they didn't seem as interesting.

News / News-like / Economics: Some of these are hard to classify, but they tend to be shows more focused on news or economics that I just find to be interesting.

• Fresh Air. For the longest time I completely avoided this NPR stalwart, so this is a relatively recent addition to my subscriptions (maybe a year ago) but Terry Gross really is an astounding interviewer and has really interesting guests. The podcasts are easy to listen to at 3x too, so it's really just about 15 minutes a day.
• Planet Money. Mentioned here many times. Always interesting short podcasts about economics-related news. The original team appears to have all left, and the show has changed over time, but it's still really interesting.
• EconTalk: Economist Russ Roberts interviews lots of really interesting folks and always has tremendously interesting takes on things. While I often (though not always) agree with him economically, what I think is even more interesting is his willingness to bring on those who he disagrees with and have very open and honest (i.e., non-judgmental) conversations with them, while frequently being willing to admit to his own biases and knowledge limits.
• Freakonomics: Usually good, though not always as interesting as it feels it should be. Often feels like it takes a bit too superficial of a view on things, which is too bad. Feels like it could dig deeper on some stories.
• London School of Economics Public Lectures: This one can be totally hit or miss. I'll generally give all of its podcasts at least 15 minutes (5 minutes at 3x speed) to see if it's worth listening to the rest. When they're good, though, they can be really fascinating.
• On the Media: Near and dear to my heart because they sometimes have me on. Or because it's awesome and covers the same sorts of topics we cover. Yeah, probably more because of the awesomeness of it.
• TLDR: A spinoff from On The Media from two of the producers there, it's short and sweet and once a week, digging up really fascinating random stories about strange and wonderful things on the internet. If you're not listening, you're missing out.
• The Bugle: From John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman, I wasn't sure whether to put this in the news or entertainment categories, because it's hilarious. It's also just back (as of yesterday) from hiatus since Oliver's been so busy with his HBO show.
• Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me: Also, not sure if this is entertainment or news, but it usually keys off of news, and I still find it amusing, though I feel like this is the kind of show my kids will mock me for listening too when I'm older. It feels like an old person's show.
• Stuff You Should Know: A great podcast where the two hosts, Josh and Chuck have great chemistry with each other as hosts, and the topics are really well covered. When they've touched on things I actually know about they do a really good job, so I assume that's true of many other things as well.
• Stuff You Missed In History Class: Another great podcast from How Stuff Works folks, with hosts Tracy and Holly picking up interesting, if less well known, stories from history.

Story Telling: I don't know what it is, but I love story telling in a whole variety of forms. I love telling stories. I love listening to stories. So I somehow have collected a bunch of podcasts that are forms of story telling.

• This American Life: Still amazing story telling. Some episodes are hit and miss, but when they hit (and there are a lot more hits than misses) they really hit. The gold standard for audio story telling.
• Radiolab: When I first started listening, I thought it was a little like This American Life on speed, because they seemed to edit out every single pause or silence, but over time I've found it to be something different and wonderful all on its own. Really touches on a variety of stories that are almost always amazing. I almost always feel like telling someone else about the episodes after I hear them.
• Re:Sound from the Third Coast Festival: They find great stories from around the globe and put them into a podcast. Some really random stories, but often quite interesting.
• The Moth: If you like storytelling and don't listen to The Moth, you're missing out. The Moth has become a massive institution these days. If you want to know my absolute favorite Moth story ever, it's this one about a scientist robbing a bank, except better than that (randomly, I almost rented that guy's apartment via AirBnB one time, but that's another story).
• Snap Judgment: Another story telling show on NPR with some really great stories.
• Risk! Podcast: A story telling podcast which is decidedly not on NPR, and the host promotes that it's story telling for stories that could never be on NPR -- so they tend to be a little bit more on the out there side of things. There are some great stories on there, but sometimes the selection can be a bit weaker than some of the other shows.
• StartUp Podcast: A brand new one from Alex Blumberg, who worked for This American Life for fifteen years and was the creator of Planet Money. He's now doing a podcasting startup, and is documenting the process in a podcast. I've spent the last fifteen years of my life around entrepreneurs and so far (in just three episodes) this is the most honest take on what it's like to be an entrepreneur that I've ever heard. It's amazing. I can't recommend it highly enough. He's telling the stories about entrepreneurship that we all go through, but which almost no one talks about.
• Serial Podcast: This is a brand spanking new one, and there's only a short preview, as the first episodes don't come out for a few weeks. But it's a new podcast from some of the folks at This American Life, where they're trying to tell a long story in a serialized fashion -- so over the course of a bunch of podcasts, they'll dig super deep into a story. Think of it (maybe) as a season long This American Life. It sounds fascinating.

Entertainment: These are just other podcasts that don't necessarily fit into other categories, and tend to be more on the jokey / entertaining side of things, rather than serious, though some of the interview podcasts can get pretty serious.

• Smodcast: One of the first podcasts I ever listened to, from director/story teller/generally awesome funny man Kevin Smith and his buddy/sometimes producing partner Scott Mosier. It's just generally whimsical and entertaining, but also great. The last year has been wonderful as Kevin turned one of their whimsical discussions (walrus yes!) into a new movie called Tusk which just opened (so go see it).
• Hollywood Babble-On: I listen to a lot of Kevin Smith podcasts these days, but Hollywood Babble-On is probably my favorite. Kevin and another friend of his Ralph Garman talk about entertainment news. They make a hilarious pair. This is apparently on its way to becoming a TV show.
• Edumacation: Another Kevin Smith podcast with another friend, where Kevin tries to learn stuff. Sometimes successfully. Often not. The show itself is pretty funny though.
• Jay & Silent Bob Get Old: Yes, one more Kevin Smith podcast. This one with his old buddy Jay Mewes. This started out as an "intervention podcast" to help Mewes stay off drugs by telling the story of his past, but has turned into something different and amazing as Mewes more or less came out of his shell. This one is more sporadic these days, but still great.
• WTF Podcast: Comedian Marc Maron's amazing podcast. Hands down the most fascinating interviews. When I first started listening to it, I only listened to guests that I knew, but honestly, so many of the interviews were astounding that I now listen to them all. Maron's interviewing style is unlike anyone else's -- and he'll often insert his own insecurities into the interview (less now than in the past), but somehow it works in a way that it shouldn't... but always does.
• The Nerdist Podcast with comedian Chris Hardwick (and sometimes his friends Jonah Ray and Matt Mira). It's hard not to compare it to WTF, as they often interview the same people, but in very, very, very different ways. Where Maron's podcasts sometimes feel like therapy sessions, Hardwick's feel like hanging out with friends.
• Kevin Pollak Chat Show: Another comedian interviewing more guests. Pollak's shows go super long and super in-depth, interspersed with random games and jokes. This one often depends on the guests, but the guests are good more often than not, and Pollak is entertaining.
• The Daily Show Podcast... Without Jon Stewart: A pretty new podcast (just three episodes) which is kind of a behind the scenes at the Daily Show. So far the episodes have been really interesting (and funny).

That's about it. Looking at that list, it sure seems like a lot, but it's really not as crazy as it looks (at 3x speed). Not that I really have time for any more, but I'd love to hear what other podcasts people listen to.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, podcasts

CBS Loses Lawsuit Brought By Podcast Patent Troll, But It's Not Over Yet

from the not-over-yet dept

For a while now, we've been following the saga of Personal Audio, the patent troll who argues that patent 8,112,504 covers podcasting and all other "episodic" content delivered over the internet. There are all sorts of problems with this claim, not the least of which is how Personal Audio was able to make "changes" to the patent long after podcasting had become popular in order to make it look more like the patent covered the concept. While Personal Audio agreed to drop its lawsuits against individual podcasters, it kept its case going against the big broadcasters: CBS, NBC and Fox.

The trial (in East Texas, of course) for CBS came first and the jury sided with Personal Audio, because that's how East Texas patent juries typically roll. In a moment of semi-kindness, the jury awarded Personal Audio $1.3 million, rather than the nearly $8 million they supposedly requested. This story is really just a stepping stone, however. CBS has made it clear that it will appeal the case to CAFC, and given how software/business method patents are getting tossed out left and right these days, the company has a decent chance of prevailing. Meanwhile, the EFF reminds us that it's still working hard to invalidate the patent at the Patent Office, which would help accelerate the process of killing off these bogus lawsuits. Also, while chances are the jury verdicts for NBC and Fox won't be that different, perhaps an East Texas jury will actually get a clue one of these days...

Filed Under: episodic content, networks, patent troll, patents, podcasts
Companies: cbs, personal audio

Podcasting Patent Troll Realizes Podcasters Don't Make Any Money; Desperately Tries To Escape Adam Carolla Lawsuit

from the good-luck-with-that dept

Remember Personal Audio? That's the ridiculous company claiming to hold a patent (US Patent 8,112,504) which it believes covers podcasting. The company has been involved in a variety of dirty tricks, including trying to intimidate donors to an EFF campaign to invalidate the patent. Also, unlike most patent trolls, the folks behind Personal Audio have actually been willing to talk to the press and make themselves look incredibly foolish in the process.

The company's original patent lawsuits against podcasters were directed at Adam Carolla, HowStuffWorks and Togi Entertainment. The company chose poorly. Carolla isn't exactly one to back down from a bully, and kicked off a big crowdfunding campaign to "save podcasting," roping in a bunch of other podcasters to alert their audiences as well. The campaign has raised almost half a million dollars.

It appears that Personal Audio is trying to call uncle and get out of the whole thing, claiming that now that discovery has been done, it's learned how little podcasters actually make. So it's dropped the lawsuits against Togi and HowStuffWorks and wants to do the same for Carolla, but he won't let them:

Personal Audio, the pioneers in personalized media solutions, this month offered to dismiss Adam Carolla (and his podcasting company, Lotzi Digital, Inc.) from its highly publicized patent infringement lawsuit. In May and June of this year, Personal Audio dismissed Togi Net and How Stuff Works, the other podcasting defendants, from the same lawsuit. The offer made by Personal Audio, however, to dismiss Adam Carolla has now been rejected by the comedian. Furthermore, his agents have indicated that he will continue to raise money through FundAnything.com, a site where he has already solicited $450,000.

When Personal Audio first began its litigation, it was under the impression that Carolla, the self-proclaimed largest podcaster in the world, as well as certain other podcasters, were making significant money from infringing Personal Audio’s patents. After the parties completed discovery, however, it became clear this was not the case. As a result, Personal Audio began to offer dismissals from the case to the podcasting companies involved, rather than to litigate over the smaller amounts of money at issue

Carolla has responded to this by noting that he's continuing to pursue his counterclaims against the company in an effort to stop the company from ever suing other podcasters under such a bogus patent. And this is a good thing. As Public Knowledge is pointing out, continuing this fight is the only way to make sure that the company can't continue to abuse this patent.

Filed Under: adam carolla, patent troll, patents, podcasts
Companies: personal audio

UK Music Licensing Agency Says You Can't Use Its Music In Your Podcast Without First Purchasing A License It Doesn't Even Offer

from the pretty-much-like-the-movie-'Brazil,'-only-with-stylish-electronics dept

The nightmarishly intertwining world of music licensing is a popular topic here, especially considering the past outlandish actions of various performance rights agencies. On top of this, there's the multitude of different licenses, each one applying specifically to certain formats or outlets. If it's streaming on Youtube, it needs x license and y license. If it's streaming at Spotify, it needs x license and z license. If it's a radio station simulcast at the station's website, license x, y and z are needed, along with license aa. And so on.

Podcasters in the UK are running into licensing problems when attempting to clear music for their broadcasts, as PPL (who covers performance rights for recorded music, like SoundExchange in the US) is causing problems. PPL has a history of questionable over enforcement, and they just can't let up, apparently. Phil Satterly sends in this rather sad story of a long-running Progressive Rock podcast (DRRP Radio) that is going "off the air" thanks to PPL's thoroughly impossible demands.

Launched 18 months ago, we've produced 83 shows that have been downloaded over 30,000 times. We've covered bands from every type of prog. We've done special features on independent labels and festivals plus interviews with the likes of Clive Nolan, Steven Wilson, Gazpacho, Steve Hogarth, Riverside, Sean Filkins, Mystery and Godsticks. We have regular listeners from as far away as New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, Cuba and The Shetland Isles!

Unfortunately three weeks ago our service provider stopped enabling downloads of the shows. The move followed pressure from the PPL – the organisation in the UK which provides broadcast licences for the recording copyright holder (i.e. record companies).

PPL is doing what collective rights organizations do best: shut down as many artistic outlets as possible. The organization is looking for a payout, but can't even be bothered to let people pay them, as Andy Read (one of the podcast hosts) points out.

Music licensing is a complex issue and it took quite some find to find a way to legally do DPRP Radio in the first place. We have a broadcast licence, we have a streaming licence and we have a podcast licence for the PRS – the body representing the songwriters. We do not have a podcast licence for the PPL who are now threatening legal action against podcast providers. We would happily buy a podcast licence from them… but they do not offer one!

DRRP isn't the only podcast being asked to do the impossible by PPL. The UK Folk Music podcast host quotes the PPL website's wording on the broadcast licensing it does offer.

As a broadcaster you would have to obtain permission from potentially thousands of record companies before being able to play the recorded music – a PPL licence gives you this permission and allows you to play virtually all recorded music readily available in the UK simply, quickly and legally. PPL then passes these licence fees, less our running costs, onto the performers and rights holders, similar to royalties.

Handy, I guess, except that PPL does not offer a license specifically for podcasting. Podcasters need a very limited license if using PPL's music because the podcasts are able to be downloaded and stored. This distinguishes them (and moves them into another area of copyright protection) from radio broadcasts or other streaming services whose offerings are transient. (Not that these can't be "trapped/downloaded." Anyone remember cassette tapes? Yeah, same thing. Only with software.)

PPL's lack of a podcasting license punts the ball back to podcasters and other music bloggers. If they can't get a blanket license, they'll have to do it the hard way: "obtain permission from potentially thousands of record companies before being able to play the recorded music."

Obviously, this is an impossibility. And for those of you saying clever stuff like "just use original music by artists not represented by this agency?" Well, you obviously haven't been paying attention. Rights groups like PPL and PRS will still try to collect from you. In their minds, no one plays music anywhere (not even in their hardware store/ hotel room) without playing a bunch of their stuff. It's a self-serving distortion of reality.

And for those hoping the artists that split from PPL to form their own rights group (EOS) will result in a brighter, smoother future for all concerned? You can pretty much kiss that rosy picture goodbye. EOS has already attempted to shutter a few radio stations. The end result is another venue for artist exposure being shut down by the "white knights" of the artistic community. These agencies don't really care about the artists on their roster. They just want to find a way to insert themselves, hands out, between the artists and their supporters.

Filed Under: license, music, podcasts, uk
Companies: ppl

ESPN Affiliate Delays Podcasts; Announcer Rips Into His Bosses For Cluelessness

from the so-shortsighted dept

Ah, the shortsightedness of old school entertainment companies knows no bounds apparently. The latest is Disney-owned ESPN ESPN 980, a local radio station that uses the ESPN name, who seems to think, foolishly, that making it more difficult for fans to listen to its radio programming will somehow be better for them. The details are that ESPN 980 used to release podcasts for its shows, making listening convenient for people who either wanted to time delay their listening, or who couldn't listen on a radio very easily. But, because ESPN 980 execs only focus on radio ratings as the key metric, they made the shortsighted calculation that they should make it harder to listen to the podcasts, in the misguided hope that it might drive more listeners to the radio version. The execs there claim that this is how it needs to "protect its ratings." Of course, that's ridiculous. If people can't listen the way they want to, they'll listen to something else. ESPN 980 is deluding itself if it thinks that people will still bend to ESPN 980 rather than expecting ESPN 980 to bend to them.

Not surprisingly, the on air talent seems to get this a lot more than the folks making the decisions. While the station insisted that star radio host Tony Kornheiser "understands" why ESPN 980 is doing this, and isn't upset about it, listeners to Kornheiser's show apparently sensed his views were a bit different. As noted by Dan Steinberg:

“The policy is gonna kill the show,” [Kornheiser] said, with typical subtlety and restraint. “It’s simply going to kill the show....That is the problem. You’re listening to this a day late. That’s the solution around here, the solution to getting more people listening live. And by the way, there’s a great glee with which I am told that my ratings are bad. There’s a great glee. The people around here seem to think that this is charming, and that if I only did what they wanted, everything would be right in the world.

“But it doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work that way, because of the way audio is delivered to America. It’s delivered on demand. And if when you demand it you can’t get it, you’re not going to listen to it.

“Here’s what’s going to happen in the next five or 10 years, boys and girls. There’s not gonna be football on television any more. It’s all gonna be in your computer. That’s the way it’s gonna work. It’ll be brought to you by people like Google, brought to you by people who are search engine people, and I know nothing about this. There’s no way to make any money any more doing it the old way. The old way is not just old, much like me — it is dead.

“That’s the old way. People don’t want that any more. They’re not going to sit around and wait for things....The people who run radio stations, they’re apparently not adapting to the new culture and don’t truly understand how it works and what people want… Management believes differently than I believe. I still do the show. I’m not running away from the show. I just wish it were more accessible, quicker, to more people.”

He seems to get it a lot more than the people who are paid to get it.

Update: Aha. Turns out that this was the local station, ESPN 980 -- who merely licenses the ESPN name -- who made this decision. And, it appears that ESPN itself makes it easier to get access to the show. Blame goes to the local radio station.

Filed Under: audience, delays, podcasts, tony kornheiser