The future is reading

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Gene

Am I the only one who has completely lost interest in podcasts and videocasts? I become so annoyed now when I see a link to what sounds like an interesting opinion or interview only to discover that it requires me to download a 45mb podcast and listen to the whole damned thing to find the part I want; or load up a small blocky flash video and devote my full attention to it.

I much prefer to read, to skim the paragraphs and pick up the parts that interest me, without having to wait for it. It seems odd that the spectacularly hyperlinked and random web is now dominated by such linear methods of gaining information, methods that take so much time and rapt attention. No wonder businesses everywhere are trying to limit employee access to the web, it is demanding too much of their attention for such little benefit!

Note to content generators out there: when I click through to your interview and it is only available in an audio or video format, I go away without it. Old fashioned transcripts are the key, guys.