Enhanced podcasts never really took off

A usability tenet we constantly have to refer back to when developing media strategies is that PEOPLE ARE LAZY. This is true for the content creator side, as well as for those who would consume media products. It just dawned on me today that from my vantage point that while the number of people developing audio and video content continues to grow impressively, there's been little, if any, movement in the space of developing enhanced podcasts.

There are a couple of little utilities available to enjoy podcasts with extended features like chapterizing, embedded images and hyperlinking. Most of these features only work in iTunes, which may explain the stagnation. Also, there's a command-line utility produced by Apple and new XML tagset you'll need to be familiar with if you want to get your content right. And the output product is an M4A or M4B file, which I'm not sure has the universal appeal of MP4s, able to be copied onto various media devices for playback.

But more importantly, I think, is the fact that the development model isn't at all seamless. It's damn hard work to meticulously synchronize spoken content with imagery. I know a few podcasters who have dressed up their shows with such accoutrements, but they're the vast minority.

Perhaps the advent of the video podcast killed off this idea. Why embed simple images when you can get full-on video? It's much easier to produce and more universally appealing.