ChasNote

Acording to today’s NY Times (reg required), "Fewer Americans are reading books than a decade ago, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, but almost a third more are listening to them on tapes, CD’s and iPods." And HarperCollins forecasts 40% growth in their digital audiobook sales next year (PaidContent.org). This suggests to me that whitepapers-on-iPod or technical-user-guide-on-iPod (see my 5/17/05 post) might just have a market.

… To that earlier post, one reader’s comment: "It seems there is a lack of engagement opportunity within the pod environment, something that is critical in most if not all B2B marketing initiatives today…." Perhaps podcasts don’t allow 2-way engagement. But if, in fact, a prospective customer tunes in to a 30-minute vendor podcast, that listener is certainly "engaging" with the vendor’s brand.

… Podcasting threatens Audible’s business (Forbes). Audible CEO Don Katz disagrees (Audible.com’s blog).

… Earlier this month at the Syndicate conference, Michael Dunn told Rok Hrastnik that paid subscription models will pay the podcast bills (Dunn interview).