I see that the BBC’s Chris Moyles has leapt to the top of the Apple download chart, becoming one of the fastest selling podcasts of 2005 (sorry, been listening to too many chart shows). Ten hours after release, it topped the list of most subscribed; not sure if it’s there now as the list is not on the web and, owning a Creative MP3 player instead of an iPod never got round to updating iTunes. I now have the funny picture in my head of lots of American’s donwloading Moylsy and not understanding a word he says or, if they do, just not quite getting it.
For me though, the success of the show is not the only intersting thing about the story. Look what else the BBC has on that page. A clear description of podcasting (without a refernece to iPods). The RSS orange button and a link to an explanation of what is RSS. Finally, links to both a listing of the BBC shows currently in the podcast trial and to the BBC Collective Podcast feature. The Collective is a subsite, looking at trends in entertainment. Let’s hope it does not go the same was as the Cult sites.
The BBC continues to act as an educator, an authority of where things are going. Many people will not change, are slow to adopt, but if Aunty says it’s good, then it has to be.
