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The Association for Downloadable Media held its election recently and surprise, surprise, Susan Bratton won her seat as vice chair. And here’s another surprise (not!) - the ADM made a rule that automatically promotes the vice chair to chairperson the following year. So in effect, this will be pretty much Susan’s organization for the next 24 months.

I have little hope that the ADM will end up representing the best interests of most podcasters. But what hope I do have stems from the fact that several very good and talented people with actual podcasting and broadcasting backgrounds were added to the board of advisors. Nobody knows how much Susan will listen to these advisors, so their impact may or may not be minimal. In any event, it’s clear to me that we still need an organization that represents not just those selling downloads, but all new media producers.

I am working with others who feel like the ADM is a lost cause to join an existing new media organization founded by Rick Calvert from Blogworld & New Media Expo. If that doesn’t pan out, we’ll move forward with our own organization.

Stand by for more information as it becomes available.

As far as the ADM goes, well I certainly wish them well and hope that they listen to the membership and try to advance an agenda that represents and benefits all new media producers, not just the leaders of the ADM.

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I am very excited to announce that our company, Podango, has acquired Gigavox Audio Lite. Doug and Michael have been thought leaders in the podcasting community since day one. And their software integrated into what we’re already doing at Podango will be great!

And by the way, the deal got CRUNCHED!

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Sorry for the light posting this month. I’ve been on medical leave but I am back, and excited about the upcoming Podcast & New Media Expo in Ontario. Beginning on Friday, September 28, most of the movers and shakers in our industry will be at one place. And this year, there promises to be some interesting news and developments.

For my part, I’ll be speaking at the Podango Unconference on Saturday. I’ll be hosting a how-to production day featuring some of the best in the business. The Podango Unconference takes place in the Podango booth so stop by to say hi.

I am also looking forward to seeing what develops on the association front. Our steering committee voted to try to work within the ADM to see if we can change the direction there before officially starting our own association. The ADM leaders claim the organization will bow to the will of its members, so we’ll see if that’s true or not. Our survey clearly shows dissatisfaction with the original direction of the ADM. If the ADM founders are truly open to ideas other than their own, we’ll work something out. If not, we’ll carry on with our own group. That decision will likely be made at PNME.

Also, there will be more parties and a live concert this year. I am anxious to measure both vendor and attendee response to the show. If it continues to grow, it will be a sign that the industry is healthy. If it stagnates, it might be a sign that we’ve hit a plateau.

And finally, Podango will have several major announcements that we’ll break at the Expo. Stay tuned because I think you’ll find this very interesting.

Are you planning on attending and if so, what do you hope to get out of the Expo?

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There’s reason to celebrate being in the online media business - the rest of the world is starting to come see us!

A batch of recent surveys say so.

The Consumer Electronics Association says that more than 70% of homes have access to broadband and more than 50% of those homes are taking advantage of that access.

Interpret says the iPhone has had a halo effect on the mobile media market.

Yankee Group says the transformation of the internet from a response platform to a brand medium will do more to attract and secure larger budgets from brand advertising.

Pew says that more than 57% of people have watched online video.

Burst Media says online is the way to reach college students and that they have money to spend.

So the audience is certainly coming our way. That means the advertisers aren’t far behind. Are we ready?

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NOTE: Cross-posted at applephoneshow.com

A research company called Interpret has released a study that shows the iPhone certainly has had a halo effect on the mobile media market.

Until the release of the iPhone, I never personally got the attraction of cell phones as mobile media devices. Perhaps that’s because most cell phones have screens and/or interfaces that are so bad, nobody would want to use them for anything other than dialing a phone call.

But the iPhone has changed all that, and it appears Interpret’s research proves that point.

Read more »

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