Screens Get Bigger and Pictures Get Smaller

Vloggercon came to San Francisco last week, and I have to say that outside of a tight circle of geeks and assorted weirdos the entire event went pretty much unnoticed around here. I didn't attend myself because (1) I never heard of Vloggercon before, and (2) even if I had heard of it I wouldn't know what the hell it was. But I have a good idea that it was a conference for all the folks doing those newfangled things called video blogs or vlogs, or what I like to call video podcasts.

Now we all know what podcasts are. At least we should know. In fact, if you don't what podcasts are by now then I'd say maybe you should just forget the whole tech revolution and go back to paper and pencil and rubbing two sticks together to make fire. For the sake of this blog, though, I'll just assume we all know what podcasts are.

Now, podcasts are great. In fact, the first time I subscribed to one and downloaded it to my mp3 player I knew right away that this was the way to go. Finally, podcasting gave the listener the means to break away from the interminable sameness of commercial radio and find creative new voices and refreshing new ideas. I liked podcasting from the first moment I heard it, and can't imagine ever going back to the days of searching the dial for interesting things to listen to.

So, just as podcasting changed the audio experience, video blogging has also changed the video experience. Right? Right? Well...

I think there is really one basic difference between podcasting and video blogging. Namely, the time and effort that goes into a podcast versus the time and effort that goes into a video blog. One of the things that has made podcasting so successful is that it is cheap and easy to do and literally anyone with a microphone and a computer can do it. That means geeks can do it, but chefs and artists and sports fans and whoever else wants to give it a try can do it too. Even catholic priests can do it for crying out loud, and the great diversity of voices and talents is what makes podcasting so much fun.

Video blogs, on the other hand, suck.

I mean I want to be fair and I certainly can't claim to have seen every video blog out there, but believe me I've seen enough of 'em to know they suck. Maybe it's because the barrier to entry is high and you don't have as big a pool of potential video bloggers as podcasters, but for whatever reason I've yet to find a video blog that wasn't a complete waste of time and bandwidth. If you don't believe me then just take a look at Rocketboom, currently the king of the video blogs. Just go to the website and watch an episode and see if you can figure out what all the excitement is about. Lord knows, I can't, although I think it has something to do with the whole "Indie" movement that seems to be taking the world by storm. You know, if something is "Indie" then that implies a chic coolness, regardless of whether it's any good or not. That, as far as I can figure , is what the Rocketboom phenomena is about. If you ask me it's just a bunch of empty calories. Pretty to look at and not much nutritional value.

What really gets me about the video blogging thing, though, is why do people subscribe to these things when there is so much good video available on the web. Here are a few examples -

ABC.com
DL.tv
Crankygeeks.com
Youtube.com

And on and on and on. There's so much video happening on the web these days it just seems pointless to waste time on the vlogs. Rocketboom? Let me tell you, you'll get more content in just one segment of DL.tv or Crankygeeks than in a whole month of Rocketbooms. And there are other shows on the web that are just as good.

Vloggercom? Bah, humbug. Let's talk about video that's worth watching, and for the rest just stick with podcasting. Speaking of podcasting, here are a couple:

Thomas Edison's Attic: This is actually a real radio show that's produced by a station out in New Jersey. Luckily, they also syndicate it out as a podcast for those of us who don't happen to live in New Jersey. The show is produced by the Edison National Historic Site and every couple of weeks they broadcast some vintage recordings from Thomas Edison's collection of late 19th and early 20th century wax cylinders. If you're at all interested in early recorded music then you'll want to subscribe to this podcast. Excellent!

SMTV: Samantha Murphy is a working musician who travels the country doing interviews and highlighting the works of other "Indie" musicians (there's that word again). It's an interesting look at bands who are working and recording and yet haven't been able to make that next big step into stardom. I can't say I like all the bands she features, but I like hearing their stories. What do you do if you're a struggling band? Do you strike out on your own and be the master of your own destiny, happy just to make a living doing what you love, or do you wait for that big record deal, surrendering control for the big shows and the mega-bucks? A lot of bands are trying to figure that out these days. Samantha Murphy likes to joke about her "five listeners", but I think she's got a few more subscribers than that.

And while I'm on this linking thing, one more Youtube link. This one is a 10 minute short made back in the 1940's and features two legends of the saxophone. The first half features Lester Young playing in his intimate, soulful style, and the second half features Illinois Jacquet picking it up and getting sassy. Of course there's a whole cast of musicians playing with them but those two are the stars.