Hi folks. I just wanted to update everyone on a couple of changes here at The Wood Lab.
First, I finally got around to mapping the domain name I bought a while back to this blog. So less typing! You can reach this blog now at thewoodlab.net! Old bookmarks and links will still work; anything going to thewoodlab.wordpress.com will point to the new URL.
The second item has to do with videos that I do for the blog. A while back I changed all the embeded videos to the YouTube version, as I found it played nicer across a more varied set of phones and tablets. I had also been using Blip.tv to host the videos, but they have decided to axe many folks’ accounts, including mine, so that they only focus on regularly produced, higher production quality content. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I also don’t think it’s a huge deal. I never really advertised that I had the videos available via Blip in the iTunes directory. My gut feel is that most folks visiting my site view the videos here, and not subscribe to them in iTunes or some other podcatcher. Hopefully that’s the case anyway, since the handful of videos I have are now just on YouTube. (If you did subscribe using iTunes or a podcatcher, let me know in the comments. I’m curious.)
I think a podcast feed (in iTunes or any podcatcher) is becoming less and less important for a video podcast. Smart phones and especially tablets have almost eliminated the need for it. I still rely upon my iTunes subscriptions for audio stuff personally and my own metrics back up the slow death of the video RSS feed.
Thanks for that feedback Shannon. We have similar habits. I find myself more and more viewing folks’ videos right on their site. I still use a podcatcher on my phone for audio content though, since I usually listen to these on my commute to/from work.