Report: Podcasters Meet With Apple, Discuss Concerns

Podcasts are kind of a big deal. You might not be the biggest fan yourself, but many swear by them as they sit in traffic during their daily commute, run on the treadmill at lunch, or otherwise need a way to distract (and educate) themselves throughout the day.

Apple certainly did its part to help push podcasts along, boosting the fairly fledgling medium back in 2005 when it officially added support for podcasts into iTunes (and a podcast directory into the iTunes Store). And while the company doesn't really make money from podcasts, since it doesn't let anyone charge for them on iTunes, it nevertheless continues to support podcasts within iTunes.

Though, to some podcasters, Apple appears to be dropping the ball.

As The New York Times reports, a number of prolific podcasters allegedly met with Apple in late April—at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, no less—to discuss some of their concerns with Apple's treatment of podcasts. Though company executives didn't promise to make any changes following these podcasters' presentations, they did hear them out.

General concerns from podcasters, according to sources speaking to The New York Times, include the fact that fledgling podcasters struggle to attract interest from a small team at Apple that handles podcast promotion. Without it, they might never be able to get any big traction for their shows among Apple's sprawling podcast directory.

And, of course, podcasters can't use any of Apple's infrastructure to make money. There's no way for them to charge for their broadcasts, as mentioned, nor is there even any kind of tipping mechanism built into iTunes that would allow eager fans to shoot their favorite shows a few bucks every now and then.

Podcasters also want more metrics from Apple. Though they can tell how many times episodes have been downloaded, they have no way of knowing whether these episodes were even listened to. They also want to be able to see when listeners stop listening to a particular episode, which could be useful if a podcast is trying to figure out what makes for a good episode length (or whether particular topics or segments are more likely to make listeners tune out).

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Though Apple hasn't indicated any changes it might make to podcasts in iTunes—if any—the company did take a moment to note the continued importance of podcasts in iTunes ecosystem.

"We have more people than ever focused on podcasting, including engineers, editors and programmers. Podcasts hold a special place with us at Apple," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of software and services, in a statement provided to The Times.