Back in 2004, Ben Tucker created OpenPodcast.org. The idea: Let anybody contribute to a community-run podcast; anything that gets sent in, goes out to the world.
This was one of the first steps to making podcasting a feasible platform for regular people. At the time, ‘podcasting’ was new, hacky, and took a level of technical understanding to implement. OpenPodcast.org served as a platform for content producers, back when implementing the system yourself was difficult.
I found OpenPodcast.org in 2005, and I was blown away. Every morning, hours of audio would just turn up: rambling telephone monologues (which became the basis for many early audio-blogs), independent music, as well as produced shows like the Sound-A-Day Podcast. I was experiencing a whole new world of content, thanks to this free, unmoderated platform.
In 2006, OpenPodcast.org went offline. It simply disappeared. Devoid of the service it provided, many producers moved to Blogger and Feedburner, which were making podcasting simpler. Content found its new home, as well as a better prospect for being found amid the sea of new media.
The death of OpenPodcast.org left the internet devoid of one particular service, though: a constant, always-on tuner for the audible world. Open, centralised platforms like OpenPodcast.org allowed for an intimate view into people’s everyday lives, from all across the world, in one place.
What’s replaced it? I would say AudioBoo.fm. It’s the only thing to fit the bill since OpenPodcast.org’s demise, allowing people to add a slice of their life to a collective pool. While slightly UK-biased in its active user base, it is truly a successor to the type of service OpenPodcast.org delivered almost five years ago.
My only question is, why did it take this long?