Streaming Podfic

[paraka]

So I just made a post over at podfic_tips about how to embed streams of your podfic but I thought it might be a good idea to talk about why I think people might want to offer streams.

Many of us listen to podfic on portable players so can't imagine why you'd want a stream, but trust me, some people do and there are also benefits to the podficcer.

• Potential for Increased Feedback
  There are a lot of reasons why podfic doesn't get as much feedback as other fan works but one of those reasons is that often people are listening to podfic away from a computer or a away from the page where they can leave feedback. If someone is listening to a stream though, they're never leaving the page and that can increase the chances that they will leave feedback.


• Getting New People Interested in Podfics
  There are a lot of reasons why we love podfic but one of the reasons I hear cited the most is that you can take fic with you to places where you normally wouldn't have access to fic (out for walks, during house work, at work, etc.). Streaming kinda takes away from that benefit however there are people out there that have heard of podfic (or will hear about podfic) who have never given it a shot. It's not that they have anything against the idea, they just don't really know what it is and downloading something they're not sure they'll be into seems like a lot of effort (or they download it and forget about it, so it sits there gathering virtual dust). But if podfic pops up on their circle/flist/feed and all they have to do is give it a click I think more people will give podfic a shot. And once they realize how awesome podfic is, some of the other benefits can take over.


• Ease of Listening to Shorter Podfics
  Some of us are prejudice against short podfics. It's not that we don't like them! But by the time we download them, then sync them with our players it's just beginning to feel like too much effort. For a short podfic, listening to the stream can just be easier. This is also great when you see a quirky podfic that you'd like to listen to once but know you'll probably never listen to again. That happens to me a lot during amplificathon, I'm hugely monofannish so tend not to listen to stuff outside my fandom but amplificathon provides such unique stuff that I want to give it a try. But once I download it, I forget about why I wanted to listen to it and it ends up gathering dust in my unlistened to folder :( (I can't be the only one who does this, right?)


• Listening on a Computer You Don't Own
  Sometimes people are listening to podfic on a computer they don't own. Historically my own listening was done mostly on my computer at work. I didn't have any problems with downloading the files to my work computer but some of us aren't as blasé about it (especially if you listen to the higher rated podfic). Having a stream lets you listen to the podfic without downloading it directly.
  There are also those times when you're stuck somewhere with access to a computer and internet but it's not one you necessarily want to download podfic on (for example, when spending hours at your parents house helping address wedding invitations for your sister >.> Podfic is really helpful in those situations, let me tell you).


• Instant Gratification
  If you are someone who listens on a computer, streams give you the chance to start listening to the podfic right away rather than waiting for the download to finish.


• "Try Before You Buy"
  All of us have had that experience where we download a podfic but for some reason it's not a podfic we're able to listen to (sometimes tech issues, sometimes a background noise will drive you batty, sometimes a podficcer's style just doesn't work for you, whatever). If there's a stream available, you can listen to the first couple seconds and see if the podfic will work for you. Or conversely, if there's a podficcer that you've been avoiding because a previous podfic of their's had those issues, you can check to see if those issues were a one time thing or if the podficcer has changed since then.

I don't think streaming is ever going to replace downloads but I think it's a nice addition. There are probably more reasons out there why podfic streaming is awesome but those are the ones I can think of at the moment. There are also reasons why some will object to streaming so I'll now open up the comments and we can get discussing. :)