I’m at PodcastCon. Lots of podcasters here, from the UK and abroad. People range from the big media firms (Virgin, BBC etc) to lots of ‘amateurs’ (ie they have a day job too). Interesting stuff. I’ll write it up later (my notes are not great blog material, and I’m too busy making them to blog them as well, sorry).

Actually scratch that, here are some badly typed notes form this latest presentation:

**Talk by James Cridland, head new media Virgin Radio

Talking about the relationship between broadcassting and podcasting.

He rejects the idea that podcasting is amateaur.

Virgin started on one station, one platform, one engine, built in 1020 by BBC.

Now more platforms – 26 different platforms (real, Windows, DAB, TV, AM/FM etc etc)

1958 – Silvertone 305 radio.

Broadcasting isn’t new, but podcatsing a “me-casting”.

Virgin – 3G, visual radio.

Pete ans Geoff – chops music (rights) but also you are time-shifting the personalities, not the music. The music you can get anytime,

Announced new podcats: Best of the guests Podcast. Time from their ‘long tail -‘ – archiveed guests as well as new.

Unsigned bands podcast – putting together.

How do Virgin maybe make their podcast unsigned bands available to other podcasters? (Spreading word about virgin???)

They find that people go back and grab archibve, and they didn’t appreciate what people wanted to listen to until they did it.

Now have a commanding position on iTunes. Does increadibly well in Weekdays.

3,600 downloads for a niche show which doesn’t get much listeners.

Threat to podcats: 77% listen to FM radio on their Nokia mobiles during the week.

83% listen to

Radios in iPods could be a threat to Podcasting.

Also get pix on a radia=o phone Virgin Mobile also douring 3 live TV stations.

Audi is just as important to phone users as Tv is in teched-up South Korea.

Nokia’s Visual Radio adds visuals to radio experience (not video).

Adding visual to podcasts could be a future trend.

41% of Virgin listeners have a portable media player.

32% have an iPod, 68% have another brand of player.

Benefits of

This wek in Tech is a good podcast but a terrible web site.

You go into an o2 store and use a pic to send a pic to Pete and Geoff, to ask if they are ugly:

Audio. Tying audio with visual of Web site is a new method that podcastswrs should look at.