Originally published December 29 2005
AOL works on new search engine for podcasts
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
AOL is working on a new search engine to allow users to look for and listen to portions of podcasts that have particular words or phrases. Critics say the current summary system is not descriptive enough (most are about 13 words long).
That's loosely the case for the growing number of features for finding podcasts, which are very much in the vein of radio shows, but are downloaded any time from the Internet.
But now comes some hope for those looking for a better way to sort through the growing number of podcasts on the Internet.
America Online is at work on a search engine that, in theory, would let someone seek out and listen to snippets of podcasts that contain a particular word or phrase they are searching for.
PointerClick here to read about the potential of podcasts.
What AOL's attempting to do represents a quantum leap from how search engines now categorize podcasts, of which there are an estimated 50,000 and growing.
Nearly all of the major search engines' podcasting services rely on "show notes," which is a written description of the program by its producers.
It's an extremely rare service that lets you search the podcast's actual contents.
But the average show note is little more than 13 words long, according to a recent study by San Francisco-based Blinkx, a Yahoo competitor that specializes in audio and video search.
So few words can't possibly do justice in describing all aspects of a Podcast, which on average is about 20 minutes long, critics said.
Just how improved the service is remains to be seen when AOL's service is launched.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml