In 2008 I was glad to see the enhancements of great tools for podcasters. Wizzard put out their new player, and Paul Colligan and crew continue to add more features to premiumcast.

I like the fact that in 2008 whenever I spoke to a group and ask “Who has ever heard of podcasting” almost all hands were raised, and almost as many when I would ask “How many have actually listened to a podcast?” That trend is continuing.

I disliked that in 2008 my audience didn’t seem to grow as fast as it did in 2007. It was a slower, gradually climb as apposed to 2007 which had more spikes. On the other hand I’m doing less to promote my shows.

In 2008 Podshow changed their name to Mevio, and changed their payment plan to me. I can’t discuss the details, but as I’m listing it as a dislike you can figure out how it affectd me financially. What I do like about Mevio is they have given me the potential to earn more money using their sponsors and my own in the future and I now own 100% of my show. So there is a mixed bag that will hopefully blossom.

In 2008 I am sad to see and hear podcasters selling out for much less than they are worth. In many cases an advertisement will be in your show for life. I had one company offer to pay me 7 dollars for a link on my site. A link that had to be permanent, and more insane things that totally devalued my listeners and visitors to my website. While I have made decent money using affiliate marketing and podcasting, I am bummed that so many people want to use the CPM method which only works if you have mammoth audiences. Which leads to me one of my biggest disappointments

In April I was told that Podango was working on fixing their show builder lite software that helps you create your podcast on the fly. Then if you get a new sponsor, the new sponsor is inserted into the back catalog. This is HUGE for people trying to sell advertising . While their system is easy, and if you have the time to republish all your old shows  – it work, but I’m frustrated that their system (which from what I understand was much more fragile than expected when they purchased it from Gigavox). I’m even more frustrated that no company has developed a competitor for the podcaster with a few hundred listeners, and would love to have a dynamic version of their podcast.

I like that the uber-hype of podcasting has crescendo’ed to a bit and people are realizating that in the same way that VCR’s didn’t kill the movie business, Podcasting is not killing radio. People are starting to understand that Podcasting is a phenomenal channel (just like email, fax, and print) to get your message out to the world. It also is probably one of the most effective and cheapest.

I disliked that when the economy took a hit that I had members of the School of Podcasting left. However, I did like that in the midst of the panic, more companies hired me as a podcast consultant to just “do it for them.”
While I don’t own an iPhone, I am very happy people can download a podcast without even being near a computer. This is HUGE.

My biggest dislike was having three websites hacked, and one gmail account hacked (that for the record I’ve know been without for 14 days)

My biggest like was emailing, communicating, tweeting, with great people like you, and the members of the School of Podcasting.

I recently updated all of our wordpress tutorials to show version 2.7 and in the process streamlined much of the learning curve at the School of Podcasting. If you’ve been thinking of signing up, now would be a great time. Don’t forget about that coupon code SANTA to save 25% now through the end of the year. There will be no extension.

I want to thank each and everyone of you for listening, and contributing over this year. I would deeply appreciate your feedback at dave “at” schoolofpodcasitng.com or call in your comments at 888-563-3228 or go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/contact for the many other ways of chiming in with the podcast. I would love to hear your thoughts on 2008. Comment out at the blog, and let me know.

Speaking of that, I will be taking next week off and I will be switching my feed from one website to another. Now the good news is 99% of you have subscribed to my feedburner feed and shouldn’t notice any change. All I’m doing is switching the original RSS feed (which came from Libsyn) and substituting my RSS feed from the School of Podcasting. I’ve migrated all of my old posts and when you go to shownotes.schoolofpodcasting.com you will now go to the School of Podcasting instead of the old Libsyn site. In doing this I’ve already seen an increase in traffic to my site. Hopefully it won’t cause any issues with you my loyal subscribers.

Thanks to all. Have a safe and happy Christmas season, and have a blessed new year. Please start living a life worth podcasting about, and until 2009 – class dismissed.