| Home > Technology > Using iTunes' Start and Stop settings to get rid of Podshow's annoying ads - Steve Gillmor and the Gang, you paying attention? |
| Using iTunes' Start and Stop settings to get rid of Podshow's annoying ads - Steve Gillmor and the Gang, you paying attention? | | Date Created: 18 Nov, 2006, 02:29 AM |
 I've been listening to the Gillmor Gang ever since it began. My education in things technology has increased marvelously since I discovered it, and my guess is that for many in Silicon Valley and other hotbeds of tech gossip it is a "must listen to" podcast series, breaking stories and giving some behind-the-scenes commentary second-to-none.
I have listened to its contributors and guests come and go, and watch how fearless leader Steve Gillmor joined the Podshow network in his attempt to show podcasts could be monetised.
Well, Steve, it can be. You've proved your point. But not via this little black duck - not anymore.
I became heartily tired of the incessant ads. front and back of the podcast some months back. And I blogged about here, in a new game I invented called "GillmorRoulette" where I spin my iPod's scroll wheel to see how close I can get to where the real content starts, and TiVo-like bypass the ads.
Now you might think it's a shame that I don't hear the advertiser's message, but frankly, I 'm long passed "respecting" the advertisers because you demand it of me.
If I got MacDonald's to sponsor my podcast on "health and nutrition" would you respect them because I asked you to? Just made that podcast up, but you get my drift.
And the idea of taking your long conversations and splitting them into 3, 4 or 5 parts to stuff more ads in and trip up my news aggregator has became a real PITA.
So whenever the iPod sucks up the latest Gang podcasts, I automatically scroll forward about 4 minutes or so - I don't even bother to check any longer if you've changed the ad. I bet thousands of listeners do the same out of frustration.
So rather than guessing, I decided to take advantage of iTunes' intro and outro timing selections available in its Get Info/Options preferences, as shown below. |
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And now, from here on in, I'm going to share it with fellow Gang listeners who will join with me in eliminating the ads from our listening experience.
As you can see with the screenshot, the first podcast in the most recent series which Steve names "Video Gang" and which features Marc Benioff is named "GillmorGang-2006.11.15-1".
So here's how it works. I'm going to give my readers iTunes' Start and Stop times for the gang podcasts. Just enter these times into your iTunes using each podcasts own Get Info settings and your iPod will bring the timings over when you next sync.
No more ads.
Maybe then, Steve, you will get the message if enough people get the buzz out. Perhaps then you'll pay attention. But keep up the good work in between the start and stop times, OK?
GillmorGang-2006.11.15-1 Start Time: 4:12min Stop Time: 29:25min
GillmorGang-2006.11.15-2 Start Time: 4:18min Stop Time: 30:21min |
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