Yahoo Podcasts, MSN Video, & Google Video Alerts? Oh, My!

Yahoo Closes Down Podcasting Site

This made me kind of sad, but Read/WriteWeb reports that Yahoo will be closing down its 2-year-old podcasting directory effective October 31. Bummer. As the screenshot depicts, Yahoo doesn’t give any information regarding why they’re closing down the site, they simply offer an apology and expiration date.

There’s been talk that the reason for the closure may be that they’re revamping their entertainment offerings (Yahoo Music, Yahoo TV, etc), and perhaps podcasting will be included in that. Frankly, the site could use a little clean up. The currently podcasting directory isn’t altogether user-friendly. There weren’t any RSS feeds and users were forced to log in with a Yahoo ID in order to download any of the content. Hopefully, we’ll see a fresh launch sometime soon, or at least I’m going to go ahead and keep telling myself that. The podcasting audience is just starting to grow; I’d hate to see Yahoo miss out on an excellent opportunity to reach people. We’ll see what happens next.

Microsoft Rolls Out A (Much, Much) Better Video Search

Microsoft released a new version of its MSN Video site, hoping it provide a better experience for both users and advertisers. R/WW’s Marshall Kirkpatrick took a look and called it the video site of the future, adding that it’s not pretty, but it is something you need to check out.

Why is it the video site of the future? Because MSN is implementing a new time-based advertising system that will deliver ads based on the amount of time a user spends viewing, not how many clips they watched. The idea is that advertisers will be able to insert an ad at set time intervals, perhaps every 5 minutes or so. I’m not so sure about this. My thought would be that if I’m trying to watch a long video and you’re inserting an ad every 10 minutes, well, I’m probably not going to stay very long. I’m most likely going to get highly agitated and then go blog about it. That may just be me.

And I’m inclined to disagree with Marshall over the attractiveness of the site. I don’t really remember what the old site looked like, but I happen to think the new site is quite pretty. Its openness encourages readers to browse through Microsoft’s video catalog and engage with the site. Also neat is the split screen format Microsoft is using so that users can view one video while still browsing for something better. Ah, it’s my type of video viewing.

Google Alerts Get Video

Google is making it easy for users to track interesting video content with the release of new video Google Alerts. Now you can keep tabs on videos about the things important to you the same you do with Web, news and blog content. I set one up for Bruce this morning and found some interesting videos that I hadn’t seen before. Good stuff!

Fun Finds

Performancing had a good post about learning how to blow your own horn. It seems that sometimes this modesty thing ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. I rule.

ResourceShelf lets us know that the Google/DoubleClick hearing will take place tomorrow (Thursday) and that search nerds can listen to it live online. Ooo! I’ll be listening, will you?

Lisa Barone is a writer, content marketer & VP of strategy at Overit Media. She's also a very active Twitterer, much to the dismay of the rest of the world.

See Lisa's author page for links to connect on social media.