October 11, 2005

Space Shifting

I heard another great phrase today which got me thinking. I’ve had to explain podcasting to more than a few people lately and one of the words I often use is “timeshifting” which is essentially the TiVo-like ability that allows you to listen to what you want, when you want. But for me that didn’t really do podcasting justice. There was something else there…

Then I heard the phrase “spaceshifting” today and it fell into place. You see it’s not just that I can listen to what I want when I want. It’s also that I can listen to what I want where I want. With my iPod my content follows me around. I can be at the office or in my car or out for a jog and I’ll still have my same audio books and podcasts with me. I think that’s one of the things I’m most digging about podcasting and audio learning in general.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for video learning. With video, in most cases, I’m still somewhat tethered. If it’s a DVD course I need to be at a PC or TV with a DVD player. Then I have to load up the DVD (usually takes a few minutes), figure out where I am, etc. It’s not the instant gratification that we’re coming to expect in our society.

Let me give you another example of this. I was checking out Integral Naked tonight and was a bit bummed that most of the content was video (I promised I would tell you why…). If all of the stuff was audio I think I would be stoked. I’d download it all to the ol’ iPod and that would be the end of it. But with video I honestly don’t know if I’ll find the time to sit down and watch all of it. The files are short and since I have to be at a PC I can’t just crash on my couch and watch it.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the potential for video learning. There are many things that are so much easier to learn when you combine video with audio. But we’ve still got a long way to go. I want to be able to load all my video content on a portable device and be able to watch it on the device anywhere I am or plug it in to my laptop, PC, TV, etc. if I want a bigger screen. Give me time shifting and space shifting and then it’ll be off to the races.

Of course that’s probably a ways off…unless Apple decides to go ahead and announce the new video iPod at their “One More Thing” event tomorrow. 🙂