I'm curious as to the method people prefer to get their information from the Internets.

Obviously some things are better than others depending on the circumstances and what it is - for example, seeing an example of a new game you probably want a trailer of it, rather than a text description of how it plays. If you catch public transport a lot you might be more inclined to get news podcasts rather than take a newspaper, for example.

I was just thinking about this when I saw a cool-sounding article about the Mercury missions and when I clicked on it to read it, it turned out to be a podcast - at which point I totally lost interest; there was no way I was going to go to all the trouble of downloading it and skipping through all the stuff to find what I wanted to hear.

Similarly, I tend to hate video for anything that could have been written down - things like simple face-to-face interviews, for example where there's no real benefits for having the visual component (other than just seeing what the person looks like, which for me is utterly uninteresting unless they're a smokin' hot biddy).

So, just wondering what you guys think - how many of you use podcasts and what makes you use them? If given the choice between two or three of these options for a chunk of content, which would you prefer?

Thread needs poll!

Text all the way baby!
However Video for game trailers etc.

If I look up any news, its either through my NewsGator account on my iphone or via the Bigpond News portal.
Video takes too long to see, and audio you have no idea where anything youre actuallyu interested in is until you skip through the whole thing.

If anything text first. If I'm interested in watching the video then I'll watch it I guess (if i'm on my phone then maybe not due to download cap)...

last edited by 3dee at 17:09:46 15/Oct/08

Podcasts are fantastic for things like interviews and radio broadcasts - obviously because they're audio mediums. But often when you're trying to find something from a podcast you have listened to - you wish there was an accompanying text transcript to search through to find the spot easier.

Video interviews and vlogs can be annoying too I suppose when there is nothing visually interesting going on, but sometimes the ENTIRE point of the video is someone's facial expression or a subtle reaction that you just can't convey in words without being biased about it etc... i'm thinking about political interviews here.

I like when a news site has a transcript of an interview - and you can choose to watch the video or listen to the audio if you want to, but it is not required to get the point of the story.

I do subscribe to a few video podcasts though. Download them on iTunes and watch them on my iPhone when I feel like it. Also the NASA full HD HubbleCast is good news :)

The NASA video podcast is one that I'm subscribed too.

Yeh, I guess I'm wondering if its more of a lifestyle thing than an explicit choice. For example I know if I caught public transport for more than a few minutes a day I'd definitely be into podcasts/mobile video. But I walk to work and it takes me less than 5 minutes, so I generally just listen to music when I listen to anything at all.

But online when I'm choosing between video interview and a text interview, I'll almost always choose the text as the option unless there's something specific in the video that I need to see to make the rest of it make sense.

Text definitely for me

I'm over everything being a video now to be honest, its like the internet finaly caught up to where it should have been a long time ago and trying to run it into the ground.

definately ditch those s***ty podcasts steve is doing.

Much rather text.

if every video/podcast had transcript accompanying it then there wouldnt be any problems.

i'm happy with any medium so long as its unedited, unprepared and hilariously unprofessional.

Just after posting in the Cliff B interview thread complaining about this very thing I stumble upon this, perfect!
Just as you described trog, as soon as I saw that the interview was a podcast and not text I immediately lost interest...

I wouldn't mind the odd podcast if you've recorded the interview already anyway, but I think that for interviews, etc. the absolute minimum should be text with further options provided for download/streaming if they are available. I suppose the exception would be if they are explicitly talking about things they are showing on a video, but sometimes it's hard to understand what they're saying, so a text version wouldn't really hurt here either.

Edit: or greazy can say the same thing in just one line...

if every video/podcast had transcript accompanying it then there wouldnt be any problems.

Yeah, I find it's best when there's a good summary with transcript highlights ahead of the video, with a full transcript option. And of course a video thumbnail so you know what 'style' the video is.. pretty easy to know if it's a video you'll watch, or a skim through the transcript, or just leave it.

I rarely have patience for audio. I think the only way I'd go for it is if it's right there for listening instead of music on my ipod - subscribed in itunes, new episodes sync'd.

I enjoyed watching the wrath of the lich king video interview (I found it audible enough) - an aussie putting forward questions to the Blizzard guys.. pretty simple interaction i guess but I found it way more interesting than the transcript. If the ausgamers application was better I'd love to catch up on a few more like it on my iphone on the commute... where's 2.0? :P

This is cool - Cheap, Easy Audio Transcription with Mechanical Turk

text

farseeker, holy s*** that amazon thing looks awesome, will definitely be trying that next time

Just after posting in the Cliff B interview thread complaining about this very thing I stumble upon this, perfect!

I should say I actually wrote this post YESTERDAY completely not knowing that we had a podcast thing on the way :) I decided not to post it cuz I wanted to think a bit more about it because I wasnt really sure where I was going with it, but after we put one up I figured, what the hell

First off, lol nf.. on the money!

2nd point, Audio works great for round table discussions with panels of smart or funny or relevant people... Eg people adding to conversations, throwing around opinions that are actually built upon during the discussions.. Case in point, most of the stuff out of Leo laportes twit stable.. Audio also works well with single people interviewing another, Adam currys stuff..

Videos nowadays work well in a tech sense when people are doing screencasts of say a new app or possibly desiging stuff in a game engine (like 4-5mins tops).. but apart from that it really is a mix of game/movie trailers, kicks to the crotch videos on youtube and goth/gay/whatever people recording myspace videos before they commit suicide.. Don't kid yourself watching any of the 'life streaming' stuff because most of it shot on s***e mobile phones and involves a tech tart picking what hat she'll wear out..

Some of it is reasonable eg Robert Scoble did some amusing stuff at a few conferences but the majority of internet video now-adays is gone the way of free to air television here in aus, far too much s***e with poor production values and a helluva lot of ads for the amount of 'content' you get.. Digital downloads and that industry is still yet to find its feet interms of the premium pay as you go service (say the equivilent of cable tv) but when it does and station heads see the money the content and the pricing will find a more consumer level..

And lastly where i see text, funnily enough some of the live twitters of the recent apple stuff has been entertaining.. again through twitter you're getting a wide range of opinions, some of it actually informed but you're getting a variety.. a perspective on events as it were, bite sized chunks of what people think about stuff, if you find someones opinion annoying or less then worthwhile you simply ignore them and it won't appear in your feed..

Other then that i don't suppose you can forget blogs, hell everyone has got one nowadays.. again they're outlets to opinions, thoughts and musings.. I read alot, enjoy a few and lothe the rest.. But without the opinions I wouldn't have a balanced view of stuff, i'd get too caught up in my own thoughts and most likely wrongly think of them as right.. (I don't read news sites much, only to get scores of sport i've missed or fixtures coming up soon)

I'm assuming this thread now becomes a critique on the recent cliffyb interview and the direction ausgamers is taking.. to be honest i think you're capable of better..

news: text/pictures
game/movie stuff: videos

I don't even know what a podcast is.

I think im going to wait for the movie adaption of boxheads post.

i get my news from qgl.

i get my news from qgl.

yeah, i prefer things to come from forums

1 thread about something, filled with a bunch of posts from f***heads i know and somewhat trust, linking in all the info/media thats relevant to guys like me, sprinkled with idiotic commentary and flaming

Thats not even sarcasm. I've followed pretty much every major news story since 9/11 via QGL/SA/others. Its not verified but its a ballpark figure and entertaining +

its the choice of the newb generation

Text for reviews etc; audio podcasts for interviews, though sometimes videos work.

I have more time available to read or listen than watch.

Videos and podcasts ftw. Means I can just listen to them on my headphones while I'm doing other stuff.

I've never listen to a podcast. Not sure why but as soon as I've heard the word "podcast" I makes me think that I'll need iTune to listen to it (I know you don't) - bad association I guess.

I much prefer text for reviews and most things. Unless it's TV interview like Denton or Parky or something then I'd watch Video.

Same as the majority. I don't really spend much time in transit, so i don't bother with any podcasts which is where a majority of people, that i know listen to pod casts, listen to them.

I don't bother clicking on video interviews, unless there is a really good point to it, but most of the time, there isn't. Gamespot these days do EVERYTHIGN on video, and it's just pointless. Actually it's part of the reason i stopped going to gamespot. That said, i will watch video reviews where there's a point to it.

The only video review done well that i've seen was 1up did a review of SC4 where they had a few of the guys who'd won quite a few SC3 tourneys in to their office, where they all sat around playing the game, and discussing it as playing. It worked really well because they stayed on topic, but you got a solid discussion with many different points of view all in one area, and when needed, video clips of what they were talking about. And the guys that they had in were also good at explaining the technicalitys of what they were talking about. Of course this sort of thing was suited to a game that is largely multiplayer.

Interviews that don't need video (ie 99% of them), news etc, text. It's just quicker. You get in, read what you want with out any downloading/streaming, and you're done.

mostly text, mostly. not keen on audio shoutcasts or woteva... a visual element is essential to retain my full attention or it slips into the background & becomes noise. i do watch a lot of youtubes... but more for entertainment than news or info.

i hate text so much i didn't read this thread.

I used to listen to a radio show everyday, it was great I could listen to 2 hours of it with my earphones while I worked.
Then the guy stopped doing his radio show, and now has a video blog, which is only 2 minutes long instead of 2 hours, and it's just him talking into the camera - so there is nothing to see most of the time, unless he is showing something.
I have lost interest in the video blog simply because it required my full attention to view, doesn't have enough of a payoff for using your eyes, even if only for 2 minutes, i couldn't just put it on and continue working...

I would personally prefer text.