proposal: open podcast directory
Dave Winer recently proposed to build an open podcast directory in replacement for the now defunct ipodder.org (the domain is held by Adam Curry). a good idea, since everybody developing podcatchers, podcast-portals or similar websites needs directory-data to base their app on. using ipodder in its current state as data-source leads to bad user-experiences (think broken feed-links), as Todd Cochrane from Geek News Central notices.
I wish a possible new directory would feature a more user-friendly interface than ipodder… and why not abandon the idea of node-managers and strict hierarchy in favor of user-based tagging? Dave’s post doesn’t make clear if he plans to develop new software or just wants to revive the original ipodder on a new domain. I’m sure there is potential for a user-driven independent directory…isn’t everybody tired of iTunes, Podcast Alley and the likes?
[...] as reported, Dave Winer has startet a free and independent podcast-directory at podcasting.opml.org. everybody is welcome to contribute branches to the directory by collecting podcast-feeds in opml-files (the outline processor markup language allows to describe feed-lists in a standardized way - Dave Winer’s OPML-Editor is a great Windows/Mac-tool to write opml). for details, subscribe to the mailing list at groups.yahoo.com. [...]
Is the directory dead? The site has been down (returning an error message) for a few weeks now. Has the initiative moved on elsewhere?