We are delighted (really) to be creating audio guides to the South Downs. Audemos are producing six short audio guides to delight and enchant walkers, riders and visitors to the rolling hills of Southern England.

The series of short audio pieces is entitled ‘LANDSHAPERS’ and together they tell the story of how the Downs have evolved over 6000 years of human intervention to become one of Britain’s most celebrated landscapes. Richly textured with sound design, the audio guides feature renowned archaeologists, geologists, and ecologists as well as farmers, historians, shepherds and wood colliers (charcoal makers to you and me). The series will take listeners on a journey starting with the chalk formation on the sea beds of the cretaceous period, through the arrival of the first humans, the impact of the industrial ages and right up to date with modern agriculture.

The series of six programmes are currently in production and will be launched in the Summer of 2008. They will be available as downloads from www.visitsouthdowns.com, and distributed on MP3 players in Tourist information centres from Eastbourne to Winchester.

eMarketer says a number of factors are driving growth of the podcast user base:

• Greater ease of consumption for podcast content
• Growing awareness of podcasting
• Terrestrial radio’s use and promotion of podcasting
• Increased penetration of portable players
• The evolution of smart phones and proliferation of affordable mobile data plans

I wonder if podcasts will even be called podcasts in two years time.

Check the full report here.

More than 8 million people in the UK listen to web-based radio services every week and nearly 2 million download podcasts on a weekly basis, according to a survey that suggests internet radio has hit the mainstream.

These are interesting figures but:

“This survey is very much a toe in the water,” said the Rajar research director, Paul Kennedy.

More at the Guardian.

We just got some download figures back from the Discovery Channel and they are pretty pleasing. It seems the podcast has been downloaded 30,000 times - although we know that doesn’t mean it’s been listened to that many times.

The guys behind Diggnation, The totally rad show and other tech/geek video podcasts have raised another $8 million, on top of the $1 million raised last year.

I love Diggnation, even though I wouldn’t class myself as a proper geek. It’s well produced, in fact it’s better than a lot of traditional content on TV. Here’s why they called the company Revision3:

The company calls itself Revision3 because they think that television is moving into its third stage:

• Revision 1: Cable, adding general interest channels, catering to “most common denominator.”
• Revision 2: PC-based Internet video, indy films, no business model, no loyalty, no audience
• Revision 3: TV and Internet converge. iPods, Tivo, mobile, broadband enable mass, loyal audience to shift to ondemand, niche content. Advertising follows them.

Via Podcasting News