dekstop: weblog

Another wonderful podcast from Dave Winer, which starts off as a monologue about his recent Audible experiences, sidesteps into a little DRM history, and ultimately comes to the center of the problem with current media distribution: Customers are treated like thieves, there's too much distrust, and it seems as it's building up. His prediction is actually a lesson he learned as CEO of a software company in the 80ies: ultimately users will learn in how many ways DRM screws their side of the bargain, and that's when the model stops working.

This is quite an emotional podcast for Dave, and you can hear it in his voice, in a way that text can't convey. Not only was he mistreated by a company he was a good customer of, but he also was confronted with a CEO who would rather have a user's public voice censored than have to deal with it and improve the product, react with a public discussion, or even simply acknowledge the problem publicly.

I love podcasting for these moments, for the layers of communication that a voice opens up, for meaningful pauses, sighs. There are moments when I was surprised by the level of vulnerable emotion Dave shows, when his voice cracks up, when he is lacking words because this incident he is talking about has shaken things up deep in himself; the conversation with Don Katz has affected him, he almost seems like a child that has been hurt by a very close friend and still makes an honest effort to explain his position. And that's what I like about Dave Winer: he can certainly be self-involved and narrow-minded, but in this podcast he shows both that he has really good ideas, and that he deeply, deeply believes in honest conversation, even if it means to publicly demonstrate your vulnerability. Which makes a podcast that is both informative and emotionally gripping. Take that, mass media.

And btw, Dave: yeah iTunes is a slow hog, but only because you're using the Windows version. Get a Mac already.