Podscope: Google for Podcasts

During the writing of the first edition of this book, a very cool technology emerged for helping folks find the exact podcasts they want to find. You don't need a podcatcher to get this material; indeed, you need only a connection to the Internet and a World Wide Web browser to take advantage of this powerful tool. Podscope (www.podscope.com) allows you to search the vast (and growing) library of podcasts for specific words or phrases; then it displays the results (Figure 2.32), complete with audio clips from each podcast that contains the phrase you're looking for!

Figure 2.32. When you search for a phrase or a word in Podscope, a list of all the podcasts containing that phrase or word quickly appears onscreen, including short audio clips that include the spoken portions of the phrase you are looking for.

Podscope is a one-stop search engine that is (currently) exclusively for podcasts. Developed by a company called TVEyes, Podscope uses proprietary technology to listen to each podcast and then convert that information to text strings that can be searched. Currently, Podscope is available on the World Wide Web and is an amazing technology that is already the best nonpodcatcher way to find podcasting content of all sorts. The power of tools like Podscope can actually change the shape of the medium itself. By being able to sift through tens of thousands of podcasts quickly and easily to find mention of a specific or rare disease, for example, the listener can save many hours of searching and perhaps hear something he would have missed otherwise.