Battle of the podcast directories

Seems like Yahoo! and AOL are both keen to get on into Podcasting. So why isn't Google doing it? Well, I'm not going straight into a "why this, why that" talk because I couldn't care less who does what - that's their call and it's nice to be diffrent. Oh, no. The reason I bring it up is because - whilst hugely succeful business heads - Google generally get the technology working before launching it, even in beta. The likes of AOL, Yahoo! frankly don't and this is certainly the case when it comes to Podcasting.

My guess is that Yahoo! see podcasting as another excuse to grab listeners (especially young, fashionable hip hop fans) and guide them towards their Launchcast music site and music organising client(s) in the hope that they'll buy a few downloads and click on some ads. Fair enough, no back to the reason behind the rant - this eagerness on the business side must surely be the reason why podcast submissions to the Yahoo! podcast directory are lost in a big black hole. A directory needs some good technology and a good team of people to work and they seem to have neither.

AOL, meanwhile have a podcast directory which they admit is (very) beta. This is a more ambitious project, so perhaps we should cut them a little slack. Why? Because they are using Podscope's audio and video search technology (similar to Everyzing) to look for phrases within the podcast episodes.

I hope to be proven wrong, but I have submitted 5 podcasts to each podcast directory and never seen any of them published despite meeting all the requirements. Meanwhile excellent directories such as iTunes, Podcast Pickle and Podcast Alley have a good turnaround and don't seem to find it a problem at all.