Subscribe free!

I was at Michael Geoghegan's blog, and happened to read an account he wrote of the disconnect between those of us who understand podcasting subscriptions, and those who don't.

it is a big problem. The word 'subscribe' comes with such baggage. "I don't want to pay for it" could well spell the death of podcasting unless we promote the truth more effectively.

"it takes so long to set it up" could share a room with "If I don't like it, it's a pain to cancel." Both of these are quite true for those who are initially challenged by technology. This explains the growth of flash players, direct links to files, and media sites like Podshow. Even then, the inclination of the less-accomplished user is to bail on the entire process.

I wish I had the answer. I can tell you that I'm going through all my links and changing them to "Subscribe Free!" If it appears to be value added, then maybe we'll pick up some folks.