PodShow Catches iPodder Creator Grumet

PodShow Inc. co-founder and MTV VJ Adam Curry has recruited Andrew Grumet for the PodShow podcast network and services business he's building. Grumet is a software developer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-creator of iPodder, an open-source application that aggregates media content on Web.

That was just one of the podcast celebrity moves discussed over the weekend at the Portable Media Expo and Podcasting Conference at the Ontario (Calif.) Convention Center. Hundreds of podcasters from 22 countries gathered at the show.

Credited as the "podfather" for his part in co-developing the podcast medium, Curry has attracted millions of dollars in venture capital funding during the past year for the PodShow Podcast Network and the Podsafe Music Network.

"It's clear to me that podcasting has grown legs," Grumet said Saturday. "Instead of being a side project during nights and weekends, it was time to find a place to work full time on building the next generation of tools."

Until now, the energy put toward transforming podcasts into a viable technology has been spent in making it easy to get content to those who listen and download the files. But the challenge is keeping the distribution and the network open, simple and free.

Grumet will look for a method to get PodShow listeners exactly what they want as the medium opens the flood gates to content creators to give listeners endless choices to hear about gardening, music, magic, technology, and yes, even pornography.

There is a market. About 4.8 million people have at some time during 2005 downloaded a podcast, up from 820,000 in 2004, according to Bridge Ratings LLC. The consulting firm estimates that by 2010 podcast audience growth is expected to reach between 45 million and 75 million podcast listeners.

Grumet wants to build more intuitive and sophisticated tools to help podcasters understand whose listening to their content. The tools will include options for advertising and promotions. They will connect podcast creators with listeners, and give people better methods to navigate the sea of content.

Although Grumet said officially signing with PodShow was a "no brainer," other companies he declined to cite came courting. In fact, between five and six expressed interest simultaneously. "As I'm looking at my next move, about every other person began to ask 'What are you up to?'" he said. "You have bigger, more established companies who are getting into podcasting as an afterthought. You have smaller companies that may not have the same visibility or capital."

Working as an independent software consultant, he could feel the limitations and the possibilities. But Grumet now believes the PodShow has the capital, vision and history to make it happen.

Listen to the podcast with Andrew Grumet.