Tag: libsyn

Wizzard Software buys Libsyn

Post ImageThere isn’t much news on this story yet, except for the official press release from Wizzard Software. Today the company announced that it has agreed to acquire Libsyn, currently the world’s largest podcasting network. From Podcasting News:

According to the companies, the acquisition combines the world’s largest and fastest growing podcast network with Wizzard’s expertise in speech technology integration, creating a powerful new service for podcasters worldwide.

Wizzard has been pretty busy lately, snapping up Switchpod back on September 21st and Blast Podcast less than a week later.

So far, there is no word of this deal on the Libsyn blogs or forums. I’m interested to hear their comments, because I think they understood they had to do something. Wizzard gets the top hosting service, and Libsyn gets some financial support to improve their service (and more importantly, quality of service), so it’s a good deal for both I think.

Libsyn CEO Dave Chekan seems excited in the press release at least:

“We’ve had several investment offers in the past and we chose Wizzard due to its expertise in speech technology, its passion for podcasting and its desire to make money for our independent content creators.”

Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.

Read: Wizzard

Libsyn Pro?

Post ImageI just went to take a look at Libsyn’s site tonight, and came across Libsyn Pro. Oddly there is nothing about the service at their blog or in the forums yet. Here’s the brief description:

Built from the ground up, we took the best features of our very popular Libsyn personal system and added the elements businesses demand: World class distribution network, 99.99% Service Level Guarantee, Turnkey, ultra-simple workflow .

Sounds interesting. Judging from the website, I am guessing that it also will not be cheap. I am really curious to know what the pricing is like. Two of their current clients include NPR and National Geographic. The website looks nice, but it’s hard to tell what the service is like simply from the screenshots. It does appear, however, to be focused on businesses only. It also appears to be strictly a storage service, like the regular Libsyn, meaning they don’t create a website for the podcast.

I find the timing a little strange. Just days after they had some major problems with file distribution, they launch a service for businesses with a “world class distribution network”? Either it’s a completely separate system, or that copy was written a long time ago (though Libsyn has had problems for quite a while). And if it is the former, I can see their existing user base being pretty upset. I know I would be.

I’ll be watching this one with interest.

On a slightly related note, we’re going to start testing Podcast Spot next week. Over the next month or so, I’ll be posting little tidbits about the service here and on the Paramagnus blog, so stay tuned.

Read: Libsyn Pro