Perfected Plugg'd Podcast Search
Audio and visual search start-up Pluggd claims they have perfected their product. What does this mean for competing sites?
Seattle-based start-up Pluggd was founded in February 2006 with the goal of making it easier for people to discover, experience, and share online audio and video programming, which is more commonly known as podcasting.
According to the creators, the website "is an aggregation of both traditional media and independent online-only producers." The site's search results are based on topics of interest, popularity, and critical acclaim.
But what, you might ask, sets this start-up apart from the plethora of other audio and visual search choices? The answer lies in the unique search result features of the site, including heat mapping and the ability to choose the exact point of the audio or visual result you would like.
The heat-mapping feature allows users to search for a particular point in the broadcast of a recording or visual image that is most closely related to the original search topic.
For example, if a user were to search ESPN radio for "University of Kentucky basketball", Pluggd would show the user on the heat map display the "hottest" place of interest in the color orange.
Pluggd even locates related topics in a broadcast, for example the term "bowl game". A user listening to a broadcast about UK football could find the exact point in an ESPN broadcast where the team's bowl game site would be mentioned.
Competing podcast sites, such as Podzinger, do not offer such relevant features as heat mapping. The lack of such a convenient feature could mean decreased traffic for the competing sites in the future.
Intel, who have their own audio and visual feature, made the largest donation. Intel, as well as other investors, seems to believe that Pluggd is a superior product, investing $1.65 million in the start-up.
Some other generous investors besides Intel include:
-Paul Maritz, former Microsoft group vice president of systems and applications
-Scott Oki, former senior vice president for sales, marketing and service at Microsoft
-Brian Magierski, CEO of Kalivo, former co-founder/CEO of iMark (acquired by Ariba);
-Fraser Black, technology investor
-Bill Bryant, founder and investor in numerous search-focused startups including Netbot, Medio and Singingfish;
-Alex Alben, former executive at Starwave and RealNetworks;
-Barry Newman, venture partner at NeoCarta, former vice chairman of the technology group at Bear Stearns;
-Mark Klebanoff, former chief financial officer at RealNetworks.
If you are interested in using the unique features of the search site, the download is available at Pluggd's demo site.
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