Transcripts are now available in the Apple podcast app.

The highlight of this story? Apple is using the Podcasting 2.0 RSS tag to load transcripts, which other indie podcast apps and podcast hosts, have been using for years. While it’s just a tiny part of a much more robust RSS offering, this is a huge win for open publishing.

RSS is like the glue between your podcast and your listener.

A central file that houses the information about your podcast, where it’s hosted, and with every upload you make, it updates your listeners and directories that you’ve got something new to share. RSS is an unsung hero, not only in podcasting, but for the web.

A clumsy, but powerful open standard that big companies like Google and Spotify don’t want you to focus on.

“Why empower our users to broadcast their podcast to the entire world, when we just want them to stay in our app?!” Is how the boardroom meeting might go.

Podcasting 2.0 is an open source movement that embodies the crazy ones to push RSS forward. Where people can gather ‘round the camp fire and discuss what’s needed to push the boundaries of podcasting outward, for the betterment of the entire industry.

Techie? Yes. Hard to understand at times? Sure. Cutting edge, with lower adoption? Certainly.

I imagine this to be how people felt when they toyed with the idea of wiring electricity to every home in the 1800’s or when Steve Jobs envisioned a Personal Computer in every home. Whacky and inconceivable.

Kudos to Apple for making a tiny leap into Podcasting 2.0.

If you want to dive in head first, checkout Podcast Index list of apps and hosts that support the technology.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things.

They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

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