There is a new and unconfirmed rumor that Yahoo is interested or going to buy Odeo. Who the heck knows if it’s true, however I will say that like I mentioned with Feedburner, there are some companies out there that seem like they’ve still got a good shot even if acquisitions start to slow down. These are the companies that have applications I found extremely helpful, and they’re so well done and easy to use it all just makes sense.
When I signed up for Odeo, it took me about 30 seconds to figure it out and record my first audio and see how to use it. It was one of the easiest and cleanest user experiences I’ve had in a long time in starting to use a web application. While I still don’t know if podcasting is the future, there is value in user-created audio and I think that is an area poised for growth. Odeo is the best solution I’ve seen so far, and they’ve got an experienced team. Whether or not the rumor is true, it smells like a long term winner to me.