But then, they do present themselves as "podcast magazine" not just a fiction-cast.. its not really designed to fit the same niche as the EA 'pod casts.
They do call themselves an "Audio Science Fiction Magazine" but all that terminology seems to be getting more and more ambiguous in the digital age. Especially with online pro and semi-pro magazines giving away their content for free under CC licenses and such.
For example, it seemed like there was a good bit of controversy from the print and traditional fanzine formats when SSS won the Hugo for "Best Fanzine." I remember people claimed SSS was more like a pro sci-fi mag that called itself a "Fanzine" so it didn't have to pay authors, artists and contributors (because fanzines typically don't.) I definitely don't think that's the case but I do agree that it doesn't really feel like a "fanzine" either, at least the ones I'm accustomed to. And I guess the fact that they're not even calling themselves an "Audio Science Fiction Fanzine" goes to show that the lines are getting blurry and there are a lot more different formats being tried than there are categories already existing.
well, that's true. My point was mainly they are NOT just a fiction podcast (which is not to malign fiction podcasts, I love em dearly. Purely for classification purposes), they're something else. What that DEFINITION of "something else" is is up for grabs. I do think there's a division between what the EA 'casts do and what SSS does, though. SSS is much more segmented and has non-fiction elements. Setting it apart by calling it a magazine seems reasonable enough to me.
RE: Fanzines - here's my perspective - If our definitions of what a "fanzine" is, or any other media classification we held, were to stay the same always, could we ever accurately say we're celebrating the sci-fi genre?
That's the thing I don't get about the SSS "controversy." To my mind, the leap to podcast goes hand in hand with the genre.
Looking up the definition of fanzine -
"A fanzine (portmanteau of fan and magazine or -zine) is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share their interest. ..."
"A magazine, normally produced by amateurs, intended for people who share a common interest"
both of these seem quite applicable to SSS. Moreso, they in no way seem restricted to print. In fact, it seems like going to a non-print format, provided you could garner the requisite audience, would be the most cost-effective way of doing it (maybe. I don't actually know that for certain). I guess I'm just arguing that what everyone thinks of as a "fanzine" is changing, and that's how it should be.