With Irreverence and an iPod, Recreating the Museum Tour: "
New York Times, NY - 9 hours ago
"
Been there, done that. I recorded a soundseeing tour of
MOMA two weeks ago. It's a bear though because it's over two hours of audio. With this news I must speed up production! I've also dropped the folks sponsoring this a line to let them know that I'll share the final product.
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There's a new podcast out there in the podosphere that I want you to know about. You may or may not know that I served in the U.S. Army from 1993 to 1998. As a result of my service I have a special appreciation for the sacrifice made by our citizens who volunteer to serve in the military.
Right now there are hundreds of thousands of troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world that are either very dangerous, very far from home or both. A kind word from someone (like you!) can make all the difference in helping the troops keep their spirits up. That's why I'm glad that Kevin Tofel of the
Commute Cast podcast has set up the
Podcast To Troops podcast.
It's a very simple concept. You call a phone number, record an audio post with a positive message for the troops and then that post shows up on the website and in an
RSS feed. It's very simple, very cool and it's what podcasting is all about. Unlike other podcasts that I like, I'm not asking you to subscribe (unless you're a troop). I'm asking you to visit the site, call the number and record a greeting. I'm also asking you to tell your friends and encourage them to participate as well. If you know a troop serving overseas then send them an email or a letter and let them know about this site. It's something positive that YOU can do.
I've ranted on the
Pop Culture Rant that people need to take positive action if they really want to support our troops and this is a very simple and free example of that. Call early and often.
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Is it me or has Dave Winer been totally fixated this week on the fact that iTunes 4.9 will support podcasting? Dave seems to think that Apple is going to swoop in and own this whole thing in very short order. That's my take on it at least. His giddyness could be, in part, fueled by the fact that Apple involvement in a commercial podcasting model might hurt Adam's PodShow ambitions.
As for me, I don't believe that Apple, PodShow, Odeo or whoever are going to take over anything. The VC infused companies may have the guns, but we've got the numbers. My message to podcasters is simple. Stay independent!
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I called Business Week's podcast a fodcast (fake podcast) earlier this week because there was no RSS feed, only a web based player. Turns out I was wrong. Not that it was my fault. Business week failed to make the location of the RSS feed obvious. Instead of including the RSS link with their first podcast, they include it
here.
Cmon guys. You're supposed to be a major outfit. Even a basic podcaster knows that the user shouldn't have to search for the location of the RSS feed. So in the interest of getting these so called media 'pros' on the right track, here's the feed address for the Business Week podcast.
http://www.infoble.com/businessweek/podcast/rss.xml
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And I've got a new RSS feed. Huh? Let me explain.
My bandwidth is fast getting sucked dry here. Even though I have a great web host with
NameSecure, I keep having to kick my plan to the next price level due to monthly bandwidth usage. And as I add more and more material to the site, that usage is only going to increase exponentially. So I've decided to open up an account with
LibSyn where I can get unlimited bandwidth and only be charged for the amount that I upload each month. They've got a model at LibSyn that works for podcasting and I think that they will do very well. So I'm going to begin the slow (and painful process) of shifting files over to LibSyn and then removing some older files from my NameSecure server altogether. This should allow me to move to a lower subscription level at NameSecure and save me a few dollars a month to spend on other stuff. Users of this site should not see any interruption of service.
Also, I've added an RSS feed for band events on the
Podsafe Music page. I'm able to do this thanks to the folks at
RSS Calendar. RSS Calendar is a web based tool for creating an RSS enabled calendar that can easily be integrated into your website. So if you're in the NYC area (or plan to be soon) you can see what podsafe bands are playing in the next 30 days by viewing the page or by subscribing to the
RSS feed. RSS Calendar Rules!
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Television Article | Reuters.com: "Reuters | Podcasts Catch on at NBC, ABC news divisions"
The big boys are giving creedence to the medium now. So all those folks worried about whether or not podcasting will "catch on" can stop worrying. It's catching on! But it is still very early in the game. So if you're thinking about starting a podcast then now's the time to go for it.
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His Mission: Simplify Podcasting (BusinessWeek): "
Odeo co-founder Evan Williams wants his startup to be a one-stop shop, from easily finding podcasts to creating them and selling ads for them
"
IMHO it's not just about people finding podcasts easily. It's about people finding podcasts that they enjoy and want to subscribe to. That doesn't happen based on voting schemes that yield top ten or top fifty lists. It happens when people with like interests have the tools to connect with each other so that they can spread the word about the things that they like. Think
del.icio.us. It happens when publishers have the ability to tag content so that subscribers can find what they want based on those tags. Think
Flickr. Finally, the content delivered must be wide open so that people can listen anywhere and anytime that they want. Just like you can with podcasts today.
If the folks at Odeo follow those guidelines, then they may very well take this thing to a new level.
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Or is it a fodcast? You see, I've been on the Business Week website where they have triumphantly announced their new podcast. I immediately start thinking, "Great, where's the RSS feed?" So I navigate over to their
podcast page and look for the xml icon. It's nowhere to be found. There is a streaming player and there is a download link. There is no discernable link to allow a person to subscribe in a podcatch client. Hence, it's a fodcast.
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GarageBand.com : Welcome to GarageBand.com's Podcast IndexThe folks at Podshow and Odeo must really be feeling the heat now. GarageBand.com has debuted Garage Band Podcast Studio. Just one more entrant into the category of podcast enabling tools and services. According to their site:
* Record by phone or Upload audio files from your computer.
* Mix your recordings with 100,000's of podcast-ready tracks in our catalog.
* Publish your mix...
... and with just a few clicks your new podcast is live! All you need to do next is field calls from radio stations offering you a job.
What does it cost? Nothing! The recording they are referring to is by phone and it's not yet up and running. But they will let you mix in music tracks directly from the Garage Band site. Does this signal the end of my Podsafe Music page? Not yet, but this is an exciting development for bands looking to get their music into a podcast.
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Word is
spreading all over the Podosphere about Apple Computer announcing support for podcasting in the 4.9 release of iTunes. It's reported that Steve Jobs indicated that the next version will have the ability to play and manage podcasts. Hmmm. It won't be long before these folks jump in to try and steal the thunder of Odeo and PodShow. Adam Curry hinted on his
Daily Source Code show that a recent meeting with Jobs yielded something favorable for PodShow. Is there an alliance in the offing? Or was Jobs just paying them lip service?
In other podcasting gossip...Someone recently told me that Adam Curry might actually be paying
Sirius Satellite Radio to put his PodShow on the air, attempting to use the satellite network to help create buzz for future online activity. It's certainly a possibility, although no one has publicly confirmed the terms of the deal.
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I was pleasantly surprised to open my email last night and find that I had been upgraded to a
Flickr Pro account by friend and fellow podcaster Mike Dunn of
nomadic_audio. I'm very grateful to say the least. With a new child on the way there will be many more photos to share and Mike's generosity now allows me to upload 2GB a month. Thank you very much sir!
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...and you might be branded a racist. The folks from the video blog Rocketboom posted (what I would call) a highly controversial clip last Friday. In the clip, several people allege that they were brutalized by the New York City police department. Amanda, the host of the show calls the incident a report of police brutality. On their site, they give the item the tag of "police brutality." No mention of the word "alleged."
I watched the video and was not convinced that these people were telling the whole truth of the incident. From my perspective, these folks were holding a grudge based on the fact that their family members were arrested and things may have gotten rough in the process. That happens in NY, but it doesn't necessarily constitute brutality. There was no video provided of the officers telling their story. Likewise, the video's producers were not present when the arrest occurred.
I posted a comment on the site indicating my opinions in my usual direct approach ala the Pop Culture Rant. Within minutes, the show producer Andrew replied and called me a racist. Evidently I'm branded a racist because I didn't believe the entire account from hearing just one side of the story. I also thought that these folks might be holding a bit of a grudge against local police due to their run ins with the law.
The fact is that I have a family member who is an NYPD detective and I have a few friends serving on the force. They're all good people who do their best to deal with frightening situations on a daily basis. Knowing what they deal with makes me skeptical about these charges, especially after having identified a number of inconsistencies on the video. I have no problem voicing my honest opinion based on the available evidence. I do have a problem with being branded a racist by someone who doesn't know me from a hole in the wall.
So I'm down on Rocketboom these days. There are certain personal ethics involved in podcasting and videoblogging. Posting material that charges people with criminal activity is serious business. Especially when a person only posts one side of the story. I might rant against people's societal indiscretions in my podcasts, but I'm not going to charge someone with a crime unless I've got my ducks in a row. This posting presents a one sided story to the world and makes the NYPD look very bad. Who speaks for the officers?
I spoke for them and got branded. The funny thing is that we both agree that police brutality, anywhere and against anyone, is wrong. It's too bad that these folks had to broach the subject with a biased account of their own.
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A very lively NYC Podcasting Association Meeting was held last night. There was a good turnout and the event was very casual. There were even a few new faces who weren't with the group at the first meeting. Some of the attendees were:
Jim Donnelly of the
Mad Pod podcast. Jim has the distinction of being the first podcaster from the NYC area to get a play on KYOU. Not sure if that's a good thing but we won't hold it against him ;)
Rachel from
Beware of the Babylon podcast. Who's actually getting some hate mail from angry listeners. Hey, at least they're listening!
Frank from
The Overnightscape podcast. Frank has his 200th episode of the Overnightscape airing today.
David Seltzer and Rachel from the podcast search engine
Podscope. Their site is just plain cool.
Benjamin Chen from
Snapbridge software. Coming soon to a server near you.
Shel Holtz (in town from San Francisco) of the
Hobson and Holtz Report podcast. Shel has the best radio voice on the net.
Mike Dunn of the
Nomadic Audio blog/podcast. A super technologist and expert user of
Flickr.
Drew Robertson from
Phone Ranger. Maker of the
Pod Ranger.
Doug Kersten of
The Small Business Blog. Group founder and voice of reason.
Plus a bunch of other cool people who are interested in podcasting. I think that the casual nature of the meeting went a long way to helping to build a stronger NYC podcasting community. I think the cheap beer helped as well. ;)
I took some photos and one video with my new Canon Powershot SD-500, so I hope to get a few images uploaded very soon.
***UPDATE*** Photos now posted on Flickr
here. If you have pictures to upload to Flickr, use the tag "nyc podcasting association".
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I'm listening to Dave Winer now on the Gillmor podcast. Just finished listening to the latest Blugg Cast as well.
All while walking down the street in NYC with my iRiver. Try that with KYOU or Sirius.
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Test Pico Blogger Through the wonders of technology I'm posting this via my mobile phone. Ain't life grand?
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The Geek Cast and
The Hobson and Holtz Report have been using Podcast NYC Podsafe Music as part of their shows on a regular basis. This is just one example of how podcasting can help extend the reach of musicians in a way never before possible.
Other podcasts are welcome to do the same, but please follow the Podcast NYC
Terms of Use.
Happy Podcasting!
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Guess what seminal rap group I ripped the title from? Ok, I'm not gonna make you work your brain too hard. It's a take off on Public Enemy's song, 911 Is a Joke. I never really liked that song and I don't like KYOU.
Actually, I haven't tried
KYOU. Well, maybe I have tried but I never actually got to the listening part. I went to the site, perused the list of 'fodcasts' and decided that I might want to give a listen. So I clock the 'listen live' link and then I'm presented with this form...
Can someone school me on why a person should have to provide personal information in order to listen to content that people submitted to this station for free? I just don't get it. If they want people to listen they need to get a clue. I can understand (maybe) making people provide an email address. Why ask for a person's name and some information about the company they work at. Sure you can lie, but why put out the effort? Is it really worth it for me to go through this and then only be able to listen online? Not really, since I can easily subscribe to all of the shows here for free.
To make matters worse, the folks at KYOU don't even afford their content producers the courtesy of providing a link to their website or a link to their RSS feed. The long and short of it is that I didn't listen. I've read some other people's blogs and they mention that the contract that the content producers enter into is (of course) very advantageous to Infinity Broadcasting and leaves the content producer wide open for litigation. Just another reason that the whole thing is a joke. I'm definitely not gracing them with any of my quality content either.
You better believe that KYOU IS A JOKE IN YOUR TOWN...
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Limbaugh Joins Podcasting Crowd: "
Billboard Radio Monitor, NY
"
Not! Another Fodcast. No mention of an RSS feed. Just MP3 downloads. That's fine, but it ain't a podcast.
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...you can subscribe to the new Podcast NYC superfeed. What's that you're asking? It's the seven Podcast NYC Podcast feeds strung together into one feed. So every time any of my podcasts are updated, you'll be updated. Awesome!
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So I'm flying back from Texas last week (listening to podcasts all the way) and I happen to start flipping through the Continental Airlines magazine. I stop at their "go gadgets" section where they're featuring a pair of portable audio player/recorders.
One was the Lexar LPD-800 which has 1GB of storage, a recorder and an FM radio. It also has an FM Transmitter (cool!) to beam recordings to any FM radio. The price is $199 and it can be found at
http://www.lexar.com. The other device was even more exciting. The Tao Wireless Media player features recording, FM transmitting, a 20GB hard drive and WiFi so you can sync content to and from the web. Nice! It's priced at $349 and can be found at
http://www.taolife.com.
More importantly, the following snippet was included in the the description for the Tao Media Player,
"Think about it: you're itching to catch the latest Car Talk or your favorite underground Podcast."
It's official, Podcasting is recognized by Continental Airlines.
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WSJ.com - Papers Turn to 'Podcasting' In Bid to Draw More ReadersThe journal has a much better story on podcasting than the one they featured last month, which looked liked it was thrown together in fifteen minutes. This one looks at it from the publishing angle, focusing on newspapers that are now producing podcasts. RSS is actually mentioned ONCE in the article. Well, it's not really in the article, it's in the sidebar but I'll take it. Of course, Podcast Alley is the only non newspaper podcast site that's linked. The amount of attention being heaped on that glorified bulleting board makes me a little ill, especially now that he's drank the PodShow Kool Aid. No offense to real Kool Aid drinkers.
The other nice thing about this story is the fact that it's a "free feature" today, so you don't have to be a subscriber to view the story. Podcasters take note, the WSJ has been very successful at getting paid subscriptions because they only allow access to a small amount of free content. That limited access makes the content (which is also quality content) more valuable. So if you ever want to make a living producing podcasts then don't give away your content for free.
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Sorry but Podcasts blow | News.blog | CNET News.com
This dude has got to be a jerk. How can a writer completely dismiss an entire medium? That like saying TV blows, movies blow, radio blows. Wait a minute, radio does blow ;) This is an example of a writer who knows nothing about the movement and just wants to piss on the bonfire. Guess what dude, you're not going to put it out. To make matters worse, the author
backtracked after Dave Winer responded in
this post.
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I have to say I'm enjoying a new feed service site called
Big Contact. They offer web based rss feed management for both publishers and subscribers. They make it pretty easy to create a podcast feed. They also make it easy to manage your subscribed feeds. One cool tool that I really like is their flash based media player. You can point the media player to any valid podcast feed and it will play the content in the browser while displaying the show notes. I've been looking for something like this so it will be implemented on the site very soon.
Steve Rubel at
Micro Persuasion got me pointed to a new service called
Feed Tagger. Feed Tagger is an online RSS aggregator that utilizes tags to allows people to search for feeds and apply tags. I clicked on the podcast tag on the front page and I found my
Video Extras page listed as one of the results. They also had my
Podsafe Music page listed under the music tag. Pretty cool, thanks guys.
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Mass Media Meltdown: "New York Post Online Edition: Mass Media Meltdown by John Podhoretz"
This article highlights some of the best reasons why RSS/Content Syndication/Podcasting are poised to turn the traditional media on it's proverbial ear. Is anyone in the current media structure listening?
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Everyone's favorite feed management service,
Feedburner has announced the availability of their premium stats package, dubbed Total Stats Pro. Total Stats Pro builds on the current basis statistics functionality by adding more detailed item popularity, as well as a Who's Syndicating Me feature to help the feed owner determine the popularity of feeds when the content appears on someone else's website. Feedburner is instituting a three tiered pricing structure for this service as follows:
- $4.99/month
up to 3 feeds - $8.99/month
4-10 feeds - $15.99/month
over 10 feeds
There is a 15 day free trial period and feed owners can cancel at anytime.
This is a move that makes total sense for Feedburner. After all, they had to start getting revenue from somewhere. It also follows the model of providing a basic service to gain loyal customers then adding value to gain paying customers. As RSS feeds gain popularity, demand for feed management services will increase. The folks at Feedburner are in a very good position to be the preferred service provider in the space. I know that I depend on them. They're managing 12 of my feeds!
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Well not really, but Leo Laporte is adding a subscription option to his
This Week in Tech podcast. According to a message on the front page of the website,
"All donors will receive special access, coupon codes, and other benefits as soon as we can con some companies into giving them to us."
There are buttons allowing people to "subscribe" for $2 a month, $20 a year or to make a one time donation of any amount. The podcast is going to continue to be free it seems, so what are people subscribing to? It seems to me that this is just a clever model to suggest certain levels of donation. There is a promise that those who donate will get access to extra special stuff so I'm assuming that he'll deliver on that at some point.
I think this approach is totally fine. If the content is good and the website is worthwhile then people shouldn't have a problem with kicking in a few bucks to keep it going advertisement free. I also like that fact that they're planning on added benefits as a driver for subscribing. It's not a new approach, but it's one that certainly can work with podcasting. The podcast can essentially be an advertisement or promotion tool for the pay features of a website.
I'm going to keep an eye on the site and subscribe to the
podcast to see how this develops.
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Picked up the bit of news from
Kosso's blog that
Dave Winer will be broadcast on the inaugural show over at
KYOU. The show is scheduled to air on Monday May 16th at 3AM Eastern Standard Time and will be rebroadcast at 11AM Eastern Standard Time.
What can I say about this? I'm a bit flabbergasted. I'm totally against giving away content to people who are selling advertising and not sharing the revenue with the content providers. There are many others who feel this way. So I'm encouraging people not to submit material to KYOU. Dave did say on a
Morning Coffee Notes podcast last week that he would be submitting to KYOU.
Dave talks about it on his
latest Morning Coffee Notes which might be taken down by the time you read this. Dave is inviting comments on this development
here along with suggestions on what he should talk about. You can read my comments on this there.
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It's pretty good. The music was diverse and the production quality was excellent. They only featured four artists though and right now they plan one show a month. With all the unsung artists I think they'd be doing a nice service for their member artists to post a show at least weekly. Now they just have to get the RSS feed straightened out.
http://music.bmi.com/podcast/
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BMI Launches New Songwriter/Artist Podcast; Licenses Podcasters in Nationwide Initiative: "BMI Launches New Songwriter/Artist Podcast; Licenses Podcasters in Nationwide Initiative"
This is a total PR move by BMI in my humble opinion. The license that they refer to has already existed so they have not made any special dispensation for podcasting. The license also doesn't change any of the legal perplexities and red tape related to the legalities of playing music within podcasts. Even with this license, podcasters will still have to secure licensing from music publishers and record labels in order to be clear of liability if they play an artist's music on their podcast.
The continued complexity of the rules represents a definite barrier to entry into the market for "mom and pop" podcasts who want to promote an artist's music. In order to be clear of potential lawsuits, podcasters will need to spend thousands of dollars to retain counsel who can navigate the legal waters and insure that the podcasters are doing the right thing. On top of that, the podcasters will be asked to pay a percentage of revenues to multiple organizations for the right to play this music. I just don't see this as a step forward. It's an announcement, and nothing more.
The licensing process needs to become clearer, simpler and more cost effective so as to allow small broadcasters to promote musical artists. Somehow I think that most artists would agree since their reach is being limited by this arcane web of regulations.
I am glad to see that BMI has launched a podcast at
http://music.bmi.com/podcast/200505/podcast.rss. Too bad the feed's not valid!
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Loudblog: "Loudblog: Audioblogging and Podcasting on your PHP-server"
Another interesting entrant into the podcasting software landscape. And you can't beat the price because it's free. The emergence of all the great tools over the last couple of months makes me wonder what PodShow and Odeo or waiting for.
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Podcasting Sinking In: "
I'm working at my branch office in downtown Conway again. An older white-haired gentleman just came up to me to talk about my iPod shuffle and to heft it in his hand (boggling at how inconsequentially light it is). We talked about iPods for a minute and I …
"
A nice follow up to the previous post.
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Hilary over at
podcrawl gives my
Alley Cuts show a mention on her blog today. Many thanks to Hilary for the kind comments. If you're looking to find some of the best podcasts (especially music ones) definitely take a look at her blog.
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...read a comment that I sent in to them via email on their May 5th
Podcast.
These guys, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz, do a transatlantic podcast via skype called
The Hobson and Holtz Report. They generally talk about communications and the media. The content is extremely interesting and very relevant for anyone who wants to stay on the cutting edge of communications. I gave them a mention at the geeks dinner last Monday night, and a few folks were already regular listeners.
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Good comments on the latest Evil Genius Chronicles podcast from Dave Slusher on the whole PodShow/Sirius situation. He also states that taking the medium to radio is a step back.
The podcast is
here.
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BusinessWeek: We're Wildstrom About Podcasting: "
BusinessWeek, like Forbes, is also planning podcasts. They're launching their first podcast May 23rd to go with cover stories. Tech Maven Steve Wildstrom is also going to do a show....
"
You heard it here second!
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It's "The Great Podcasting Rush of '05" and There's Opportunities In 'Dem Hills! Uh...Ain't There?: "Recently, Infinity Broadcasting announced it was creating a radio station that featurs just podcasts. Just this week, SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced the 'father of podcasting' Adam Curry, would host a show full of other podcasts. Well folks: it's the 'Great Podcasting Rush of '05' and everyone wants to have their piece of anyting that has the word 'pod' and 'cast' in it. So, just where are they going wrong? Read on..."
Corey Deitz calls it the great podcasting rush of '05. It's not a rush
yet with only two players, Infinity and Sirius, getting in the game. And they aren't even podcasting, just sweeping up some free content. He is correct though, when he states that individual distribution power is what sets the medium apart from radio and satellite.
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