Friday night is definitely the big night for parties at the Podcast Expo. Last year Yahoo! Podcasts threw a shindig at the Marriott and then everyone headed up the Presidential Suite to find out all about PodTrac and get some free beverages.

This year I figured that Friday night would be even bigger. And it was! PodTrac was in the house occupying the same pavilion at the Marriott occupied by Yahoo! last year. The party went from 6:30 to 8:00 and featured the antics of birthday boy Brother Love rocking it out acoustic style to his hit Podsafe tune Summertime. He then lipsynched to another track from Album Of The Year while vamping for the ladies in the crowd and bouncing all over the pavilion. Finally, he previewed a track from his forthcoming album. At this point the crowd was pretty well lubricated.

The PodTrac party ended at 8PM and then it was time to head up to room 2016 for the Blubrry soiree. The event was pretty low key but there was a steady stream of people filing in to the suite to get some bluberry juice, pizza and one of those cute blue stress balls. Todd Cochrane held court and the team from PodTrac including CEO Mark McCrery stopped by. The star of the room was Emily from the Sex With Emily podcast. Emily's producer got the full skinny on Blubrry from Raw Voice CFO Jeevan Padiyar. The lady seemed very impressed with Blubrry's approach to social podcasting.

The next move was over to the Doubletree Hotel for a party that everyone was anticipating. LibSyn, Kiptronic and IODA were throwing a joint bash in a huge suite there. We showed up sometime after 10:00 and the place was packed both inside and on the large patio. Kevin Mason was body painting people in one of the bedrooms and the DJ was laying down some heavy beats. The party was good and everyone seemed to be there. Keith and the Girl were holding court on the patio before The Girl came inside to attack the unopened tray of raw veggies just before midnight. Unfortunately the party didn't last too much longer because Doubletree security came in and presented the party team with their own cease and desist order. Apple would have been proud. As the clock struck midnight we were floating free again.

The Gary Leland from Podcast Pickle came along. Gary said, "Let's go to my place at the Marriott" and we gladly obliged. So there we were again with Brother Love, Slau, Eric Rice and many others heading back to the Marriott. Gary had the Presidential Suite stocked with beverages and Podcast Pickle gear. The party started slow but I went into the bathroom for a minute and came out to find the place packed with folks who migrated from the Doubletree.

I packed it in at 1AM but the pickle party was going strond. Kudos to everyone who laid out some cash for these events. It may get even more interesting next year as I heard the rumor from several people that the Expo may be moving to.....VEGAS BABY!

There must be something in the water this week. We've got Apple acting stupid by trying to hammer small frys over the word podcast. And now we've got PodShow shutting out some of their podcasts from getting wider exposure.

Todd Cochrane reports that PodShow podcasters have been ordered to remove their listings from the Blubrry social podcasting community. Todd indicates that he even offered some of these podcasts ad deals, as in the money making type of deals. Unfortunately, Todd reports that, "I have been told that they are not allowed to respond."

Great. What happened to Quit Your Day Job? You can't quit your job if you turn down ad deals. I also wonder what the podcasters are thinking. After all, since Blubrry is totally opt-in then those podcasters had to take the time to add their listing to Blubrry. I'm sure they are not allowed to say anything since Blubrry has been officially labeled "a competitor".

This "locked in a black box" approach is not social. And it totally ignores the value of having multiple points of presence for shows. Since PodShow believes that they are something like MySpace I wonder when they will start banning MySpace profiles for all the Quit Your Day Jobbers.

One of the podcasters that I met in the early days in New York City was Adam Varga. Adam's a real nice guy who's from Queens, NY which is where I'm from so I always took an interest in the welfare and progress of his project.

The project, which Adam sometimes avoided calling a podcast, is called Dailysonic. The concept of the show reminds me of NPR for the younger generation with an ensemble cast of thoughtful, socially conscious people who have no problem poking fun at themselves. The shows feature an eclectic mix of news, music, opinion and culture. And then there was this skit called (and I kid you not) Fuck You Robot. Real good stuff.

For a long time the team over at Dailysonic put out several shows per week. In tracking the shows that I aggregate through Podcast NYC I noticed they were coming out with less and less frequency. I finally saw the main page of their website which announces that they are down to one show per week due to the time and cost incurred in putting out the show.

I know that Adam had serious commercial aspirations for Dailysonic, and why not? Here is a group of people putting together a quality audio program with intelligent content. I know that they have a decent size audience but unfortunately they don't get the kind of hype and attention that some of the worst shows in podcasting seem to get. Those are the times we live in folks.

The content aside, Dailysonic has churned out some pretty interesting technology that builds their shows on the fly by stitching together mp3 files stored on their server. They've released the code under their Manglepod project. I recommend having a look if you want to perform some server side wizardry on your audio.

Adam is also giving back to the community via his Okay To Play information resource. Okay features comparison charts that podcasters can use to make decisions about products and services.

Even though Adam and Co. started this venture before they knew about podcasting, they certainly have contributed excellent content, excellent tools and great information to help podcasters.

Dailysonic won't be presented a podcast award this coming Friday night at the 2006 Podcast Awards but they sure do deserve one.

It must be 'shaft the little guys' week in podcasting. First Apple takes aim at Podcast Ready. Now some group of nuts is going after LibSyn users because LibSyn hosts a podcast that this group finds.

Seems that this angry group has not only been sending emails to LibSyn but to random other people hosting their podcasts on LibSyn. Check this forum post to see what's going down.

I can understand this particular 'watchdog' group sending a communication to LibSyn with their concerns, but why hit up the users? I know why. Independent podcasters and companies like LibSyn who have shallow pockets are easy targets. One thing I've learned in life is that cowards pick their spots carefully rather than taking a consisten stand across the board.

I could use the Apple cease order to Podcast Ready as a perfect example of this. For a year now Yahoo has maintained a service called Yahoo! Podcasts. Notice the word PODCAST in the name of that service. Yahoo is a much higher profile company than Podcast Ready. So one could argue that if damages are being done by Podcast Ready then Yahoo! Podcasts must really be hurting Apple.

But Apple doesn't have the guts to go after Yahoo. Yahoo can fight back hard and make things look bad for Apple. Podcast Ready will likely see a hit to their bottom line if they decide to fight this. Right or wrong matters not. Once things like this hit the courts it can cost a considerable amount in fees just to get this dismissed.

I know where of I speak in this area. I was employed at a startup company that got sued by one of the major consulting firms just because a bunch of people quit to start this company. In the end we caved in to their demands because the legal fees were too high to maintain the lawsuit.

The community needs to come together to answer these issues. Good thing the Podcast Expo is happening this week. There's no better time to rally the troops.

I know nothing about Podcast Ready or myPodder but Steve Rubel's post about this Wired blog post is ridiculous.

Are they kidding? Is Apple going to try and obliterate every company that uses the word 'podcast' or 'pod' in their branding, products or services? As far as I know Apple didn't invent the term podcast or pod for that matter.

It's a crying shame that Apple has so much money and so many lawyers stuffed in cubes in Cupertino that they feel its worth it to focus their efforts on squashing little guys over the words pod and podcast.

I've got a progress report for several of the major commercial directories/communities in the works. Well, it's in my head but I'll get started on it soon.

Anyway, I've been keeping track of Blubrry since I've got my New York Mets Podcast included in their community. So I've been keeping track via their blog and podcast and checking out their new features. Now many of you might know me as something of a podcast curmudgeon, but let me say this.

Blubrry walks the talk.

When Todd Cochrane says that this is about the podcasters he means it. I can tell that this is so by the fact that Todd and his team have continued to add features and remove bugs from the Blubrry site as promised. I can also tell this from the fact that they have kept the Blubrry site advertisement free while successfully negotiating a pair of ad deals for podcasters in their (I mean our!) community. Way to go Blubrry!

Now I haven't made a dime from Blubrry and really don't expect to. That's fine with me because I love to podcast. I'm more interested in folks building organic communities from the ground up, allowing people to opt in and then sharing the wealth with those people. Some might say I have an agenda but I'm not the only one who like Blubrry's approach. Jon Watson has some good things to say about the vowel-less fruit.

Look, Evan Williams did the whole community a service by debunking the theory that the folks in Silly-Con Valley are the leaders of the podcasting movement. They ain't folks. They're just the ones with the most cash and the highest podium. I welcome their contribution but so far grassroots ventures like LibSyn and Blubrry have made their mark where it counts.

I've been doing some house cleaning on this blog and noticed something that absolutely horrified me. For the last couple of months I've been racking up moderated comments and not approving them.

It seems that at some point I blanked out the field that sends the moderated comments to my email address. And I hadn't checked the queue in a while. I've got it straight now.

So let me extend my apologies to the folks who placed timely comments on the blog. Especially to those who disagreed with me. If you disagreed with me you're probably right. Of course, if you agree with me there's a good chance that you're more right.

If you don't mind I'll go back to rabble rousing, upsetting people and generally wreaking havoc on the world of podcasting.

Magix is one of those companies that puts out good software that rarely gets a lot of attention in the U.S. I've used their $79 Music Studio Deluxe product for years to create and edit digital audio. A few months ago I paid $55 for their excellent Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 software. Again, this was a great purchase.

Now Magix has a special podcast product called Podcast Maker. From the looks of the functions this is a stripped down audio editing package with the added bonus of publishing RSS feeds. You can record a pair of stereo tracks and add effects such as compression, reverb and de-noiser to make your recordings sound like a pro. When you're done Podcast Maker will encode the MP3s for you as well.

I rarely if ever use more than two tracks on an audio podcast so I may just give this a try. The price is right on this software too. It's $20 for the download version from the Magix website. I've always like the tools these folks put out so I'm glad to give my readers and opportunity to try this new product.

Lots of things happening at the 2006 Portable Media and Podcast Expo. The most important things involve not the sessions, but the parties!

Parties are a time for networking and relaxed free discussion lubricated by a cocktail or three. I hear that PodTrac is throwing a shindig by the pool at the Marriott on Thursday night. Or is it Friday? No matter. Stop by the Marriott both nights to see what's happening.

The big splash will likely occur not by the pool but out at Skydive Elsinore (in lovely Lake Elsinore, CA)where Podshow Prima Donna PodChick will throw a bash attended by birthday boy (no kidding) Brother Love. They may even play a few tracks from his forthcoming CD. Check the flyer for the event here.

The party is about 40mi. from the Expo so check your directions and designate a driver.

I think that just about every serious podcaster has been disappointed with the progress of Odeo. At the time of their launch in 2005 just about everyone in podcasting had high hopes that Odeo would help to take podcasting to the next level. Alas, it didn't happen.

Odeo had a promising start but I've never really figured out what it was meant to do. It seems to be part directory, part social network, part podcast aggregator, part production tool and part free hosting provider. So while Odeo does a lot of things they don't do any one thing in an excellent manner. That would be fine if Odeo was two kids coding in their bedroom but this firm is backed by considerable VC moolah.

It was nice to read that Evan Williams, one of Odeo's founders, has come clean on the state of the company. I'm not going to read the post back to you but I will say that herein lies the risk in a top down approach to starting a web business. It's just way too easy to relax when you've got a pile of cash and no worries about where your next dollar is coming from.

Dave Winer says, "Odeo is over." He also says, "Basically podcasting was designed to sustain itself without tech companies, because the technology is so simple, by design, that it doesn’t need support from companies."

On the flip side, firms like LibSyn are generating revenue and creating tools that people can use to their great benefit.

There's still a long way to go and Odeo may yet become a powerhouse in podcasting. But their current state is living proof that VC dollars and a Silly-Con Valley address guarantee nothing with regards to the success of a technology firm.

British Telecom has cooked up their own Union Jack flavored version of PodShow Plus over at BT PodShow. PodShow recently announced the launch of the new site.

Evidently, the U.K. podcast market has been floundering and some feel that this move will save the day.

Neville Hobson says, "This could well be the tipping point for podcasting in the UK in accelerating a potential market that’s currently dominated by stand-up comedy types of podcasts, geek shows and other niche production."

Neil Dixon says, "...It will be a very significant boost for podcasts in the UK who want to reach beyond the current podcaster/blogger/geek audience..."

As you can see from the Google Trends graph below, PodShow's site launch has had a massive effect on the interest in podcasting. Oh wait, that was actually the launch of podcasting in iTunes. No matter, everyone says that PodShow has increased the interest in podcasting so it must be true.

The recent flame war between Adam Curry and Joseph Jaffe is ridiculous. In case you don't know here's an abbreviated version of the back story.

Joseph Jaffe, a new era marketing guru and host of the Across The Sound podcast, interviews PodShow CEO Ron Bloom and his partner Adam Curry for a future podcast. Jaffe puts out half of the interview on Episode #49 of his show. In Episode #51 Jaffe announces that he's witholding the second half of the interview until he gets "some love" as in return links, mentions, etc. from Adam Curry. Adam Curry responds quite harshly on his Daily Source Code podcast calling Jaffe "his bitch" and retracting permission to play the second half of the interview. Now I'm listening to Joseph Jaffe stammer and stutter his way through a response to Adam's response.

All I can say is that this kind of exchange is one of the reasons why the medium of podcasting won't be taken seriously in the mainstream as a marketing channel for quite a while. When you have two people who claim to be leaders in their respective fields acting like idiots no one is going to be impressed. And while the flap will certainly draw grins from those in the know, outsiders will be able to use this as a reason why podcasting is nowhere near maturity as a medium.

So who's wrong and who's right? They're both wrong. They're both numbskulls. Thick heads as my Mom used to say.

Jaffe's threat to withhold part two of the interview is just silly. He says it was a joke but in order to be funny you need to have the right delivery. Jaffe's delivery was flat as a penny and sounded more like a Axl Rose trying to squeal his way through Sweet Child of Mine. Jaffe is just not a funny guy and so attempts at humor (if it was an attempt at being 'playful') are not his strong suit. It sounded to me like he was whining.

Then there's Mr. Curry, the podfather. The elder statesman of new media if you will. He responds to Jaffe's whining with a big wah, wah ,wah of his own. He spouts off in such a ridiculous, "Don't you know who I am?", manner that I'm left wondering if he's really upset that people don't recognize him on the streets of major cities. He goes way too far in a very unprofessional and undignified response. All he needed to do was quickly dismiss Jaffe and move on.

Now Jaffe is yapping away, claiming it was a joke, talking about how this is some new marketing Obi Wan technique at stirring up a conversation. People who are (or feel) guilty usually spend this much time explaining themselves. Ridiculous.

Here's my advice to both gentlemen. Put it to bed post haste. Curry doesn't need Jaffe to play the second half of the interview. And Jaffe probably has plenty of new marketing hero stories to tell. "Enough!", as my Mom used to say when I was fighting with my brothers in public.

This medium will not be taken seriously as long as the alleged leaders in their respective areas act like fools. And that condition reflects poorly on all podcasters who want to be taken seriously as informers or entertainers.

Dave Gray of The Global Geek Podcast, part of The Podcast Network family is looking for a new co-host.

According to the post on Dave's blog, "I do not care if you are from Australia or Africa, male or female. What is important is dynamic, we have to get along and have fun, laugh a lot and actually liking each other will help a lot!"

Let's go folks. If you're a lover of tech things and want to get heard here is an opportunity to jump on a train that's already got a head of steam.