How to Podcast (part 4)

		I received my iTalk and Lapel Mic from Griffin technology and its pretty amazing how versatile the iPod is. Upon plugging in the iTalk my iPod went directly to a voice memo menu and when I synched I had a new Voice Memo playlist. Pretty cool. Well, I need a place to put my first test podcasts. I did a search on "podcast hosting" on Google to find somewhere to post them. Here are the ones that I found in Google on other web sites that offer "unlimited bandwidth": Liberated Syndication PodLot Slapcast Startlogic
The first three sites don't look like most of the slick professional web hosting sites I've seen. However that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad. The Startlogic site, which seems to be just a traditional hosting company that bought a Google Adwords term for "Podcast Hosting" has a more traditional hosting site look to it. All except Startlogic offer rates based on storage and not bandwidth that seems odd to me as storage is cheap and bandwidth is cheap too but more expensive than bandwidth. At Startlogic you have to pay for bandwidth and storage. My guess is that there is some hidden limit in the terms of service for the unlimited bandwidth sites that I couldn't find on each site that would not mean much to most podcasters but the few that have lots of subscribers and thus really need a lot of bandwidth. Libsyn.com did have a pretty clear terms of agreement posted and it did not specify any limits on bandwidth. I'm still a little sceptical, but for my purposes I doubt any issues would arise since I don't have 50,000 subscribers like Adam Curry's Daily Source Code.

How to Podcast (part 3)

How to podcast and make money.... I've read a few things on the net pro and against what Adam Curry is doing with PodShow.com. Mostly I think people were possibly taken by surprise that all the sudden ipodder.org had a big promo on it for PodShow.
When I saw it. I thought, 'Hey cool!' and signed up to get a podshow myself. I haven't started podcasting, but want to so I figure I can wait for this site to start up. I'm guessing I might be able to get a area on it for free and I can just try things out with no costs. I think with a lot of new things on the net from the disgruntled masses that bloggers and podcasters thought they were part of some cutting edge elite doing something ultra cool that was beyond comericalism. I don't think they were, as blogging has been around since the early days of the internet. It just wasn't called blogging. It was called 'build a home page.' The new blogging tools that have been out in the last few years have just made it more easy to post stuff about your life, your hobbies or ideas. RSS? Nothing new conceptually. We had that all the way back with email lists and Pointcast. All the new syndication schemes are way better, but not conceptually new. Audio blogging had been around for years too. It's just coming into the main stream. The only real new thing with "podcasting" is the software that allows you to more easily add things to your iPod (i.e. the directory of shows and the scripts that copy the shows over). Now that Curry is in the business venture everything will be much more controlled as far as the details of what's going on and what will happen. That's just how corporations work. They're inherently secret. The lawyers waltz in and ruin all the fun. If you work for a corporation, you know this. If you don't you might not. So one of the things I am wondering (wow long intro into what I wanted to blog about), is how exactly do you create a compelling advertising product that satisfies advertisers and don't turn off listeners? First, I think all the current internet style ads that work OK for web activity have to be basically thrown out. Banner Ads (CPM), Text Ads (CPC) and Popups (arrgh!) can't be conveyed into a podcast. Back when a friend of mine and I will writing up a business plan for a Shoutcast show, we thought about just having advertisments built into the playlist. That works for Showcast streams as the content is live and can't be fast forwarded. So you have to think about the TIVO world and television advertising. Not even the most compelling multimillion dollar ads during the Superbowl caused me to not skip adds during the game. Nope. Not one. I zipped through them all. Podcasting will be the same way. There might be a short amount of time that you can pull that off since users listening to podcasts in their cars might not risk taking their hands off the steering wheel to pass over a podcast ad. However once more cars have integrated the iPod into the car audio system, I can totally see fast forward buttons on the steering wheel and when that happens your radio style podcast ads will be vapor. Advertising will have to be integrated into the show like it was in the early days of radio and tv. Think more along the lines of product placement in the movies than comericals. Think more in the lines of integrating products into the script of the show. That is... the compelling part of the comerical will be the show that is the delivery vehicle for the products.

Adam Curry to invest in Podcasters

By Frank Barnako, MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:14 PM ET March 15, 2005

Adam Curry announced the launch of BoKu Communications and its first Web site, Podshow.com, "to bring together the elements necessary to create a marketplace."		Check Out: BoKuCom
The former MTV VJ is the most prominent creator of Podcasts, which are audio programs distributed over the Internet for listening on PCs, iPods or MP3 players. He said the effort is necessary, because "even the top Podcasts really don't have enough critical mass to sustain an advertising model." Curry added that BoKu plans to help "bootstrap" some program creators. "We've figured out how to get a number of people ... who will be able to create [programming], and in turn will be able to create new shows." He expects to announce some of the talent this week. "We will be making investments in a number of shows and Podcasters so people won't be stuck in irons, not making enough to quit even half the day job," Curry said on his own show at DailySourceCode.com. PodShow.com is similar to Weblogs Inc., a network of some 75 niche-interest blogs operated by Jason Calacanis. He supplies software for production, promotion and marketing, and shares advertising revenues with writers. "We did a lot of work talking to people on Madison Avenue and big brands, companies which are interested in basically finding their audience," Curry said. "They are finding that the [traditional media] shotgun approach" leaves something to be desired when an advertiser is looking for a specific audience. His site tells marketers it can help them "reach the most elusive target audiences on the planet." PodShow.com offers a directory of more than 4,000 podcasts already in production, and advice and tools for producing programs. Check Out: PodShow.com & CBS Marketwatch

How To Podcast (part 2)

		Here's another interesting site that has information on How to Podcast: Blogging 101 - Podcasting from Quixtar Blog. I liked how the author laid out the RSS format and specified what software was used (Audacity, Garage Band or Sound Forge).
I ordered Griffin's iTalk and Lapel Mic to start off with. I'll try them out and post some audio from them to see how they show up. I'd like to do many of my future from the car or outside so I am thinking about ordering the iRiver iFP 799. Adam Curry has done a few shows on his Audi and on walking tours (maybe more I am only up to late October in his show). However I'll wait on that and a more expensive mic for now. Check Out: Podcast.net & Radio Weblogs

How To Podcast (part 1)

Check Out: iPodderX & iPodder.org		As mentioned in my last post I started listening to Adam Curry's Daily Source Code. A lot has been done in the last few months that he's been podcasting. I'm only up the October 04, 2004 at this time, so I don't know what's new yet. ;)
In many of the early posts he makes mentions of software and tools that he uses. I haven't found that many great sites that have easy to understand "how to" descriptions on how to podcast. There are two to mention: Hugo Schotman: Podcasting How-To: Podcasting (aka How to get Podcasts and also make your own) There's some good technical information, but - at least for me - its a little hard to follow. So the next few blog posts I will make will be on my efforts on how to podcast. Maybe "Podcasting For Users" is what I'll call it. A simple description of how I get things up and ideas for making it easier on the Apple platform. First. I'm going to buy Audio Hijack Pro from Rogue Amoeba. I downloaded it after hearing Curry talk about it and tried it out. The demo version works fine, but the developer has added in a nice security feature. After 10 minutes there's a big blare of static. Its not that expensive and after messing around with it for a couple hours I think I'm ready to buy. Second. I need a microphone. The mic on my Powerbook is OK, but I think I want something with a little more ummph! I don't want to spend a lot so I am going to check out Griffin's iTalk and Lapel Mic as a start and consider a more expensive mic later on.