Posted and ready for downloading now!
This episode, we’re all about covers. I’ve been amassing a nice collection of artists in terms of who has give their permission to play their music on the podcast. That has allowed us to pick from their collection of recordings and play some of the covers that they’ve done of other various bands from the past.
46:41 minutes
radiozoom.net
Ugh. I am getting so sick of this debate. The one where people are complaining or arguing over the name of “podcasting”[wiki] and how it should or needs to be changed.
I think this is the culture that has developed in the land of blogging and podcasting. We all have a voice, so everyone wants a stake in saying what is what, and this is the brilliance that comes with this world of new media. However, it’s driving me insane.
It’s come up today on a posting by Scott Bourne on PodcastingTricks.com, and he isn’t the first guy to focus in on this. I would bet that he won’t be the last, but does the name of “podcasting” limit the medium in terms of growth and exposure? Might there be another name that would help make it more, dare I say it, mainstream?
Podcasting seems limiting. We are seeing the whole world look at You Tube, iTunes and other services as a way to consume media – period. A NEW way to consume media – NEW MEDIA – in other words.
I find myself increasingly using the term NEW MEDIA instead of podcasting. My pal Leo Laporte uses NETCAST. What about you? What term do you use? [podcastingtricks]
Personally, I use the word “content”. Whether it’s blogging, podcasting, or uploading photos to flickr, I am creating and sharing content. I feel like that is where the current realm of podcasting really needs to focus, and that is the comment that I left on Bourne’s post.
John Bollwitt on June 13th, 2007
I feel like if we spent as much time and energy on this topic of a sweeping name change as we actually spent on making this medium more prevalent and accessible, we’d be further along than we are now.
At the same time, the more you try to change something right now, the more you’ll run into responses like, “Netcasts? Oh you mean podcasts? Now I know what you are talking about.”
Look up the history of radio. It used to be called “wireless” until the term radio caught on. It didn’t happen overnight, and there is something to be said about forcing change. We just need to keep cranking out content to make people take notice, and then the name with shape itself.
I’ve fallen behind on creating content, so there is some hypocritical aspects to what I am saying. Still, the name is not the reason to fault anything, and this consistent argument will barely change that. Discussion is good, but there is serious need for great content so that more people take notice and make this medium stronger. Better accessibility through technology wouldn’t hurt either, but that’s a whole other topic for another time.
I just watched this episode of the Len and Bob’s Weekly Podcast from WGN, and you should know that this is a video podcast all about the Chicago Cubs. More so, it’s the two guys who do the TV play-by-play for the club, and I’ve been subscribed to it for a while.
Like all podcasts that are done by mainstream entities who have dove into the podcasting realm, it’s slightly rehashed formulas that are put to podcast. Big whoop, right?
But this is the stuff that I want to see more of! These guys walk through the tunnels of Wrigley Field, taking a dark tour of the route you have to make in order to go from the visiting team’s clubhouse to the dugout. Five minutes long, and now I am posting about it to help spread the word about this thing I just saw to the world. Now, you can go watch it, too. Can’t do that with live TV unless someone tapes it an tosses it on YouTube, but WGN is giving it to you in full, on demand quality. I like that a lot.
I got a note from GZ Expat the other day about a recent episode of the Canucks Lunch podcast from Team 1040 that aired on May 31, 2007. Being that I still get a lot of hits from people searching for results about a potential logo change for the Canucks next season, I thought I would pass on this little bit of info that popped up on this show.
Rick Ball had CEO Chris Zimmerman of Orca Bay Sports Entertainment (who will be changing their name in the coming months, according to this interview) on the show, and he had some very interesting things to say, one of them alluding to their efforts to connect better with Canucks fans. Does that have any reference to what we are doing with The Crazy Canucks? I’m not completely sure, but the hands that have been extended to us is evidence of that. If you think there is still a ways to go, then I think it’s safe to say that they do, too.
But, the jerseys. Will they change? Zimmerman says yes, and there isn’t much more beyond that. Ball gave out some statistics about what that change should be, in terms of a logo, there isn’t any hints. In regards to the stick-in-rink, gives a long response about respecting the past and great traditions that have come before today’s team, and the “next era of Canucks hockey” will also “pay tribute and respect the past.”
Fin is here to say, and the orca will be a long lasting image with the team. However, we’ll know exactly what will happen just before training camp starts, and that was the major piece of news that he let out in the interview.
DaveO had the opportunity to catch the celebration of the Vancouver Giants success in winning the Memorial Cup at Vancouver City Hall this past Tuesday afternoon. He captured some great audio, even snagged an interview with the legendary Pat Quinn!
The only issue he had was cranking out the audio into an all out podcast episode, so he asked if I would help him out. We’ve talked about this concept before, and it worked out fairly well. When you have all the audio laid out for you, it’s easy to put it all together. It also helps that Dave is really good at formulating an entire episode in pieces, all set up for sliding them together and splicing music to segue between all the parts.
It was a treat to do it, and I could really get used to the production side of things if I ever found myself doing this on a regular basis, full compensation, of course.
You can find episode #54 of the Canucks Outsider at HockeyNW.com, edited by yours truly.
The guys at the Canadian Podcast Buffet ran an audio comment that I sent them in their latest episode. I was wondering about the awesomeness that is Podcasters Across Boarders and asked why we don’t do something like this on the west coast. Their responses are great, and I hope I keep their gears turning so that something might happen.
This is an idea that I mentioned to Tod Maffin at the recent DemoCampVancouver, and he had the same conclusion that I did. We should just do it ourselves.
Mainly, I like the approach that PAB takes with the whole concept of their conference. I think that if we combined that with the mentality of what goes on at a BarCamp and/or Northern Voice, we could come up with something really good out here on the west coast.
Remember, this wouldn’t just be a west coast of Canada only thing. People from anywhere and everywhere would be welcome to attend, and I’m sure that we could pull an interesting crowd from the U.S. side of the border. I mean, you can’t tell me that folks from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and on down the coast wouldn’t think about the trek, andI say this with the folks from Geek.Farm.Life in mind. Andrew drove from Indiana for last year’s PAB in Kingston, Ontario. Not a huge amount of distance, but a commute nonetheless.
Yes, if you build it, they will come. Wrapping my head around it is another story, but I think Vancouver could pull it off.
All of my RSS feeds[wiki], including all the podcasts that I am involved with producing, are routed through FeedBurner. Argue what you will about the intelligence of this, but there are so many qualities about doing this that makes it a no-brainer. You put one feed into it and it can make it readable by nearly anything out there that can digest XML. As Dave cleverly puts it, it’s the special sauce that spruces up your RSS feed.
So Google is buying FeedBurner for a cool $100 million. What does that mean for us podcasters?
Both of the podcasts that I currently produce have their subscriptions pushed through FeedBurner. Based on that idea alone, I take comfort in the fact that this service will continue for a longer time and not having to fear for the lifespan of the operation. Like it or not, Google will be around for a while, so that means that they’ll be “burning” my feeds as well.
If FeedBurner went out of business, a huge portion of podcasters would be scrambling to recover, not forgetting the numerous bloggers out there who use the service as well. Sure, the technical fix on our end would be easy, but not all of your listeners pay attention to these tidbits of news. If the feed stops updating, a subscriber might shrug their shoulders and just assume that the podcast doesn’t exist anymore, not even bothering to see what happened. Audiences can be rebuilt, but on a worldwide platform, that’s tough. All you can hope for is that the community built around your podcast is strong enough to spread the news of your continued, just that we’re over here now.
This is a total catch, but it’s the reality of the situation. That being said, it’s comforting to know that this service is going to continue. What Google will do with it remains to be seen, and some are already predicting the future, based on the trends that “the Goog” has done with other ventures.
The one weakness that some people have said they suffer from is in number and variety of ads to run. That won’t be a problem any more if Google scoops them up, they’ll have an army of sales people and the AdSense machine behind them.
User Control Over Data
The other issue that some people have raised is that FeedBurner has too much control over their users’ feeds. That concern is going to be taken much more seriously if they become a part of the Goog. Data mining is not inherently bad, and Google’s going to get a whole new frontier for it opening up if they buy FeedBurner. What’s the solution to privacy concerns? In the long run, people are going to come to understand our digital assets, including our clickstreams and other data, as a resource that we graciously let these vendors chew on for as long as we are happy with them. Just like interest I draw on my bank account is mine to take out of that bank along with my deposit at any time – so too will we someday have the option of nearly one-click export and erase OUR data from any given vendor. Big vendors will understand this or they will lose. [marshall kirkpatrick]
There’s too much that we know and don’t know about the future to come for FeedBurner. And if we really want to speak of track records, remember that Google picked up Blogger in 2003 and took a long time to really do anything notable with it, especially in terms of the changes in functionality and physical relocation early this year. Changes to FeedBurner are bound to happen, and being that Google is somewhat wise to the way they develop things, this could be a positive outcome. It remains to be seen.
Posted today!
Hello. We’re back. Yes, we’re still here, and you’re along for another adventure into Stanley Park. We stop to give you some subtle updates of what has gone on since the last, “real” episode, and there are a handful of more artists that have granted permission to play their music on our podcast. Since we’re on the go in this entire episode, we don’t talk about the music as much as we explore the park. We even try to suck it up and actually walk out onto Lions Gate Bridge, the fear of heights being fairly strong for both of us. We end the day with some Vancouver Trivia back at home.
48:41 minutes
radiozoom.net
As my ventures with Google Reader continues, I’ve discovered the added benefits of having podcast feeds in your subscription lists. For some, this is old news, but my hope is to help spread this information to help breakdown that notion of needing an iPod or iTunes for podcasts.
So let me say this bold and loud, you don’t need an iPod or iTunes to listen to podcasts! The same goes for video podcasts if you are a fan of the talkies.
For the same reason that I have come to quickly enjoy Google Reader as my default way of reading RSS feeds, you can apply the same notion to podcasts. The friendly geeks at Google have tossed in a small audio player to the interface that pops up when it recognizes an audio file being in the feed. When you hit play, the file is loaded and played for you through your browser.
This is the weakest part of using this for podcast listening, but it presents some strengths. Yes, you have to have a browser window open and a computer to listen to it from. When you close the window or click away from the story to go to another story in your list of other feeds, the player stops. However, if you can keep that window available and open a different window to keep browsing through other things, then just keep listening while you work.
The upside to this is that, as long as the feed works like it should, all the show notes are within easy reach. If there are links that the podcast directs you to that are in said notes, all you have to do is right-click on them to open the link in a new window and see what they are talking about.
On top of this, you can listen to these podcasts anywhere and at anytime, as long as you have a connection, a computer listen to them on, and access to your Google Reader account. There is no downloading of any files to clutter up your hard drive, and you can always come back to listen to any episode in the feed at anytime. Gotta cut it short and get some actual work done? Make a mental note of approximately where you were in the podcast and finish listening to it later. Remember, this is on demand, so you can pause, rewind, and fast forward at will.
It’s also a safe bet to assume that no matter what the file format is of whatever you want to listen to, Google has found a way to get it played through their reader. You would imagine the same for video, but, as LaVar Burton would say, you don’t have to take my word for it.
Posted this afternoon.
Straight and to the point, this month’s six song dives directly into submitted music to the podcast. Thanks to all of those who have sent in emails and mp3’s to have them played on the podcast. I’m late getting to some of them, but we take a listen to a lot of the tracks for the first time together.
35:31 minutes
radiozoom.net
