Podcasting

There are 75 posts filed in Podcasting (this is page 7 of 8).

Thoughts on “Preserve This Podcast”

I recently finished listening to the “Preserve This Podcast” podcast series, a five episode podcast on best practices for preserving the files associated with podcasts as well as the final podcast files themselves. I thought the series was excellent, which includes a zine/document supplementing the podcast and good advice on how to put the principles into practice. I also liked how they had some audio clips from conversations with Dave Winer, who created the technology base for podcasting through RSS.

I didn’t have any philosophical disagreements with the podcast until the last episode, when the subject of web hosting was discussed. The host, Molly Schwartz, talked about how many people have the expectation that their podcast show should live forever, and didn’t realize that if they don’t pay for a hosting service (like Libsyn, etc.), or host it themselves on a website, that their files would disappear. How can people in 2019 still have this expectation? (see Site deaths) The idea that someone can create a web asset (podcast, website, video, whatever) for zero cost and still have complete control is ridiculous! I also think that the image of a person producing a podcast as someone who does not have much technical ability is misleading. If you are not just using your phone as a voice recorder, and are recording and editing audio and handling sound equipment, you have to have some technical ability. To emphasize the need to spend effort to make sure that data is not lost, but then put the idea out there that it is too much work to do self-hosting or create a RSS feed is inconsistent at best, trending to stupid at worst. You can only get something for nothing for so long, and you can’t expect to have the functionality of paid services on a free basis.

I also thought that the idea in episode 5 of “having to figure out what to do about PreserveThisPodcast.org” was ludicrous! With all the planning of this series and archiving experts working on the project, how could they have not planned to keep this information beyond the end of the grant funding? Why didn’t the organization who got the grant (Metro New York Library Council) take responsibility for keeping this available? At a minimum, it seems like a terrible plot device to motivate/manipulate podcasters into preserving their work.

Don’t get me wrong on my intent – I love that this podcast was created. As a result, I am starting to think about how to preserve my own web content. The thing that sticks out as inconsistent is perpetuating the idea of expecting something for nothing (free hosting, etc). If that is a person’s expectation when they create something on the web, that person should not shed any tears if it disappears.

Podcast Drama Links

I was thinking of creating a dramatic podcast, but have stalled out, so I am collecting these links somewhere so I can get back to them…

John Fleming  – How to Structure and Maintain A TV Soap Opera like Coronation Street

Our Pastimes  – How to Create A Soap Opera

Our Pastimes –  How to Write a Soap Opera Script

Buzzsprout   – Audacity Tutorial for Podcasts

Radio Drama Revival  – Creating A Radio Drama

Ruyasonic  – Tony Palermo’s Radio Drama Resources

National Audio Theater Festivals:   Well Tempered Audio Dramatist

MakeUseOf  – Five Amazing Sounds You Can Make with Audacity Sound Editor

How to avoid the corporate takeover of podcasting

In the past two weeks, there have been quite a lot of postings on the startup Luminary and its predatory practices toward podcast creators. Dave Winer, John Gruber, Marco Arment, and Smokey have voiced concerns, among others. The main benefit of Luminary is getting premium audio content for a fee, as well as regular (free) podcasts. The main concern, as I see it, is that Luminary is messing up the information from the free podcasts, and also hoping to capture listeners within their app/ecosystem, so that users would use Luminary as their podcast app of choice.

Content providers trying to lock in users is not a new concept. All of the major video streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon) are producing original content that can only be viewed through their service. Apple and Google through iTunes and Google Play are gateways that people access podcasts, and Apple has been called out before for controlling podcast distribution through its extensive directory.

To me, these are the two ways of avoiding the takeover:

  1. Innovate on features and discoverability
  2. Find ways to help podcast producers know more about their listeners

Marco Arment took a nice step on point 1 with his clip feature that he added to the Overcast podcast app. Other innovations might be to support more distributed directories to assist in podcast discovery (OPML inclusion, anyone?).

Progress on point 2 might be difficult (requiring collaboration, between podcast app makers and other groups of people), but it might be better to band together to create new standards/processes/protocols than to be “picked off” one by one.

 

Appcasting: A Definition

What do you call audio content that is available through a paywall or app? An appcast.

What do you call the distribution of audio content through a paywall or app? Appcasting.

Simple, easy to understand, right?

This is my response to Dave Winer’s podcast definition and followup podcast on this topic. Ken Smith eloquently describes the downsides/fallout of a move to appcasting.

Thoughts/opinions? Let’s hear from you!

 

Leonard Bernstein at 100

Yesterday, I listened to a terrific episode of Radio Open Source, Christopher Lydon’s wide-ranging podcast, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. The show focused on his popular musical, West Side Story. I have played several arrangements of West Side Story and other Bernstein works in concert band and marching band, and they have been some of my favortite band pieces. The conversation between Lydon and Nigel Simeone is a fascinating analysis of many of the songs in the show and looking at the influences of classical, jazz, and Latin music on Bernstein’s creative process. Check it out!

Read Starting Your Podcast: A Guide For Students

We don’t expect you to be experts. In fact, we expect that most of you are putting a podcast together for the first time.

And even though this is a contest, it’s also about learning new skills in a fun way. We want to make that learning easier — so we’ve put together a guide to help you along the way.

This is a great article, will plan to read this closely before my next episode of the In The Car podcast!