• Tai Chi Power Hour (site)
• podQuiz weekly trivia quiz (site)
• Joe Reilly’s Look at Theater (site)
• AVRant Home Theater Podcast (site)
• Modern Manners Guy Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Polite Life (site)
• CBS Radio World News Roundup (site)

Tip of the Week:

If you’re looking to get into podcasting, but don’t know what kind of services you need to host your files, listen up. Try libsyn (liberated syndication) (libsyn.com) , which provides all the tools you need to manage your podcast and upload your media files. You won’t have to worry about hosting or content delivery. Just upload your media files, and you’re ready to go. The downside is you don’t get your own domain name (e.g. dailysplice.com). If you’re comfortable enough to create your own web page as a front-end to your podcast, try dreamhost.com. They have really cheap plans and a large community.

Survey Question of the Week:

The album art is important for attracting new listeners. When I’m looking at a bunch of podcasts on a directory, I judge the quality of a podcast partially on the album art. If there is no album art, or it’s not very catchy, I’m conclude that that podcast is not particularly well-made. It’s like movies at the store: people are more likely to rent a movie that has an interesting-looking cover. So, which podcast do you think has the best album art?

A: Indiefeed Dance

B: Ask Blackie

C: CBC Radio 3 New Music Canada Track of the Day

D. 100 Word Stories

E.  Podington Bear

Genre of the Week: Tech News

Last Wednesday we released an interview with the great people from Just One More Book. Some other book podcasts you may want to check out are:

• NPR Books (site) - 25-30 min twice per week
• New York Times Book Reviews (site) - 15 minutes on wednesdays
• Meet the Author (site) - 1-3 minutes on weekdays
• CBC Betweek the Covers (site) - 17 min three times per week

I’ve tried to break down the types of podcasts someone can do in terms of what is needed in terms of post-production resources. I’ve done this with audio podcasting in mind, so if you are thinking of doing video you should probably triple or even quadruple the effort estimates here.

The Phone-In Podcast

This is as simple as making a phone call. It takes one person and zero post-production time, but it is telephone quality. It is possible to spend an extra 5 - 10 minutes making optional enhancements to the show notes and tags after recording.

The Editless Record-Upload Podcast

This takes very little production time and can have high production quality depending on your recording equipment and the skill level of the host. It involves a minimal amount computer work which could take anywhere from 10-30 minutes of post-production time per episode. The average person could do one of these from start to finish, but they’d need to have access to some equipment and software.

The Trimmed Podcast

This introduces editing to the production, which takes time and some extra skills. If the editor is familiar with the software it will not take too much time. Depending on the length of the recording and the skill of the editor this could take an extra 15 - 60 minutes of post production time per episode. The average person could do one of these from start to finish, but it’s likely you’d have one person hosting it and another person doing the post production.

The Template Podcast

This is a good podcast to produce if you have a regular show that has certain standards. You can get professional sounding production quality with not a lot of extra production time. However, it does require some up-front production time to produce high quality templates. It will take an extra 15 - 60 minutes of post production time per episode. The average person could do one of these from start to finish, but it’s likely you’d have one person hosting it and another person doing the post production. Yet another more skilled editor may even do the templates.

The One-Man Band Podcast

If you’ve got a studio and you’re a talented host, it’s quite possible to record your podcast and add all the effects and music clips and everything you need as you go. You’ll need a lot of stuff to set this up though and you’ll need to know what you’re doing. If you do, it’s possible to record good shows with very little post-production time.

The Full Edit Podcast

This kind of podcast takes a lot more care and attention. It involves serious post-production time and some skill with the editing software. It probably involves a lot more care when recording as well. It may take 60+ minutes of extra post production time per episode. One of these podcast will probably involve a one or more people other than the host who handle the production of the shows.

Other podcasts mentioned in this interview were Fuse #8 (site), CLIP Podcast (site) and the LD Podcast.

• CBC Radio: C’est la vie (site)
• CBS Inside Business (site)
• Eye to Eye with Katie Couric (site)
• Pittsburg Hear and Now: TechTalk (site)
• iJump.co.nz Podcast (site)
• Young Hollywood (site)
• NPR: The Color Of Money (site)

• Keith Worthy - Emotional Content (Indiefeed Dance)
• the UroClub (Daily Giz Wiz)
• Google’s Mobile Phone Plan Hits Delays (What’s New Now)
• Better than CLR at removing Crud (Wired)

Cinch

This is the most simple podcast tool you will every find anywhere until they invent some way to telepathically publish podcasts from brain-to-mp3. All you do is make a phone call, record the message, and hang up. You don’t have to set anything up. Cinch even sets up your RSS feed using your phone number… http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/yourphonenumber.

You can literally pick up your phone right now and call +1646.200.0000, leave a message, hang up, and then go to http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/yourphonenumber to find your podcast.

You can attach a phone number to a word so that you don’t have to make your phone number known to the public. For example, I changed my RSS feed from http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/myphonenumber to http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/dailysplice. But that’s the ONLY setting up that you can do.

There’s two problems though:

1. They put their own audio signature at the beginning of the recording. It’s only a second long, but if you absolutely can not have a 3rd party message in your podcast (I guess it’s an advertisement), then you can’t use this service.
2. It’s a little too simple. I mentioned that the only setting you can do is change the RSS url for your phone number. You can’t log into your account, you can’t do episode titles or show notes, you can’t delete a show if you screw up, and if someone knew your phone number I guess they could change your RSS feed url. Also, it’s one phone number for one RSS feed, so you can’t make updates to your feed from multiple phones.

My Cinch RSS Feed

• recorded using my cell phone (long distance charges apply)

Gabcast

This is one step up from cinch in terms of complexity, but the complexity vs features you get is totally worth it. Basically, you have to set up an account to start, and then you have to deal with an automated menu when you call in to identify your podcast. This lets you call from any phone to update your podcast, and you can playback your episode over the phone before publishing it. Then you can log in after the fact and ad show notes and manage recordings.

The problems with Gabcast are:

1. The free part is limited. If your show gets popular you’ll need to upgrade for a minimal costs to increase your bandwidth allowence
2. It didn’t work reliably when I tried it. The first test I did worked beautifully, but then when I called back to record the real deal I got a busy signal. Later when I tried again it just kept ringing. Then site went down too. Maybe I just got unlucky, I don’t know. I’ll try again another day and update this post if it works.

GCast

GCast is about as easy or easier to use than GabCast, but there are a couple advantages.

1. It doesn’t look like there are bandwidth or storage limitations
2. You can upload audio files, so if you want to record and edit your podcast professionally and then upload it rather than recording by phone, you can.
3. It’s done by the folks at GarageBand.com, so they’ve integrated some mixing tools that leverage their huge database of royalty free music. This feature isn’t really in the scope of this post, so I’ll mention it but that’s it.
4. It actually works =)

The only disadvantage of this service is that they mention in the description that they make money from adding audio or video advertisments. I didn’t get any ads attached to mine though… maybe those get added later? Probably at their discression anyway. However, they do also say they will probably come out with a paid option to get rid of the ads.

My GCast RSS Feed

• recorded using skype (free, terrible quality, but probably has more to do with the fact that I’m just using my dinky built in laptop microphone)
• recorded using my cell phone (long distance charges apply)

Hipcast

With hipcast you can record your podcast by phone, skype, the on-site recording studio, or even by uploading an mp3 file. You can even do video. You can have multiple podcasts and you can call from any phone and update any of your podcasts using the automated phone menu. It’s not as simple as some of the other ones, but it really does have all you’ll need to get podcasting effortlessly and still get high production quality when you need it. The problem is… it costs money. 5$ per month will get you a basic startup account. If your podcast gets popular you’ll have to start upgrading which means more $$$. Of course, if you get to the point where you have to upgrade then it’s probably not a bad thing.

My Test Hipcast RSS Feed (this may not work eventually because I canceled my account so I don’t keep getting charged)

• recorded with skype (free, terrible quality, but probably has more to do with the fact that I’m just using my dinky built in laptop microphone)
• recorded with a mobile phone (long distance charges apply)
• recoded on the hipcast site (free)

• Bopst Show (site)
• Oracle Database Podcast (site)
• Accidental Creative (site)
• Average Betty (site)
• Podictionary (site)
• MPR: Grammar Grater (site)
• Scrap Time (site)

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If you have any suggestions for this podcast, please feel free to leave a comment on our blog or email us at info [at] dailysplice.com. If you’d like to find these podcasts and thousands of others in our directory go to DailySplice.com. You can add all your podcasts to your list of favorites and have new episodes delivered to you daily in a convenient package either by email or RSS. If you have a podcast and you’d like to promote it on DailySplice, the best way to do this is to link directly to your podcast’s page in the DailySplice directory and encourage your listeners to add it to their favorites. You can always email us with any questions or requests!

Back on YouTube, it looks like selected full length videos are being test driven in the something they are calling the Screening Room, which may be a step toward the Hulu’s more pro-studio way of doing things.

Then over on Podcasting News, James has written a little summary of a 5 ways you can get these internet video’s back on to your TV screen.

So I don’t know if the connections I’m trying to establish here are really that tight, but connections or no connections it’s just been an interesting week to watch and read about the move toward mainstream internet TV.

Big Boys by The 99th Floor (GarageBand.com Alternative Pop Tracks)

Toshiba’s the new Lightweight (InfoWorld) weekdays 6min

• portege is a half pound lighter than the air
• 3/4 inches thick at thinnest point
• 228 G solid state hard drive
• no moving parts in the hard drive, so longer battery life
• bonus feature: downgradeable to windows xp!

YouTube may begin offering long-form videos (CNet Tech Podcast)

• Trying to appeal to the big dogs?
• They’ll have to pay tons more for bandwidth.
• The whisperings suggest that they will try to attract big networks to distribute TV show episodes on their site.
• Will they be able to monetize it? Apparently Google has admitted that they still haven’t been able to figure out a way to make money off of YouTube. “We paid over a billion for this, but we still can’t generate revenue from it. Oh well. C’est la vie..”

iPhone Could Drive 1/3 of Revenue at Apple (MediaBytes) weekdays 2-3 min

• iphone will be priced at 199$
• expects to sell 27 million next year
• released on July 11
• will be in canada the same day
•  70 countries over the coming months

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If you have any suggestions for this podcast, please feel free to leave a comment on our blog or email us at info [at] dailysplice.com. If you’d like to find these podcasts and thousands of others in our directory go to DailySplice.com. You can add all your podcasts to your list of favorites and have new episodes delivered to you daily in a convenient package either by email or RSS. If you have a podcast and you’d like to promote it on DailySplice, the best way to do this is to link directly to your podcast’s page in the DailySplice directory and encourage your listeners to add it to their favorites. You can always email us with any questions or requests!

Let me start my prediction by saying podcasting, as it is right now, in my opinion is not mobile.  “What?? The whole idea is that you download it and take it with you… isn’t that as mobile as it gets?”

Well, not really. Last I checked, about half the people listening to podcasts are listening direct off the website.  That means they are connected to the Internet, which means they are very likely sitting down in front of their computer, which means they are not moving around.

Podcasts are more valuable on the go, there is no question about that, and I’d be willing to bet most of those people sitting in front of their computer watching the progress bar move along while they enjoy their podcast would probably rather listen to that show on the bus or on a run or wherever else.

People don’t take them on the go because it’s a pain to get them onto their iPod. By “it’s a pain” I mean you have to do something. Even if that something is simply plug your iPod in and wait for the new files to transfer, it is something, and these days “something” is a pain.

What the first iPhone represented was the arrival of the long awaited mobile web in North America. What I think this 3G iPhone will represent is real access to the mobile web in North America. By that I mean the speed will start to go up and the data prices will start to come down.

So then comes my prediction. Not only will it be easier to syc your podcasts up automatically, it will also become easier to stream them on the go.  This will take away the pain of taking your podcasts to go, but it will also take away the limitations of the RSS feed with media enclosure rule. We might see “mediacasts” being aggrigated on the fly and streamed from various parts of the web instead of being placed on your device.

So I guess I’m kind of predicting that the 3G iPhone, in terms of what it represents in the media delivery timeline, could kill the “podcast” in favor of “mediacasts” that include things like YouTube videos that arn’t meant to ever be downloaded.

So if it happens, let me say you heard it here first. If it doesn’t then lets just forget this post ever happened. =)