Tag Archives: podcasting

Sharing Fatigue

podcasting, Podcasts, Social Media, , ,

socialmediafatigueFor some time, something has been going on with me I’ve been struggling to explain. My motivation to share things via social media has been waning.

When podcasting came along in 2004, and social media was still in its infancy, my motivation to share was strong. For several years, I was creating and posting new content at a furious rate.

However, in the past couple of years, the motivation I once felt has been on a sharp decline. I’ve been wondering, did something happen to cause me to stop caring? Was I running out of energy? What was the deal?

Lately, I’ve been toying with the theory that people have a fixed amount of sharing capacity, and once that is used up, the motivation drops off. To back this idea up, there have been plenty of people that had a large online presence that at some point simply seemed to run out of gas and ended up dropping off. This pattern seems to be common, whether it is with a large percentage of podcasters, or just people posting stuff on platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.

With me, motivation is everything. I find that if I am motivated to learn something and/or do something, I can bore right through to the center of whatever it is and make it happen. However, if I’m not motivated, I might as well forget it. I cannot force myself to do something that I lack natural interest in or motivation for.

So, this is the best answer I’ve come up with so far. I am currently tapped out when it comes to the motivation to create and share content online.

Will this lack of motivation to share continue? Would it return if I found myself in a different personal situation, such as when I retire? These are questions I currently have no answers for.

In Pod We Trust

bbc, photocasting, radio, ,

BBC LogoMy love of audio extends back to childhood, listening to late night radio shows under the covers while the rest of the house slept. Living not far from France, I’d pick up foreign channels, their exotic chatter filling the airwaves. For me, podcasts represent the current evolutionary peak, the ability to listen to whatever I want, from wherever in the world, whenever I want.

Aside from the lack of hours in the day, I’ve always been frustrated by the lack of curation with podcasts as it’s actually quite hard to find really good podcasts. Many are all too similar, many are too ephemeral and many are too full of themselves. I want podcasts to inform me, to disturb me, to challenge me, to tell me that I’m not alone.

So I have high hopes for the BBC’s new podcast series, In Pod We Trust, in which “Miranda Sawyer presents a round-up of the best spoken word audio podcasting from around the world.” There’s only been one episode so far and it’s looking promising, with an excerpt from a podcast where a father discusses a very personal event with his son in a candid and revealing way. Mainstream media would never have got the story, never mind broadcast it.

I’m looking forward to the next download already.

YouTube Lowers Live Streaming Requirement!

YouTube,

ytlYouTube on Friday opened the flood gates to shows in good standing and are allowing shows with a minimum of 100 subscribers to get access to their Live Streaming Platform.

It has only been a couple of months since they opened it to shows with 1000 subscribers. We all knew this was coming but it is really great news for podcasters that are doing live shows.

Lets talk about the impact here.. Companies like Ustream have their ProBroadcasting services where you can purchase up to 100 ad free hours for $99.00. While YouTube does not guarantee ad free streaming, so far their ads have been non-obtrusive.

One of the reasons I had stopped using Ustream as a primary streaming provider was that the ads in their “free streams” became intrusive. No one minds a company making money when they are providing a free service but the ads on Ustream were driving my audience away and was the #1 complaint for months.

On YouTube partner sites get to share in the revenue of any advertising run which incentives folks to start using YouTube as their primary live platform.

This change has to impact the bottom line of companies like Ustream, how will these companies survive this is my next question. The provided production tools Ustream provides may help, but it is obvious that YouTube understands where the media space is headed..

The best part about the YouTube Live experience is that you get to promote it on your own sites with the video embed, and you can cross promote your YouTube Channel. This is a win for content producers. See the other announcements YouTube made as well

Check out my Channel on YouTube @ YouTube.com/geeknews

One Billion Podcast Subscriptions

Apple, itunes, podcasting, Podcasts, ,

One Billion Podcast SubscriptionsWhile some people have suggested that podcasting is a dying art, the data indicates an entirely different reality. Apple announced on Monday, July 22, 2013, that there have been more than 1 billion podcast subscriptions through the iTunes store. Thats a big number!

If you visit the iTunes store today, and visit the part about podcasts, you will see the image that accompanies this blog. It is part of Apple’s special promotion to commemorate the 1 billion podcast subscriptions.

The data from Apple notes that the 1 billion subscriptions are spread over 250,000 unique podcasts. The podcasts are in over 100 languages. More than 8 million episodes have been published in the iTunes store (so far).

Those 1 billion podcast subscriptions do not necessarily equate to the same amount of “listens”. Many people, myself included, have fallen behind on listening to the podcasts that they have subscribed to. Personally, I have more podcast episodes that are sitting in my iTunes, waiting for me to get around to listening to them, than is reasonable. My intent is to get to them all, eventually!

Griffin MicConnect for iOS at CES 2013

Apple, audio, hifi, iOS, IPAD, iPhone, ipod, podcasting, smartphone, Special Media, tablet, , , , , , , , , , ,

Griffin MicConnectJeffrey Powers goes all Pop Idol when he chats to Jackie from Griffin Technology about the newly announced MicConnect, which connects iOS devices to XLR mics with phantom power.

The Griffin MicConnect is a small brick adaptor with an XLR socket (input) on one side for the microphone and a 3.5 mm jack on the other to connect into an iPhone, iPod or iPad. A 3.5 mm socket provides for headphone monitoring of the sound source and for condenser mics, the unit takes two AA batteries to provide phantom power (48V).

(As an aside, I’m not 100% clear if this is iOS only – the 3.5 mm jack looks pretty standard and there’s no reference to special apps being required so if Android is your OS of choice, it might be worth contacting Griffin directly.)

Included in the interview is Griffin’s updated Mic Stand Mount, which is now compatible with all iPad models (not Mini), and unsurprisingly holds an iPad on a mic stand. Jeffrey reckons the MicConnect and the Mount are a great combo for the mobile podcaster. Pricing-wise, both the MicConnect and the Mount are $39.99 but the MicConnect won’t be available until June.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine for the TechPodcast Network.

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New Media Expo University Offers Scholarship

New Media, ,

The folks over at New Media Expo are offering a scholarship to the New Media Expo University to up and coming content creators.  This is a great opportunity for someone just starting out podcasting, blogging & web streaming that may not have the financial means to get to New Media Expo this coming January in Las Vegas.

I have been asked to judge the entries that are being submitted in the podcasting category. While I will not be commenting on the process to pick the winners, please review the guidelines laid out on the site to apply. I look forward to reviewing the entries submitted.

New Media Expo needs to be commended in stepping up to the plate like this, it shows their support for the podcasting space and their commitment to the podcasting community.

CinchCast iOS Beta

Apple, application, audio, iOS, IPAD, iPhone, ipod, smartphone, , , , , , ,

Podcasting since December of 2004, more than once I’ve thought of a podcasting “dream” device. It would be a small hand-held all-in-one device that would allow me to produce the perfect podcast and upload it and post it with a single tap of a button.

This perfect integrated podcasting device doesn’t exist as of yet, but with Blogtalkradio.Com’s free CinchCast iOS/iPod/iPad/iPhone app, the ideal software/hardware solution is closer than ever to actually meeting my dream for the ideal podcasting solution.

CinchCast is a free app available for download in the iOS App Store. Once installed, in order to use the software one must create a free account at CinchCast.Com. After the free account is created, it becomes possible to record audio from within the CinchCast application. Once you have finished making your recording, simply go to the next step and type in what you were talking about. The remaining and final step is to automatically upload your recording to the CinchCast server, where a real podcast is automatically created with an RSS feed.

CinchCast iOS Beta uses the built-in iPod Touch 4 microphone. The recording quality is decent, but the 64kbps bit rate the app uses is not adjustable. On the other hand, recording at 64kbps in mono results in compact MP3 file sizes.

The iPod Touch itself has a surprisingly good built-in microphone which works extremely well in quiet areas. However, trying to record audio in a moving vehicle is likely to result in heavily distorted recordings because of the deep bass frequencies generated by the tires moving against the pavement so depending on the microphone you are using be forewarned.

Of course, CinchCast iOS Beta has no way to play or incorporate pre-recorded audio clips or jingles. CinchCast excels in allowing one to record and immediately upload a podcast MP3 file with just a few taps on your iPod/iPad/iPhone/iOS device.