Digital Audio World

Musings and information on podcasting, digital audio, online streaming audio and home studio recording from Tim 'Gonzo' Gordon of DigitalAudioWorld.com

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

After yesterday's mini-fiasco trying to get a new account registered and to list my podcast, I was pleasantly surprised last night when I found the show listed on iTunes. Check the image here.

The most interesting thing to me, though, was when you click on the arrow for info on the show (it's the arrow right next to the name of the show on the listing), I saw the listing of all of the podcasts - but they'd edited out the name of MusicMatch in listing number 4! I'd done a review of MusicMatch, Winamp and iTunes in that show, and instead of listing MusicMatch, they changed it to 'M********h' - don't want to mention the competition, I guess. Which means they actually consider MusicMatch competition. And I suppose they are.

Which raises another question - when will MusicMatch be made podcast compatible?

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The new version of iTunes is now equipped with podcasting support.

Apple - iTunes makes the software upgrade available just a few weeks after Steve Jobs made the announcement June 6th.

After downloading and installing version 4.9, I thought I'd see how easy it would be to subscribe to my podcast. Easy enough. I clicked on the 'Advanced' tab and to the 'subscribe to podcast' tab and then copied and pasted the URL (http://www.digitalaudioworld.com/gonzo-podcast.rss). iTunes immediately went out and downloaded the most recent episode. Cool! Oh, wait. I've heard this interview before. I did this last week. Hmmm....

Now how about submitting my podcast to iTunes? Easy enough to navigate through to the podcast page (with the picture of Adam Curry with the cool shades and foo-foo hairdo) and checked out the FAQ on submitting podcasts. Nothing sneaky here, pretty straightforward. You do need to set up an account to submit your podcast, so I did that. But the damn software got hung up in the last step and wouldn't let me finish the account.

After trying a few things I went back and resubmitted all of my info, and it let me in this time. So after going back to the RSS/podcast submission page, I entered the URL again and clicked 'next.' I was then told that the podcast had already been submitted and I couldn't submit again! Yikes.

Next I tried to find out where I could add or edit any of the information you normally have when you submit a podcast to a directory. Nope, nowhere to do it. Try 'support.' The link takes you through to the online support, where when you do a search for 'podcast' or 'podcasting' it says no results. So obviously the support section of iTunes online does NOT reflect the new software updates. Yet.

After fifteen minutes I gave up. Check back later. I know I've submitted the podcast to iTunes - I just don't know exactly what it'll say when and if it comes up for air!

But as far as using iTunes to subscribe to podcasts, it's damn easy. You choose your own links, or browse their menu of (very corporate) choices. It'll be curious to see what kind of podcasts come up on their top ten list and in their front page of recommendations...

Thursday, June 23, 2005

FMQB: Radio Industry News, Music Industry Updates, Arbitron Ratings, Music News Corporate Radio - read 'Clear Channel' - moves bigtime into podcasting. Hey, if the show fits... Uh should that be 'shoe'..?

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Beware the iPod tax: FMQB: Radio Industry News, Music Industry Updates, Arbitron Ratings, Music News

Do you think this will fly? Congress has time and again delayed or declined (whichever way you want to look at it) to levy taxes on internet commerce. No doubt they do it because they want to get re-elected. But how long will the government let all those billions of dollars slip through their fingers. It'll be small efforts like this that, if successful, will start to open the floodgates. If this passes, you'll see another 'net tax law pass. And another, and another. Soon - maybe within ten years - everything you buy online will be taxed at the same rate as anything you buy at the corner store.

Of course, there are a few states (such as Oregon, where I'm writing from) that don't have sales taxes. And as such, we'd probably figure out a way to exempt ourselves from the tax, since we legally don't have to pay taxes on goods and services.
Looks like someone has jumped the gun on iTunes. Wonder if that'll go over in Apple-land like a, er, uh, lead balloon...?'BadApple' podcasts first in iTunes | CNET News.com

Monday, June 20, 2005

Podcasting News: David Coursey: Podcasting a Fad and a Loser. Well, of course. Hobbyist podcasters will be hard pressed to keep up the pace with commercial entities. But that's part of evolution. Podcasting will not go away. There will be a shake-out of the one or two-man podcasts and small shows, but that's to be expected. Still, an interesting observation.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Profanity in podcasting: What is its role?: Corante > Profanity in Podcasting > is an interesting discussion.

After reading a number of comments, I jumped in with this:

I'm all for free speech. I'm also all for not listening to stuff that either offends or annoys me. George Carlin's 'Seven Words' bit was classic, and dammit, funny. And it was an effective use of language and had redeeming social value. I know because even the US Supreme Court agreed with me.

Profanity doesn't offend me in and of itself. If the word is used in a way that works in the context I don't have a problem. If the speaker uses a lot of profanity because he's not smart enough to be more descriptive, that offends me. The use of profanity will not make up for stupidity and lack of verbalization skills. Seems to me that many people will use profanity because it seems to them to be the best way to get their point across. Sometimes is it, many times it is not.


I do a podcast about once a week, and over twenty or so episodes I think I've use a couple of so-called profane words maybe 4 or 5 times. It just came out of my mouth because at the time it seemed the most descriptive. And yes, in an unscripted setting, as most podcasts are, those words will come out. It's how people talk. It's real.


Much as I agree with Robert Heinlein's assessment that 'moderation is for monks,' profanity should be self-moderated by the person behind the microphone. It may be trite, but it's true that with freedom of speech comes the responsibility to use that freedom wisely."

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Wired Magazine (one of the coolest tech magazines ever) features a look at podcasting and how the big boys are hoping to 'monetize' their programs. Will it work? Does anyone care, except for the people trying to make a few $$? Does the movement of large corporations into the podcasting arena spell the end of the small hobbyist eccentric podcasts?

Whatever the outcome, it's all evolving at a dizzying pace: Wired News: Radio Sets Eyes on Podcast Profit

Friday, June 10, 2005

I ran across a podcast by Tom Jeffries in Vancouver, BC, who talked at length about his attempt to get a license to play Canadian music on his podcast...and the absurd amount of money the license organizations are asking. BlogMatrix - Weblog. It seems as if no one in the music industry wants podcasters to include music.

Doesn't it make sense that if a small podcast plays a few songs that if the listener who happens to stumble across it might actually like it and buy it? The record folks seems to be afraid that the podcast will actually prevent that, because - hey, they already have a copy of the song on the podcast, so why would they buy it?

Ridiculous! Most podcasts go out at very low quality; 32 or 64kbps sample rate, much below CD quality. Also, many of the podcasters will talk over the beginning or end of the song, so saving that snippet will mean saving the talk, too.

And finally, the average podcast listener probably does NOT have audio editing software, so would be unable to edit out that particular song. And if they did, chances are slim that it would happen. I DO have the software and the capability to edit out songs and save them, but so far haven't found anything compelling enough to save at such a low bit rate. Why bother? The sound quality sucks. Podcasts are generally made to be listened to once, and then discarde, like the average radio show. If you like the song, you'll go pay the 99 cents at iTunes, or go searching for the album.

It's a no-brainer, and record executives and the RIAA apparently have no brains.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

CIO Today - Worldwide Technology - Podcasting: Is Apple the New RCA? More on Steve Jobs and Apple's eye on podcasting. Don't ever doubt that if Apple wants to become the dominant player in podcasting that they can't do it. Commentary that's right on; wish I'd been so damn eloquent.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Tim Gonzo Gordon Podcast Show - June 6, 2005

Check out the latest podcast, featuring Podcasting news: Steve Jobs says iTunes 4.9 will handle all podcasts; why podcasting is different from TiVo; top podcasts this week on several directories. Plus - the debut of another original song from my mad weekend of demo recording in the home studio.
As predicted, iTunes will soon have the capability to import, search for and archive podcasts. See Technology - canada.com.

Does this mean that iPodder and iPodderx are done for, taking their last breath, gasping for air, hanging on my the nubs of their nails? For the most part, I think so. There will always be a few folks hanging on, just like people hung on to Gnutella and old software even though the masters of the universe shut down the spigot on updates or distribition.

Still, I think it's a good thing. As a podcaster, I want as much exposure as possible. Being able to register my podcast on iTunes may not mean I'll get hundreds or thousands of listeners, but it can't hurt to be in the directory. And it may even shift my perspective on the show to something different than what it is now.