Stick this in your ear

Once more, confirmation that 'content is king.'

From Mac News: Podcasting : NPR Fleshes Out Its Podcast Lineup comes this statement:

"Nobody really cares about podcasting if it's not good content," said WOSU General Manager Tom Rieland. "Content is king. We know ... NPR has good content that people enjoy and that is really important to their lives. It's all about having information your way, now."

Are you trying to figure out the content of your next blog post or podcast is? Are you trying to write an ebook or a newsletter and are scratching your head at what the hell you should write about? What will you audience want to read or listen to?

If 'content is king' I would add one caveat: Good content is the only thing that people care about.

Are you engaging your audience to think, to care, to respond, to feel emotions, to learn? Do you give your audience full disclosure? Do you let them feel what you're feeling, let them understand what you're thinking?

Still struggling to fill that page or podcast? Tell your audience about what makes your adrenalin surge through your body. Show them how you are moved to tears. Explain to them the newest trick you learned that just makes you feel like a goddamn kid all over again because it's so cool.

Search yourself for tidbits of trivia that tells a story; shake the cobwebs off a few anecdotes that illustrate an issue.

Find ways to get your readers or listeners to believe with you in what you're doing, and you will have a reader for life.

Are you stumped - still - about how to come up with great content? Then you need a copy of "Constant Killer Content System" which is designed to help you create content on a continuous basis. If you're publishing a podcast, writing a blog, ebook or newsletter, take a look at it - it's part of Podcasting Adventures Online. Soon it will be available as a stand-alone ebook / workbook. Stay tuned! In fact, if you want to be notified when it comes out as a stand-along product, go pick up a few free reports here and you'll be signed up for PODCAST INFO, my now-and-again newsletter on podcasting and related topics.

Go to Apple camp. Watch head explode. Repeat.

Well, maybe the exploding head is a little off track, but camp is cool. I remember trying to learn how to swim and loading all the kids into the back of a flatbed truck with sideboards (totally illegal today!) and heading to the lake.

Apple's Camp may be a little different. Podcasting, Website building, creating music with GarageBand and learning to shoot your own movie. The 2 1/2 hour workshops (camp?) are geared towards kids 8 - 12, and are spread across the country. Sounds like fun for kids...get 'em hooked on how cool Macs are before they go out and buy their own!

No word on the Apple Camp website as to the cost. And I didn't register so I don't know if they wanted me to pony up $$. But check it out. Tre cool.

Young Podcast Listenership Moves Upward

Podcast this, podcast that.

One in five of all podcast users download and listen to about 5 podcasts a week, spending about 3 1/2 hours a month jamming podcasts into their ears.

A new Bridge Ratings survey - {FMQB: Radio Industry News, Music Industry Updates, Arbitron Ratings, Music News and more!} - found that most listeners feel that they're able to find better podcasts than they did the last time the question was asked.

There's a sharp upswing in podcast usage in the 12-24 demographic, according to Dave Van Dyke, the president/CEO of Bridge Ratings (hey, I think he used to consult a station I worked at in Portland in the 80s!). The question: “Have you listened to a podcast in the last 30 days?" resulted in higher numbers from the younger group. 25-34 year olds also charted higher. Most said it was because they had more free time!

Free time!?

What is that?

Maybe I should google it. As if I had any time to do that.

Bridge Ratings keeps a continual pulse on the podcast nation, and I think we're all grateful for that. Maybe I can get Dave on my podcast?

Apple vs. Apple - (Corps vs. Computer)

If you're interested in the way the battle went between the two large Apples (Beatles and iTunes), check out this article and analysis - one of the more insightful that I've come across: Playlist: How Apple beat the Beatles.

More to come from all of this, the case is not over yet and each side is still strutting about a bit, with feathers ruffled.

WWJLS? What Would John Lennon Say about all of this???

MP3 Players Going Way of Dial Telephones?

I don't know if I get it. I'm too old, methinks. And my fingers are too big. I mean, they're not gigantic or anything, but to find the right buttons to push on my cell phone takes more concentration than I want to put into it at 35MPH on Market Street.

According to this article from CRN.com, the MP3 players days are numbered as people switch over to devices that do much more. Telephones that multi-task as cell phones, cameras, web-access platforms, MP3 players, video players, and more.

As memory chips continue to downsize, these little phone-camera-camcorder-music-web devices will shrink in cost as well. Right now the Yankee group says a 2GB memory card retails for less than $80. (I bought a 1-gig card last month for $40, so that is certainly in line with the story). But if you want a 2-gig Apple iPod, it'll cost you $199.

But maybe the whole convergence thing makes sense. Why carry around an iPod, a cell phone and a Blackberry device if you can have it all in one little appliance that fits in your shorts and doesn't even give you the appearance of a woody? I mean, that's small (especially for me!).

Now if only we could shrink our fingers to be able to punch all of those miniature buttons and keys. Talk about M:I:III!!!

Is Your Podcast Legal?

Want to know if it's okay to use a sample or snippet of a copyrighted recording? Want to know how to protect your own podcast from someone else's sampling or use? Check out the Podcasting Legal Guide:

Welcome To The Podcasting Legal Guide - CcWiki

Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that offers flexible copyright licenses for creative works, has the legal guide posted on their website.

As Lawrence Lessig says in his introduction to the guide: "Federal law regulates creativity. That regulation is insanely complex. Indeed, the law is more complex today than at any point in our history. It seems the more the lawyers work on the law, the less useable the law becomes."

Lessig is a professor at Stanford Law School, and has written numerous articles and books relating to the 'net, copyright, creativity and more.

On my podcast, the Tim 'Gonzo' Gordon Show, I rarely stray into any gray areas - I'd rather not have to do that dance to determine if the copyright lawyers are going to eventually jump my bones and ask for their piece of the pie - which would probably put me out of business. But if you, as a podcaster, find yourself treading that path, the legal guide is a damn good thing to know about.

Is it a Podcast Catcher or a Podcasting App?

The new mobile Nokia podcasting application got a little buzz over the past few days, and immediately drew contact fire from the folks who run the Gizmodo - Podcasting pages.

However, it wasn't long before Nokia Podcasting Product Manager Steven Stewart kindly responded to the post. He offered the news that it wouldn't be long before the app would actually be able to podcast, offering a "a full mobile Podcasting solution with higher quality recording capabilities (and smaller file size), editing, uploading capabilities, and more."

I'm all for podcasting on the run. But you can already do that with a telephone and an account at Audioblog.com. So I'm not sure what the big deal is. I think it's pretty damn cool to download podcasts through your phone and listen on the go. But unless Nokia offers another level of control and quality (without having to pony up for a separate account), you're still looking at only incremental change. Unless I'm missing something, which wouldn't be the first time..;-)

Even though most of us only listen to a podcast once, the quality of the production leaves a lasting impression. Do a crappy-sounding over-the-phone podcast and people will remember you that way. Sit down in front of a condenser microphone and the right software and you'll be publishing a high-quality podcast.

And people will remember that, too.

Canucks Tuning Into Podcasting Expanding

The evidence keeps floating in that podcast audiences are growing, and podcast listeners keep adding to their list of fave podcasts: CBC Arts: More favourite CBC Radio shows move onto podcast from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation details how they're making more podcasts available.

What's worth noting is that the age of podcast listeners is still in the expected range of 18 - 39. Canadian listeners make up the majority of CBC podcast listeners as you would expect.

"CBC decided to expand its service because of huge demand for CBC podcasting and the results of a recent survey of podcast users, Bob Kerr, director of business development and digital programming at CBC," the story notes. I added the bold to the huge demand.

Are you podcasting? Have you considered it? If you're blogging, or have a website and are looking to make a few bucks online, podcasting is a great addition to your marketing toolkit.

Are you interesting in Podcasting for Profit? In the next few weeks I'm releasing a new e-book that details through a dozen case studies how small business folks are using podcasting to increase their bottom line, pull more viewers to their websites and open doors to profitable encounters - doors that they didn't even know existed until they sat down behind a mic and published their first podcasts.

If you'd like to be notified when the e-book comes out, just hop on over to PodcastingAdventuresOnline.com/reports, pick up a few free reports on podcasting and digital audio, and you'll be on my 'Podcast Info' mailing list, which means you will be on the list of people to be notified FIRST of the product's release.

The Showdown at the iTunes Corral

iTunes Pricing To Hold At $.99

The record companies blinked first in the staredown. They wanted to install 'variable' pricing for the more popular digital downloads, but Steve Jobs said "uh-huh' (that means 'no').

Jobs had earlier called the record companies 'greedy.'

And when it comes down to it, iTunes and Apple are just like the corner record shop...only worldwide. So like any corner store, they should be able to set any price they want. The only thing the record companies control is the wholesale price. But apparently they didn't want to upset the apple cart. No pun intended.

As Jobs observed, "Customers think the price is really good where it is. If the price goes up a lot, they'll go back to piracy. Then everybody loses."