Oct 10 2004
Mud Pod #1
Jenny and I have recorded our first Podcast (5:30) in which we review the 1958 film, The Blob! (For the first minute, the sound quality isn’t too good but then it gets better.) We also talk about J-Walk’s first Podcast and the technical difficulties I’m having with mine. Then, as we are about to launch into a scintillating story about apple-picking, the tape runs out and the show ends abruptly.
UPDATE: All podcasts have been removed.
Hey Phillip, about those low mic levels. Here’s something to check. Launch the Windows Volume Control app (it’s named sndvol32.exe on my system). In the microphone section, there’s an Advanced button. Click it, and you’ll see a checkbox that gives the mic a +20dB boost. If that’s not turned on, turn it on and see if it makes a difference.
I think the Volume Control app varies depending on the sound card, so maybe yours doesn’t even have it. Or maybe you’re using a Mac. If so, forget what I said.
I’m downloading now and it will play automatically when it’s all received. I’m *so* excited and *so* happy to see you quickly recognize that podcasting is the way to get your audio out to a larger audience that isn’t just on Whole Wheat Radio.
This is a nit that you’re probably aware of — technically, you’re not podcasting quite yet. In order for it to be an official podcast technically, your RSS Feed needs to have the MP3 file in an [enclosure] tag. Your RSS feed appears to be broken right now so I can’t confirm that if you do or don’t have an [enclosure] tag but your podcast wasn’t picked up by Bloglines (this entry was though) so I suspect you don’t. Anyhow, it’s a short step for you to get that worked out. If you’re totally confused, take a look at my RSS feed and look for the enclosure tags. That’s what has to be in your RSS feed too for it to be an official podcast that can be picked up automatically by the iPodder software.
I’ll look into modifying my feed to make it an podcast compatible. Thanks, Jim.
MUD POD NOTE: Yes, I am aware that you can’t hear our voices during the first minute or so because of the music. I’ll fix it next time.
Our first webcast was a flop — for a whole bunch of reasons. For starters, when we had more than 2 listeners, the stream would cut out. Secondly, Jenny and I were dopey from just finishing a huge Thanks Giving diner, and we simply could not get the show off the ground. It was like being on stage and bombing, knowing that we were bombing and getting worse with each passing minute, but unable to stop it.
We asked our few listeners, through the Whole Wheat Radio chat room, if they could hear us talking — and apparently no one could hear us talking. The music was going out, but the signals from our mics were going nowhere. So they were left with huge stretches of dead air between the songs. After reading this news from the WWR chat, and then trying in vain to sound personable (and don’t you hate faking shit like that?), it became more than apparent that we were on a sinking ship, and sinking fast. Yet I wouldn’t give up, and it was just painful. Looking at it now, it’s funny, because it was so pathetic.
We’re not going to post the 10 or 12 minutes we recorded, but there will most likely be more “Podcasts,” and some full 30 or 60-minute shows. We have at least a few more of those in us. But no more webcasting, not any time soon.
I had no idea what podcasting was on September 29th when I first thought about taking over Whole Wheat Radio. The only difference between podcasting and posting MP3 files like I’ve done many times here on Steel White Table is that the “podcasted” MP3 files can be automatically downloaded to anyone’s computer. All a person has to do is listen to one of my audio files, and if they like what I have to offer, they can subscribe to my “feed” — and from then on in, whenever I post a new MP3 file, their computer will automatically download it. This is podcasting.
The magic of podcasting is that it saves the “subscriber” the trouble of having to check Steel White Table for audio updates. It saves them the trouble of having to actually click the MP3 link to hear or download the audio file. Instead they just wake up every morning and check their iPod directory for whatever audio has been downloaded overnight, and then they go on their merry way and listen to it.
An iPod is a Walkman for the digital age. You can have the “podcasted” MP3 files downloaded to an iPod directory on your computer’s hard-drive, or the files can be downloaded to your portable iPod. You can then plug your iPod into your car stereo and listen to webcasts or “radio shows” while driving to work everyday. Or you can take the iPod to your office and listen to these downloaded shows throughout the day like you would to normal radio.
Except for inevitable commericals that will show up in podcasts, this technology gives the listener total control over what they’re listening to and when they listen to it.
But the great thing about Podcasting is that there will always be INDEPENDENT PODCASTERS (like me) who don’t insert commericals but just give the goods with no strings attached — and the independent stuff is usally much better for you. If you like what you hear, you subscribe. If you don’t, then you don’t; no hard feelings.
Concievably, I could subsribe to numerous podcasts and then go outside all day and plant trees and listen to all these shows throughout the day. I could stop and pause them or fast-foward through them whenever I felt it. And I would NEVER miss a show.
So, from what I can tell, that’s the big deal about Podcasting. That’s what’s got Jimbob on Whole Wheat Radio so excited for the past week or so. And on principle I understand his excitement. It’s a powerful technology — but just like a lot of crap to do with computers and the Internet, it could become a big hole of wasted time, wasted life.
When Jenny and I recorded our short good-humoured Podcast about our recent viewing of the 1958 movie, THE BLOB, we thought for sure we would just delete it, but after listening to it, we realized it wasn’t all that bad because it was sponateous, unscripted, two people reacting to each other in a real way — and laughing at themselves. And I would hope that anyone listening to it would laugh along with us.
If we record anymore Podcasts, there are a few things I don’t want to do: (1) Jump into podcasting for purely self-indulgent reasons, saying, “Hey, look at me, I’m podcasting!” Almost every podcast I’ve heard to date seems to fall into this category except JWalk’s — he’s doing it, but I doubt he’ll ever put “Podcasting” on his resume. He’s not taking it seriously. (2) Talk about podcasting while I’m podcasting. (3) Record a podcast for the sake of recording a podcast — which is what Jenny and I wasted a huge amount of our time on yesterday. (And I’m sure there are already scores who listeners wasting their time listing to podcasts because they’re postcasts, not because the people talking on the podcasts have anything interesting, intelligent or entertaining to say.)
So Jenny and I recorded our fun little BLOB podcast, something to laugh at, not in any way taking ourselves seriously. Just being real. (Which is exactly how I’d describe Whole Wheat Radio — and I love it, ten times more than any podcast I’ve heard in the past week.) Then later on we tried to record another podcast — and it just didn’t work. And so we kept trying and trying — for about 2 frigging hours.
Then we stopped because realized we were forcing it. We were trying to record a Podcast for the sake of recording a podcast. And just like that we’d fallen into the PODCAST TRAP.
This technology can be fun, and a powerful tool for independent thinkers, independent musicians, independent everything, but it’s also a passive technology. Which means it has the potential to be a great time-waster, whether you’re listening to a podcast or recording one.
I’ve written all of this for myself. My way of making sure I don’t forget to ask myself in the midst of all this excitement:
“Do I have anything better to do?”
And thus ends the longest comment posted to Steel White Table.
(Editor’s note: this is the 2nd longest. The longest is from that guitarist post.)
P.S., You can listen to Jimbob’s response to this comment. You can also listen to Mud Songs: The Lost Show where I eventually read most of the above comment on the air. (The show was webcasted on the morning of Oct. 12/04 while the WWR stream was down.)
This was one of our first podcasts — and it’s probably the best one you’ll find on this blog next to my “Podcast About Nothing.”