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November 25, 2004

Podcast First Take: iPodLounge Podcast

This entry posted in: 3 and a half stars , I do not subscribe , Podcast FirstTake

iPodlounge | All Things iPod

Format: commentary
Content: iPod product reviews and commentary
Rating: 3 and a half stars
What I'm going to do: not subscribe; don't own an iPod.
Typical Length: 30 minutes

iPod Lounge's podcast is an experiment; the editors of iPodlounge don't know if they are going to continue to produce it or not, but they request a review, so there you have it.

Jeremy at iPodLounge is the narrator of this podcast, and if you own an iPod or are interested in the technology (or even are thinking about purchasing one) then this podcast contains a great deal of useful data. The iPod Lounge website is one of the best-known resources for iPod users, and much of what makes the site so valuable can be heard in the podcast. If you are not interested in the iPod, however, this podcast is probably not for you. In addition, I think much of what makes the site so terrific a resource is the member interaction, which will be difficult to reproduce in a podcast. That said, the attention to detail in the reviews and commentary is quite impressive.

In the first 'cast Jeremy reviews the iPod Photo, Oakley's Thump sun-glasses/mp3 player, and Bose's iPod Dock. As I said, these reviews are higly detailed and they are well-organized, commenting on everything from the features of the device in question to (in the case of the iPod Photo) delving into the operation and weaknesses of the accompanying software. The reviews are impartial and factual - no product pushing here, but there are enough details for you to listen to the podcast and make an informed choice about a putchase (if one opinion is enough).

The vocals for this podcast are recorded using an iPod Photo and the Griffin's iTalk recorder, and as such the audio for the podcast is acceptable. The vocals in specific are clear and easy to understand. I don't know if the post-production work (if any) was done on the iPod, but I suspect the musical intro and outro were mixed in after the fact. These clips of music were a little distorted on the bass end on my portable, but not so bad in my automobile. The music does not cut off Jeremy's vocals at all and the fades are handled smoothly, but a little bit of a musical bed might make the podcast a little less flat.

The podcast is encoded at 56 kbps, which seems to me to be a perfectly fine bitrate for this sort of podcast, and the resulting mp3 clocks in at just over 10MB for the almost-half-hour podcast. iPodLounge's meta-data is satisfactory; files and tracks are easy to identify both in my portable and in the Windows filesystem. There are no musical tracks, so track lengths are unimportant.

Subscribe to mp3s.

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Posted by cori at 06:58 AM

October 26, 2004

Podcast FirstTake: The Fifth Institution

This entry posted in: 2 stars , I do not subscribe , Podcast FirstTake

Format: Talk
Content: Politics; Socialism
Rating: 2 stars
What I'm going to do: check back in a few shows
Podcast Length: 24 minutes

Michael Murray proposes to be the Fifth Institution, helping to cover the area where we are failed by the Fourth Institution, the Press (I'm pretty sure he means Fourth and Fifth Estates, but who knows).

Seemingly Michael is a political junkie. Taking a look at his blogroll from his website, political blogs outnumber those of every other category 4 to 1. That being so, I suppose it's not too surprising that Michael has a lot to say. And I agree with a lot of what he has to say.

But I'm not here to discuss politics, whether I agree or not. And when it comes to what I am here to discuss, this podcast is sadly lacking.

If we begin at the most basic level, the audio for this 'cast is poor. The volume is far too low for me to be able to hear clearly while out walking - although maybe I could have if I was wearing full headphones. Production was adequate; the fades in and out of the intro/outro and the music break were competently done and the selection of music (from what I could hear) was satisfactory.

Michael's delivery was a little rambling and repetitive, but like anyone else, I have every hope that he'll improve with experience. I was less enamored with his support for some of the arguments he put forth, which seemed only sketchily laid out.

I have high hopes for the ability of fringe politics to be heard in the podcast medium; it seems extremely well tailored for that kind of discourse. I'd love to see some political podcasts that can compete on a more rational level with the professional Air Americas of the broad/podcast world. Perhaps Michael will come to be one of those voices, so I'll be checking back.

Subscribe to mp3s.


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Posted by cori at 09:53 PM

October 20, 2004

Podcast First Take: Do You Compute?

This entry posted in: 3 stars , I do not subscribe , Podcast FirstTake

Format: music/talk
Content: per Dan, alternative music and talk
Rating: Rating: 3 Stars
What I'm going to do: come back again

The first post of Dan Nordquist's Do You Compute was well executed. His voice volume was adequate and the transitions between voice and music were smooth. Good mix of music and talk; most of his speech was talking about podcasting and his techonlogy and experiences, which should be well received by other new content creators. He also had some interesting things to say about the breadth of music choices for his future broadcasts. I think his choice of an under-score was also pretty strong, and I liked the music he was playing.

Some of the post sounded edited, which is to be expected, and it sounded well done and smooth. I'd much rather have well-edited posts than raw ones any day.

He also introduced me to a new band (for me), Interpol, which is always a good thing.
After taking a look at Dan's blog, I'm interested to see how often he posts and where he takes it.

This 'cast ran about 15 and a half minutes - no idea if that's the length Dan is shooting for or not. You can subscribe to Do You Compute on mp3

Update: Dan seems to have left podcasting behind - from the posts on his website as near as I can tell he hasn't podcasted since 2004-11-11.

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Posted by cori at 04:00 PM