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November 15, 2004

Podcast Review: Linux Log

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

Linux Log » Podcasts

Format: reference/news column
Content: linux, unix, and open source news articles
Rating: 3 and a half stars
What I'm going to do: subscribe to the site, listen sometimes
Typical Length: around 30 minutes

The Linux Log gives fairly in-depth coverage of the current buzz in the media about whatever's up right now for Linux, unix, and open source - obviously leaning a little harder towards the Linux side (given the title). The Linux Log podcast expands on that theme in an audio format.

The idea here is that Adrian Bacon and his fellows excerpt an entire week's worth of media coverage about the topics that the Linux Log site is tracking and podcast it in a half-hour podcast every Monday evening. The concept is good and the information valuable. In addition, Adrian is interested in being as supportive of multiple audio filetypes as possible - this is a great thing for OGG or FLAC users - just contact Adrian at the site and request the format that you want. However, currently Adrian is serving up both mp3 and WMA attachments in the same feed; I can't get the the WMA file, but that probably has to do with the iPodder platform, which may be ignoring WMA file. My concern is that when iPodder begins to listen for WMA files (if it's not already), I may get them both. Hopefully if the choices are expanded Adrian will split them into different feeds. For now you can get them from the site if this is a concern. Editor's Note: Actually, I've determined (with Garth of the iPodder development team's help) that iPodder actually just retrieves the first enclosure in each without respect to type. Filtering by MIME type is on the development list, but I would strongly suggest that podcasters not mix different MIME types for duplicate content within a single feed. Much better to use separate feeds to serve the same content diced different ways.

If you're a real Linux propeller-head, this podcast probably isn't going to be a huge help for you. Adrian covers a lot of articles in a relatively short time at a relatively low level of detail. If you know nothing at all about Linux you're unlikely to care much about what Adrian's talking about. However, if you're only a little bit of a Linux geek (like a lot of the IT professionals I know) then this podcast will likely be right up your alley.

Adrian's delivery is a little dry at times, and the audio sometimes leaves a little to be desired; Adrian's vocals are a little muted, but he's aware of that problem and hopes to resolve it soon. Adrian also makes do without any intro / outro music or underscore, which adds a little to the dryness of the podcast; given that this podcast has a tremendously well-defined target, maybe that's OK, but a little extra production punch would add a little interest to the show, in my view. However, the think I'd like to see most out of this show was a slightly deeper analysis of the news stories he's bringing up. I'm not a huge media geek, and I don't really care too much about what media sources picked up thi story or that one, or hwhat the media source count is fior this story at Linux Log. What would be the most helpful to me is to have Adrian tell me a little bit of what makes this story so important to the Linux community. I want more why the story was picked up and a little less who picked it up. All in all a valuable resource that is sure to become more so as Adrian works out the kinks.

Subscribe to mp3s and WMAa.

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Posted by cori at November 15, 2004 02:26 PM