Category: 4 stars :: Go to Main
May 03, 2005
Podcast Review: Viva Podcast
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4 stars
, I subscribe
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Format: conversation
Content: music and movie commentary, general life stuff
Rating: 
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 15 - 25 minutes; typically right around 20
Your hosts, Lisa and Greg, are parents, students, music and movie lovers, and podcasters especiale. The Viva podcast is a podcast primarily about this couple's life. The interchange between the two of them is smooth and flows well, keeping the podcast moving along and highly listenable.
Greg and Lisa (let's not show any favoritism, eh?) are heavily into music and movies, so along with a little bit of content about school, jobs, and kids, much of what they discuss has to do with movies and music. They treat us to movie reviews and commentary, not just about first run movies, but also about rentals and movies that are off the beaten track with the occasional trailer review thrown in for good measure. On the music front Greg and Lisa listen to quite a bit of new music and give us some pretty in-depth looks at what they're listening to. They also listen to a lot of music that doesn't make the main-stream radio air-waves (at least not where I'm at), so they're a good way to find music you haven't heard about. In addition, while some musicians may rail at this, they often couch their musical comments in "sounds like" comparisons. I guess this tends to pigeon-hole artists, but it's quite helpful when looking for music you may want to try. They also play a portion of a track as a break in the middle of the show, and usually comment on it afterwards.
Lest I mislead, the Viva Podcast isn't about reviewing movies or music. Greg and Lisa also discuss their own life events with an engaging humor and vivacity and sprinkle in a bit of topical or societal commentary often based on something they've seen on television.
The audio quality is typically good; aside from the occasional clipping or distortion (I think caused by one of the hosts getting too close to the mic) the vocals are all clear and easy to understand and the levels are good. However after a recent change to the Propaganda podcasting software they seem to be still working out the levels and there's some new distortion that I hadn't heard before.
The podcast is family- and work-safe, and the balance between music and vocal is good and the fades well-executed. They started out podcasting 5 days a week or so, but have recently dropped back to thrice a week, which is still a healthy amount of work. Meta-data for the podcast is good; the file- and track-names match (which is nice) and consist of a channel name and date, and the album and artist name all work as well. The Viva Podcasts is encoded at 64 kbps, which is a good level for primarily talk.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 10:22 AM
April 04, 2005
Podcast Review: Tech Nation
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4 stars
, I watch
, Podcast Review
Format: interviews
Content: Technically knowledgable host and guests talking about the guests specialities
Rating:
What I'm going to do: watch podcast feed
Typical Length: 5 - 40 minutes
Dr. Moira Gunn is something of a jack of all trades, with degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering and work experience as a professor and at NASA. Perhaps that serves to explain the varied nature of the Tech Nation podcast's guests and subject matter.
Tech Nation is produced for public radio, and is one of IT Conversations first forays into repackaging National Public Radio audio into podcasts. The NPR show's format typically consists of 2 or more interviews; the IT Conversation series breaks these into separate 'casts. The Tech Nation website has similar information to the detail pages at IT Conversations, and points solely to IT Conversations for the internet audio.
One of the most refreshing aspects of the Tech Nation podcast is that unlike most tech podcasts (for example most of the techpodcasts.com affiliates), Tech Nation doesn't focus primarily on computer, web, and gadget technology. Dr. Gunn covers everything from special effects (Jim Rygiel - effects supervisor, LotR) to social science (Barbara Heinzen - geographer and social scientist). One of the interviews from each set is often part of a regular sub-series; Bio Tech Nation, which deals with, um, biotechnology. Guests cover the gamut from authors to entrepeneurs, professors to CEOs, programmers to futurists.
As we've come to expect from the IT Conversations series, the audio is well-mixed and well produced. The balance of host and guest voices is even and the intro / outro music fades smoothly into Dr. Gunn's own vocal introduction and closing. File- and track-naming is adequate, including both channel (series) name and the name of the guest; however I would like to see a date tag in the name in addition to the existing information. Also, more recently IT Conversations has begun naming the tracks with an abbreviated channel name (i.e. "ITC.TN..."), which I find less clear than the older naming, which had the full name of the series (i.e. "Tech Nation"). That said, the shorter name is probably more useful on a portable device, where the slow scrolling of longer names can be frustrating.
Tech Nation is produced weekly.
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Subscribe to AAC.
Also see reviews of other IT Conversations Series:
The New, New Podcast Review: Podcast Review: IT Conversations; The Gillmor Gang
The New, New Podcast Review: Podcast Review: IT Conversations; Voices in Your Head
The New, New Podcast Review: Podcast Review: IT Conversations; Memory Lane
Disclosure: To avoid any sense of impropriety, I am going to be working on IT Conversations as an editor in the near future.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review technology biotechnology itconversations moiragunn
Posted by cori at 09:49 PM
March 30, 2005
Podcast Review: The Bob & AJ Show
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4 stars
, I watch
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Format: funny talk with some music
Content: interviews, music, general shenanigans
Rating:
What I'm going to do: watch this feed
Typical Length: 40 - 60 minutes
The Bob and AJ show comes to us from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is (I believe) the first Canadian podcast I've reviewed. I really liked listening to these guys, partly because I lived for a few years in Sudbury, Ontario and hearing them speak brought back a lot of memories.
Bob and AJ mix up talk and music in a pretty good melange; they typically play 2-3 songs during the course of the show, and their musical taste is good. They've found some good artists in GarageBand and at least a few really good ones (Christa Couture in particular comes to mind), and must spend a fair amount of time researching their selections. The talk in the show centers around podcasting and recently they've been doing a lot of Skype interviews with other podcasters. In addition they throw in a fair amount of personal talk (but not too personal, if you know what I mean). Their self-deprecating humour (threw in that extra 'u' just for you guys, Bob and AJ) and self-effacing manner make them both easy to listen to and highly funny.
Bob and AJ are occasionally non-child- or work-safe but are for the most part unoffensive. In fact (and it may not seem a compliment to them) but this is one of the things that appealed to me about the Bob and AJ Show - perhaps I'm just getting old, or perhaps parenthood has taken its toll on me, but gratuitous cursing doesn't appeal to me much anymore. It's refreshing to hear some guys being funny without feeling like they have to swear. They broadcast once a week for now (typically on Sundays) but have been considering doing a shorter show more than once a week. They claim to shoot for 30 minutes but consisitently overshoot that and end up at 40 to 50 minutes. File meta-data is good, but I'd love to see the date in the track name as well (currently just the show number appears) (rant). Also, it'd be nice to have the track lengths in the podcast (rant).
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review canada canadia comedy humor humour music
Posted by cori at 01:08 AM
February 10, 2005
Podcast Review: The Skinny on Sports
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4 stars
, I do not subscribe
, Podcast Review
Skinny on Sports - Podcast - skinnyonsports.com
Format: talk show
Content: sports talk
Rating:
What I'm going to do: not subscribe
Typical Length: 10 minutes
Andy and Matt Skinn are podcasting a good, compact volume of sports talk once a week (usually Sundays) for all the sports interested podcatchers out there in podcast-land.
If you're a regular reader of the site, or have looked at the back posts, you're probably aware that I'm not much on sports. Don't watch 'em, don't really pay that much attention to them. But I've long been surprized that sports podcasts aren't a lot more popular, given the fairly common shared interest in various sports not just in North America but seemingly world-wide. However, I do see that that's changing; while the iPodder.org : Podcasts directory only lists 7 or so, SportPodcasts.com lists around 30. That's great news for you sport fans, I think.
Back to Andy and Matt's podcast. The guys have a good format put together. They've broken each episode into 4 quarters and an overtime, dividing the 'cast into 5 roughly equal-length segments, each about a different sports topic. Their topics often involve recent games and/or predictions for upcoming ones, but they often also discuss the intersection of sports and society (issues such as women playing men's sports or steroids in Major League Baseball). They've also had a few interviews and seem likely to have more. They have fairly insightful things to say about all these subjects and seem knowledgeable about the sports side of things (I'll have to defer that decision to the more sports-knowledgeable among you since I hardly know the difference between a full court press and an offside pass). Their sports "obsessions" are dealt with in a fairly level-headed manner, which is refreshing.
The style of the podcast is likewise refreshing and easy to listen to; it has the feel of a couple of guys having a conversation at the water cooler (which I suppose it largely is, minus the water cooler). While in their interview at Podcast Alley they comment that they think they've gotten more comfortable since the first podcast, they were pretty comfortable to begin with and now they sound highly professional, with nary a stutter or hesitation to be heard. The audio balance between the musical bed and intro / outro music and their vocals is satisfactory. I would say, however, that while the use of the quarter-buzzer as a device to delineate between segments is effective and fitting, it's fairly loud and often obscures part of their commentary. While I'm sure it serves to keep them on target time-wise (because they are very conscious of their self-imposed 10 minute limit) they might be better served by playing it only when they're truly done with the commentary in any one section. File- and track-naming is satisfactory - while the track name doesn't contain the full podcast name they are consistent in using the name of the podcast for the artist tag, so the data is easily available.
All in all, if you like sports you're likely to enjoy The Skinny on Sports
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 12:23 AM
January 16, 2005
Podcast Review: WebTalk Radio
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4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: radio show
Content: technical talk
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Rob and Dana Greenlee have been staples of the technical audio realm for some time, having spent time in broadcast radio (where their show still plays on several stations through the US via Talk One Networks) and on CNET radio (and thereafter, their own Internet Radio/Streaming webcast production). Now they've broadened their distribution base by adding podcasting to the mix.
Rob and Dana are dedicated to bring you up-to-date and relevant technical news regarding the internet and issues from the business of the web to connected technologies. The 'cast is structured as a conversation beween the two of them and their occasional in-studio guests, albeit a conversation that consists of short bits of technological news. Their rapport is good, and they've been doing this long enough that the podcast/webcast succeeds at the informal feel of a conversation for the most part.
Their conversation ranges widely from discussions about technology issues such as the value of smart phones or of wifi in your car to web/culture issues like blog sponsorship and the Internet Tax Ban. They typically feature an interview in each show, and their choice of interview subjects covers a tremendous variety, including politicians, technologists and officers of tech companies, bloggers, and writers. The content is timely and interesting
WebTalk Radio has a (very visible) sponsor. In fact, this is the first time that I've felt advertised to in a podcast. In other cases where there's a sponsor for a podcast, it's seemed very much like the text ads on google.com or in gmail, but these ads were very much like a radio ad. Not that surprising since, after all, they are radio ads. I mention this not as a positive or a negative feature, but simply as an observation.
Audio quality is generally good and production levels fairly high in WebTalk Radio podcasts. Voice and music balance is fine, and the fades to and from the musical breaks between segments and between the content and the advertisements are well executed. Even the interview audio quality was universally good in the episodes I listened to. Rob and Dana don't play any complete musical tracks and their file- and track-naming model is both consistent and easily parsed. Their delivery is relatively smooth with few hesitations or false starts, and the vocal quality is pleasant and easy to listen to. The show is produced weekly and is completely work- and family-safe.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 12:19 AM
January 09, 2005
Podcast Review: The Podtridge Family
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4 stars
, I subscribe
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http://www.podtridgefamily.org/
Format: music tracks with short intros
Content: tracks of family produced music
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 10 - 15 minutes
Maichael Lehman should be familiar to TNNPR readers; he was previously reviewed for Michael Lehman's Podcasting from SoftwareLand. What you may not know is that Michael is also a musician of some accomplishment, as are (some of?) his children.
This time Michael's offering up some of this family music for our consumption. He and his children Lyndzie Taylor and Daniel DuBois each play their own style of music, and often write the music as well. The Podtridge Family podcasts so far have been a single track from each of the artists, and all the tracks so far have been granted full podcasting rights.
Michael plays rock and roll. His lyrics are thoughtful and his melodies catching. Daniel plays in a punk band named Argyle (pretty funny name for a punk band - makes me think of socks) [link is pretty dated, I think]. What I've heard of their music is driving and filled with typical punk attitude. Lyndzie also plays rock, but her own kind, very different from Michael's. Her vocals are great and her writing strong.
The overall quality of the podcast is good - Michael's intros to the tracks are clear and the overall balance between music and talk is fine. The recordings of Michael's and Lyndzie's tracks is good, but the quality of Argyle's tracks leaves a little somthing to be desired, though still listenable. Track lengths for the music is not given (rant), and the file and track meta-data is satisfactory for viewing in media players or in Windows (although I encourage Michael to use the ISO 8601 Date format).
All in all, The Podtridge Family is well worth a listen, both to support podcast-friendly (and podcaster-created) music and because the music is worth a listen on its own. Michael indicates on the web page that he's planning on a podcast every week; he hasn't lived up to that yet, but hopefully he'll catch up soon.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 10:06 AM
January 04, 2005
Podcast Review: The Bitterest Pill
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4 stars
, I subscribe
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Format: online blog post
Content: Comedy, commentary and music from a stay-at-home dad/shut in
Rating:
What I'm going to do: listen often
Typical Length: 20 - 30 minutes
I recently spoke to Daniel Tierdiman for his latest article on podcasting (Wired News: You, Too, Can Be a Podcaster, if you're interested). He didn't use much of what we talked about, probably because the other folks he talked to (Dave Slusher, Doc Searls, Carl Franklin, and Andrew Leyden, to name a few) had much more interesting and insightful things to say.
All of this is related to The Bitterest Pill. Really.
One of the things I mentioned that Daniel also heard from a much more thoughtful voice was in response to the question "What's most important in a podcast?" My answer was "honesty", which is where Dan Klass and The Bitterest Pill come in.
"Comedy, commentary and music from a stay-at-home dad/shut in" is the tagline for The Bitterest Pill, and that's pretty much what you get. Dan used to be a stand-up comedian and is now an actor, not to mention a shut-in. Dan makes the most of the fleeting moments he can grab while his young daughter naps, and we get pretty much all of it, from chance encounters with his slightly older son to phone calls to the faltering, frustration, and confusion involved in trying to learn something new while the world is watching. Dan mostly edits pretty lightly, resulting in some definite rough-around-the-edges 'casts, which is part of the charm of The Bitterest Pill. Dan is at heart a performer, and even in the depths of technological hell he keeps the patter going and salvages some humor about the situation. In fact, as Dan's become more adept at podcasting some of what entertained me about his earlier work has evaporated. Not to worry; as he's had to expend less energy fighting the tools (or has become resigned to them), he's filled the gaps with insightful commentary about his life, and by extension ours.
As a comedian, Dan has a sharp eye for the foibles and follies of human nature, especially his own, and his commentary is wry and self-deprecating. It's also broader than his life alone, as a lot of his observations apply to other humans as well (or at least they do to me). A case in point is Dan's retelling of the story of his family's most recent Christmas Tree buying foray. As Dan describes the emotions that caught him up, I could replay those same feelings in myself in other situations. His relationships with his children, to the extent that we are witness to them, are also heart-warming. To my mind, The Bitterest Pill is one of the most honest pieces of podcasting out there right now.
Dan's audio is generally good, although there are times when he gets a little too far from the mic and is hard to hear. There's little distortion and the levels are comfortable and even between vocals and music. Production values are pretty high as well, with the fades well-executed and the music choices integrated nicely. Dan's encoding at 96 kps, which might be a little high, but not outrageous.
Dan usually plays music at the end of the podcast, so musical track lengths are not as important as they might be (although they're always nice to have (rant)). Podcast track tagging is adequate, with the title including the podcast number and often a brief synopsis of the contents and the album title representing the podcast channel name. File naming, on the other hand, could be a little better, usually consisting of "BP" and the 'cast number - at least the full name of the podcast would be much appreciated, and the addition of a date-stamp would be great (rant).
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 12:16 AM
December 10, 2004
Podcast Review: Radio Clash
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4 stars
, I subscribe
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Format: radio show
Content: music - mashups, bootlegs, and covers
Rating:
What I'm going to do: listen regularly
Typical Length: 35 - 45 minutes
Before I listened to the Radio Clash podcast I knew what mashups were. I'd even heard one or two. I understood, in principle, the idea behind mashups. Now that I've heard Radio Clash, I understand a lot better what a mashup really is, and the freedom that the genre affords to artists who practice it. For this I have Tim to thank.
Not knowing much about the mashup scene, I don't know whether the information Tim had to impart was in depth or not. Neither do I know if the artists he played were well-known in mashup circles or were relatively esoteric. Many of the covers he played were by bands I recognized, and some of the other music was as well.... All in all, I'm not sure how much any of that mattered; the plain and simple fact is that Tim's playing some really great music by any definition. My personal favorite so far is C.H.A.O.S. Productions' Are You Gonna Be My Animal?, a mashup of the Muppets's "Mahna mahna" song with Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl", although there have been absolutely eye-opening mashups in every show thus far. In fact, listening to this show really educated me to how much of an artform of its own a mashup can be - Tim has picked some extremely good tracks to play.
Tim's got a decent delivery; he's obviously comfortable enough with his material to get it across with a minimum of hesitation. Audio for the show is good; the volume level is decent and I didn't need to adjust my player at all. Transitions to and from music/vocals are quite well handled and the intro and outro are well produced. Tim encodes at 144kbps, which is a little on the high side, making for a slightly larger file. The filename meta-data is good - the files are easy to identify (both what podcast and what date) in both Windows and on my Rave media player. I'd love to hear Tim tell us what the track lengths of the music he's playing, however (rant).
Keep up the good work, Tim; I'll be listening.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 12:37 PM
November 26, 2004
Podcast Review: In The Hands
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4 stars
, I subscribe
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Format: standalone music tracks
Content: classical piano
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 1 - 10 minutes
In a similar vein to Prent Rodgers' Microtonal Podcasts, Paul Cantrell podcasts some classical pianio pieces at his musical blog In the Hands.
These are very brief pieces, none (so far) longer than 7 minutes, and to my mostly-untrained ears, Paul plays very well. The pieces are a mixture of ones Paul composed with other composer's pieces (Chopin, Brahms, others). Each podcast is limited to an recording of the piano music itself and nothing else.
The recording quality is good - Paul says he records at a variable bit-rate, but all of the recodings that I saw were recorded at 158kbps or above. Since these are short pieces that's probably OK; it equates to just over 1MB/minute, much higher than some other music podcasts out there. Since there are no vocals, production values such as cleanliness of fades or other audio balance concerns are absent. In addition, since there's nothing but the music, track lengths are unimportant. Paul's meta-data could be a little better though; the current posts are both named and titled (in the track data) with simply the name of the piece excerpted, with no reference to the podcast title. That additional info would be helpful (rant). Paul seems to be aiming at pulishing every Tuesday and Saturday.
While these podcasts are clean and simple, I would love to hear a little more about the pieces being performed - a little of something human to the podcast. That said, I think it's going to be a great accompaniment to Prent's pieces in breaking up the music styles in my day-to-day soundtrack.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 07:33 AM
November 24, 2004
Podcast Review: The Delta Park Project
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4 stars
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The Delta Park Project | Jason & Paul | Comedy Podcast
Format: radio show
Content: comedy variety
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 20 - 30 minutes
Jason and Paul are publishing a great comedy radio podcast. They're shows are full of good, semi-clean fun. It's not so clean as to be bland, but yet not full of the potty humor that can turn some people (myself included) off.
So far they're only 2 shows in, and normally I wouldn't consider that to be enough of a sampling to consider a full-fledged review, but the 2 shows they've done have been remarkably consistent from a format standpoint, and while I'm certain that they'll undergo some format changes as time goes on, this is a "skellyton" that works for them.
They've had a few regular segments on the two shows thus far, one with Ronnie, who shares just a little but too much of his personal experiences, and Anna reading from the police blotter of her home town. Both were very amusing both shows and well worth the time. The Monster Defense segment in the first show was not repeated in the second, but I have high hopes for its return. They look to be publishing about once a week, which I hope will strike a good middle-ground between content and quanitity.
The production quality of the podcast is fair; fades in and out of other segments and the intro / outro are well-handled and do not clip Jason and Paul's vocals. The balance between the vocals and the inserted segments is OK, I only had to adjust the volume on my headphones a few times, but the audio balance between Jason's and Paul's vocal is a little wonky - specifically Paul's vocals are too heavy on the bass and can be hard to understand. Also, during the police blotter segment in the second show Jason and Paul were difficult to hear. Jason and Paul have encoded their shows at either 66 or 96 kbps (I see different values in different locations) and 128 kpbs; the 128 kbps show (the second one) sounded better, but I think that that might have as much to do with other changes they might have made to their audio set up than to the bit-rate; 128 kbps is probably over-kill for this kind of show.
Delat Park's meta-data is satisfactory - file names and track titles are easy to figure out both from the filesystem standpoint (although a more full podcast name than DPP might be of additional help) and on my Portable Audio Device Of Choice. Jason and Paul don't play enough music for track lengths to be essential. The Delat Park Project is probably work-safe, but I'll leave child-safety determinations up to the listener in this case (my kids are too young for this, but maybe not yours).
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p.s. sorry for the gap in posts, folks. I was under the weather and lost most of my podcast listening time so had no content to review. :-(
Tagged: podcast podcasting review kalispell montana
Posted by cori at 03:12 PM
November 21, 2004
Podcast Review: Emayhem Podcast
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4 stars
, I do not subscribe
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Format: radio show
Content: talk, local events, some music
Rating:
What I'm going to do: tune in occasionally
Typical Length: 20 - 40 minutes
Dave Mansueto and his friends over at EMayhem Productions put together a great podcast. They are incredibly enthusiastic about what they're doing and have a great time. The interaction between the participants is a lot of fun to listen to.
Some of the content in EMayhem is very location specific to Pittsburgh, which matches with the guiding principles of their website: to encourage and support Pittsburgh artists. If you're located in or around Pittsburgh, or are visiting Pittsburgh, the events calendar is worth listening to - this is a great use of podcasting. They also offer some commentary about broader artistic material - movies, music, etc. Also interesting to note is that this is the first podcast I heard that has a sponsor (although I've heard a few others since).
The audio in the EMayhem podcasts is good - even though they sometimes have several speakers sharing a mic they are all easy to hear. They make good use of intro and outro music and musical underscores, and use a local music track to close out each show. Their delivery is enjoyable and intimate, and they podcast quite regularly (usually at least 5 days a week). The podcast is encoded at 112kbs (never seen that level before), so the files sizes aren't huge, but they're not tiny either.
One segment of their podcast is The Stalls, a serial cliff-hanger skit (they call it PodDrama) produced roughly once every 10 days (or so). While the humor is not right up my alley, the segments are tremendously well-produced, you can easily follow not just the narrative, but also the wide variety of characters and locales. A pretty ambitious production, and quite successful.
EMayhem's meta-data is good, and since they typically only play a complete musical track to close the show, track length isn't as important as it otherwise might be.
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Update [2005-01-25]: Seems Emayhem have both new web-site and RSS feed urls. These have been updated. And they're still podcasting strong.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review stinky
Posted by cori at 07:59 AM
November 20, 2004
Podcast Review: Podcast1024
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4 stars
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Format: musical tracks
Content: primarily microtonal music
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 5 - 10 minutes
What is microtonal music you say? I'm not an expert, either on microtonal music ro music in general, but here is my layman's definition: microtonal music is music composed for instruments that are tuned with greater than 12 distinct tones (frequencies of sound) between one tone and the tone one octave up or down. In most Western music, there are 12 tones in an octave (like on a piano - 7 white keys and 5 black ones) - microtonal music alters those relationships between octaves. This is a gross over-simplification, but it'll give you enough to go on for now, I think.
Prent Rodgers at Podcast1024 is podcasting primarily microtonal music for various instruments in his podcast, some of which is composed by him and some by other composers. He also occasionally throws in some other contemporary composers not specifically working in a microtonal scale. This is kind of like the IndieFeed for contemporary composition; in fact the format is very similar. Prent inroduces the piece(s) he's 'casting with a brief vocal introduction and plays the track(s). That's it; simple and to the point.
The name of Prent's podcast comes from his ideas about composing and listening:
"I believe that composers should spend ten minutes a day, every day, making music. You can skip composing on those days you don't eat. Listeners should also spend ten minutes a day listening to music that is totally different from what they usually hear."
This is very challenging music to listen to, and for that reason also very enjoyable. I was somewhat surprised to note that much of the music was not merely tonally challenging, but was also highly rhythmically challenging. One might be tempted to think that the 1024 in the podcast name was related to the time signature of some of the pieces (regardless of the fact that I don't know how to play a tenth note). There is little discernable "melody" in many of these pieces - it's not "whistle-able" music, which makes it even more challenging to me (being an inveterate whistler).
One of the things I found the most refreshing about this music was its innate realization that the 12-tone scale is nothing more than a creation of humanity - a friend of mine, when I told him a little about this said "There's a reason why there are 88 keys on a piano" to which I responded "Yes there is. Becasue someone decided to put 88 keys there." Much like modern physics realizes that the artifacts of time are human creations and essentially meaningless, microtonal music emphasizes that a particular scale is nothing more or less than a shared musical syntax, to be discarded or overridden when the music requires it.
Sorry, waxed a little abstract there for a second. Suffice it to say that this music will challenge your ideas of what music should be, especially if you're not already familiar with contemporary composers.
This podcast is well-produced; Prent uses a consistent and recognizable intro, and provides some detail for each 'cast. The music is clear, although it's encoded at 64 kbps, which will turn off some audiophiles - please though, listen anyway. Prent's vocals are also clear and easy to understand. The tracks are short - some as short as 2:30, and I'm inclined to agree with Prent that anyone interested in music at all should have a little of this in their daily musical diet. In fact, it would be wonderful if Prent published this on an absolutely daily basis, but that's a pretty tall order. It would also be nice if Prent would give a little larger tidbit of information in his intro; I would be very happy to have Prent tell us a little about microtonal music in general in every 'cast, to help those of us who don't quite get it yet (OK, to help me) - he does give some details in most 'casts, but sometimes they assume more of a basis in the ideas behind microtonal music than his potential podience is likely to have.
Prent's meta-data is satisfactory, and since each podcast is essentially a single track, there's no need for time-stamping.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review 19 tone 21 tone 11 tone piano string woodwind ensemble
Posted by cori at 06:37 AM
November 16, 2004
Podcast Review: Indie Feed
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4 stars
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Format: Individual Music Tracks
Content: Variety of music, served in single track servings
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 5 - 10 minutes
Chris MacDonald has begun one of the more ambitious projects in the podcasting world at IndieFeed. IndieFeed produces single-serving helpings of independant music of several varieties. A podcast like this is a little hard to review, but I'm going to give it my bestest shot.
Currently there are 7 different IndieFeeds (listed below). Chris has plans to publish at least 3 more. The biggest challenge I think Chris faces is the ability to keep up with all of these varieties of music, while simultaneously doing them justice. He realizes his predicament and in order to help solve it has enlisted the help of a few brave folks who are willing to manage one of the channels (among them Jason Evangelho of Hardcore Insomnia Radio, reviewed here). Tightly bound to Chris's potential salvation are both the difficulty of my review and IndieFeed's potential weakness.
The first passel of IndieFeeds I listened to were of the highest quality. Chris encodes at 128 kbps, which is probably the right level to encode a track that is basically solely music. Some of the file sizes are somewhat large for their length, but since poeple will be likely to be adding these songs to their libraries, that's probably appropriate. Chris's introductions varied from short and simple to highly detailed and informative, depending upon his knowledge of the band. His delivery is pleasant and clear, and the relative volumes of music to voice are fine. However, as Chris gives up control of the channels I am afraid that the quality of the music, commentary, and production/delivery of the 'casts may fall from the high level that Chris has set as a standard. If that were to happen, the overall quality of the podcast would also drop. I haven't experienced this yet, but am wary of the potential. The music also is going to vary widely, both in quality and appeal, but if you're looking to be exposed to some new stuff you have to take some chances.
Chris doesn't give track lengths, but since the whole 'cast is the track that information is easy enough to find. However, Chris's meta-data leaves something to be desired. I'd like to see the name of the podcast, and potentially also the channel, both in the file name and the title of the mp3 track [rant].
One final note to podcasters; Chris's permissions for these tunes stop at his broadcast of them. If you want to use them for something else, you'll need to contact the artist directly.
Update 2004-11-16: Chris tells me the Jam Bands feed is going away due to lack of support. He suggests TheMusicNeverStopped as an alternative. Subscribe here
Subscribe to Alternative or Modern Rock
Subscribe to Blues
Subscribe to Electronica
Subscribe to Folk
Subscribe to Hip Hop
Subscribe to Jam Bands
Subscribe to Latin
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 05:57 AM
November 15, 2004
Podcast Review: The Rock and Roll Geek Show
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4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: radio show
Content: talk, rock and roll
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 25 - 35 minutes
Michael Butler from The Rock and Roll Geek Show is a Rock and Roll geek in the absolutely truest sense of the word. He knows more about Rock and Roll than any other 5 people I know. Plus he seems to have lived (to be living?) the Rock and Roll life-style, at least to much greater extent than I ever did. All together, this pedigree means that Michael puts together one of the best music podcasts out there, and as far as I know the definitive Rock and Roll 'cast. Michael also has the distinction of being the first podcaster I ever heard.
Audio quality is good - the RnR Geek show is encoded at 96 kbps, which I think is a great bit-rate compromise. Michael's delivery has really improved over the last few weeks as he's been regularly podcasting and learning. He seems to have gotten a lot more confidence in his abilities, and it shows. Michael's been using a variety of string quartet tributes to various rock and roll bands as an underscore, which is pleasant, unobtrusive, and extremely appropriate. His transitions into and out of the musical tracks are handled nicely.
Michael usually tells us a little about what's going on his life, plays a few really good rock and roll tracks, and has some rock and roll news (this week in rock history kind of stuff). He's been stretching his limits and doing some interviews and including some new content. Michael seems concerned about listenership, but judging from the number of positive comments on his site and the quality of the podcast, I think he'll probably have more worries about bandwidth than about a lack of listenership. The Rock and Roll Geek Show
site covers what he talks about in the show; I'd like to see more links to other content there so that we could learn more about what he's talking about or playing.
The Rock and Roll Geek show is ocasionally not work- or child-safe, but not too bad. The meta-data on the Rock and Roll Geek shows is good; his filenames contain the info I need, and the mp3s show me what I need to see on my portable. Michaels does not list the track lengths on his podcast [rant].
Subscribe to mp3s.
P.S. Heineken folks, listen up. I would drink more Heineken if you sponsored this podcast!
Tagged: podcast podcasting review rock and roll heineken adam curry dave slusher butler michael american heartbreak
Posted by cori at 06:15 AM
November 10, 2004
Podcast Review: The Radio Brothers Podcast
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4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: Radio Show
Content: talk, with some music
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 15 - 20 minutes
The Radio Brothers, Ray and Kris Edwards, are a valuable addition to the podcasting mix. These are folks whose lives are wrapped up in the radio medium, who are radio professionals, and who love podcasting. They are huge evangelists of the potential of podcasting as a medium, and along with folks like public radio's Tony Kahn (of WGBH's Morning Stories), are voices in the wilderness.
Production values are high at The Radio Brothers Podcast, as you might expect. Their intro is well-produced, and they are both comfortable speaking and have a fairly polished delivery. Transitions between segments are smooth and well-handled. They sometimes take us for a bit of a ramble, but not enough to leave us behind, as it were.
The brothers Edwards discuss a wide variety of topics, from traditional radio and its limitaions to open source software. They play some pretty decent "podmusic"* and some clips from radio or elsewhere that are pretty interesting. They also plug other podcasts, which is always welcome, and some podcast-related sites (including this one - also appreciated, although I'm not a podcast as Ray mentioned). The blog has links to many of the relevant items they discuss. It's been Ray by himself for the bulk of the podcasts thus far, and I'm looking forward to them being able to do another one together (they did their first one together, but I think that was the only one).
They encode at 128Kbps, which seems a little high to me, but they did have some problems with audio quality with encoding at 64Kbps (a quality difference that I noticed, at least), so it's understandable that they chose the higher rate. Since the 'casts aren't terribly long the files aren't huge and can easily be handled - about a 1 minute download at 56kbps.
Occasionally not work- or child-safe.
Subscribe to mp3s.
* - after the jump; read on.
I had two further things to discuss about "podmusic" (don't know who coined the term; I've heard it was Adam's, but didn't hear it myself, so I can't verify). I didn't want them to clutter the review, so I stuck them here:
1) This is not nearly as sexy a term as "podcasting" and I pray to the gods that we as a group can come up with a better term. Not only is it not so sexy, but it's also far more dismissive and limiting than the podcasting term. At its worst, the term podcasting dismissed folks who didn't own iPods as unimportant to the new technology. However, podmusic relegates a whole group of artists to what's currently the basement of the music store. It doesn't matter that podcasting may overtake radio in the actual distribution of there artist's content; right now it's fringe and if I were an artist who heard their work categorized this way I think I'd be a little put out. I think we as a movement can come up with something both sexier and less limiting than "podmusic" and I hope we do before it becomes entrenched.
2) Thinking about this issue brought another one to mind; what's going to happen to these non-RIAA artists when they sign with an RIAA-connected label, as I expect many of them would like to do? Are podcasters going to leave them behind and move on to other music? Is that a good thing or not? Is there any loyalty earned or deserved from the podcasting community for these artists even after they sign? I certianly don't have the answers to these questions, but am curious to the outcome.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 10:42 PM
November 05, 2004
Podcast Review: The Metal Show
This entry posted in:
4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: radio show
Content: umm...metal music
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 1 - 2 hours, plus or minus
The Warlock at themetalshow.com plays some truly excellent metal music and a tremendous variety, from CoC (Corrosion of Conformity) to Ramones to Ben Folds (no, really). A lot of stuff I don't recognize as well as some stuff that takes me back to my pseudo-metalhead days. I can't say I liked all of it, but I think that's OK; I liked enough that I'll be back for sure. He's got a lot of information about the stuff he plays, which is really good for me since I don't know that much about metal. His delivery is clean and he plays a ton of music - as many as 3-4 songs in a row with no break. That's typically good on a broadcast show since it keeps the commercials down, but in a podcast it might be nice to have the track specifics a little more often. Since the podcast originates in Cleveland there's a fair amount of discussion of Cleveland-specific concerts and events.
The audio quality is top-notch, and The Warlock has attempted a few different encodings and seems to have settled on a good quality 96kbps (instead of the 128 he was leaning towards) which resulted in a 75% reduction in file size (well, duh), bringing a 1:15 'cast down to a chunky but handleable 51Mb, which given the new encoder he's using actually sounded much better than the previous 96kbps podcast. I wish they would announce the track lengths as well, as is my typical rant.
The Warlock doesn't deal with RIAA issues at all; perhaps this comes from also doing a broadcast radio show as well; not sure. But I hope he doesn't have trouble with it....
Potentially not work- or child-safe - these are uncut versions of the tracks he plays, so listener be aware.
Listen. Enjoy.
Subscribe to mp3s.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 04:37 PM
November 03, 2004
Podcast Review: Hardcore Insomnia Radio
This entry posted in:
4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: music radio show
Content: wide variety of lesser know music
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: typically 30 - 40 minutes
Jason Evangelho spins some more really great music; this is the second music podcast that's been 'casting music that all appeals to me. Jason and Funtime Ben are now my official work-day soundtrack (it's hard to listen to spoken word stuff and still let the lines and lines of beautiful, efficient code flow from my fingertips).
Jason's been working really hard to get his podcast up to snuff and it's really been worth it. His latest 'cast is head and shoulders above the others, which were all pretty good as well. His vocal level is typically well balanced - I don't need to adjust the volume on my player much at all for the most part. Jason's voice has a lot of presence in the podcasts, but there is a little bit too much reverb in the vocal track (don't know if that's a mix problem or an environmental problem). There's also a little too much treble for my tastes, but not enough to distract from the music. Occasionally there's the slightest bit of distortion at the top level both of the music and the vocals, but it's hard to tell if that comes from the music source or from the mix and it's rare. He's also chosen to broadcast every 'cast at 128mbps, which is fine but means for larger files.
Jason finds out a lot about the bands he plays and always gives plenty of information to the listeners, both his own views and more objective information (where he found the music, the musical style, band history and influence, etcetera). His delievery is for the most part comfortable, with only the slightest of hesitations.
One thing that I don't like, though I understand why he'd want to do this, is that Jason only feeds .torrent files of his shows. That's great for him, and for podcatchers using an iPod client, but it means that it's kind of a hassle to retreive older files, especially using the newest release of the iPodder client (which I dislike, by the way). The only other thing I'd like to hear from Jason is the approximate lengths of the tracks he's playing; he does this occasionally, but I'd like to see it on every track.
Subscribe to mp3s.
Update; 2004-11-21:
Jason at Insomnia Radio: Powered by iPodio posted a comment and sent me an email regarding his podcast.
He's changed the name to Insomnia Radio and has changed his principle feed to mp3's.
You can see his comments at Insomnia Radio: Powered by iPodio: Torrent vs. mp3; NEW Show Name!
The new subscription link is here.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 06:45 AM
November 01, 2004
Podcast Review: Geek News Central
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4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information
Format: "Radio" column
Content: technology news and commentary
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 30 - 40 minutes
Todd Cochrane at Geek News Central is putting out some very interesting technology news. His take on the information he presents is interesting and informative - he's got his fingers in a lot of technology information and talks substantially about many different areas of the field. He's also a real evangelist - he wants the technology to succeed and wants its usage to increase and speaks enthusiatically about the technology. He also gives very honest opinions about the products he discusses, helping his listeners make determinations about the products he's seen.
Todd has recently upgraded his audio set-up. That's really good; it's helped him resolve some audio problems he was having, including some issues with vocal / music balance and with the smoothness of the fades. One thing I still find a little troubling is that he uses music with substantial vocals in his musical bed, which can be very distracting - however it's much better with the new gear. I think another side-effect of his new setup is that the music audio is occasionally muffled. Todd's delivery is occasionally hesitant, but he clearly puts some time into preparing his material.
Todd also makes a really good point about podcasting and linking. Since you can't rely on the podience being in front of a web browser when they're listening, it's critical for those podcasts that mention links to other sites to place references to those links on their blogs / websites. This really important, folks, so please listen to Todd.
Todd also has a feed architecture that I haven't seen before; he's split the podcast feed apart from the site feed, so the site feed does not contain references to the enclosures. Not sure why he's done this, but there you are.
Todd also has a blog.
Subscribe to mp3s.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 01:34 PM
October 30, 2004
Podcast Review: Coverville
This entry posted in:
4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: radio show
Content: ASCAP Music, legally
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: 30 - 35 minutes
Here's some great news for music lovers, especially those of covers. Brian at Coverville has signed an arrangement with ASCAP to legally play music by their members. As far as I know this is the only podcast that has a legal arrangement with a member of the mainstream recording industry.
Brian comments in one of his later 'casts that he's had some problems with volume leveling between different music tracks. In this 'cast (#9) he seems to have worked most of that out, but he's still got a little work to do on the balance between his vocals and the music; his sound is often a little muffled and too soft when compared with the musical tracks. On this particular 'cast he also had some problems with skipping in the musical tracks.
Brian plays mostly (but not exclusively) cover version, and he knows a lot about the music he's playing, or he does a lot of good research. The information he talks about is interesting. He's also got a fair amount of music that you wouldn't normally hear - in fact, the mix of music between stuff I'd heard and stuff that I hadn't was quite fine.
Brian's style for this 'cast is very close to radio. He often plays songs back-to-back and does a good job of cross-fading between tracks. His intro/outro are also nicely handled. His discussion is mostly limited to the music. Given that this is the case, it would be a little disruptive for him to give the track lengths, although he does so in some cases, when he has reason to believe that the listener may want to forward past a number.
One last thing to note; Brian has committed to keeping Coverville free, even though the ASCAP deal is costing him. If you like what he's doing, please consider a donation - I'm sure even a couple of bucks would help.
Thanks to Scott Brenner for the suggestion.
Subscribe to mp3s.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 05:33 AM
October 29, 2004
Podcast Review: Promiscuous Bullet
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4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: talk, some music
Content: politics, technology, music
Rating:
What I'm going to do: keep listenin'
Typical Length: usually around 45 minutes
Tamas and Steven Bates have been having an on-air conversation every couple of days since around October 11th. Their coneversations cover a widely ranging array of topics, but politics and technology figure heavily in the mix. While I hesitate to put a label on them, I think I can fairly say that they are on the liberal side of most political and social issues.
Their delivery is comfortable - they know enough about their subjects to be able to speak about them with seeming authority. One of the intersting asoects of their conversations is that they come from differing life experiences, which adds a richness and accessibility to their technological and political discussions; what one knows a lot about the other seems to know less well. Like some other podcasters, they are concerned with the interaction between technology and society. Also like many podcasters, they are supportive of the Creative Commons license and have discussed it at some depth and are interested in promoting non-RIAA music.
They play some pretty interesting music, and do a good job getting into and out of it. They're using a decent track for intro, although it plays a little long for my personal tastes. I think their biggest challenge is the technology they are using for recording; they're recording the entire conversation with one microphone. This allows them to interact on air and for each (and their occasional guests) to expound on each others ideas and statements. In some cases this is really great, and the single mic aspect can help to give a 3 dimensional auditory picture of the room they're recording in, but at times one or the other of them sounds distant and is hard to hear. That said, the sound is well balanced and not too tinny; their sampling rate is fairly high (128 kbps or above) making their downloads fairly sizeable and causing them fairly high bandwidth costs, I'm sure. Given what they are podcasting, I think they could reduce their bit rate and suffer little degradation.
One thing I'd like to hear from PBullet (and from other podcasters that are playing music on their 'casts) is a quick reference to the length of the track they're about to play so that the listener can skip over it if they want - that would really put the control of the time-shifting of the content in the hands of the listener.
Their website has links to some of the content they talk about in their podcast.
Subscribe to mp3s.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 06:50 AM
October 24, 2004
Podcast Review: The Dragon Page Live Fire Show
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4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: Talk
Content: Sci-Fi talk, commentary, and reviews
Rating: 
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: varies; 40 - 50 minutes
This is a podcast of a weekly radio show out of KFYI in Phoenix.
The hosts, Michael Mennenga and Evo Terra, have a good routine down; their interaction is smooth and witty, and they know a lot about where science fiction istoday; way more than I know, that's for sure.
Since this is a re-cast of a publicly broadcast radio show, I think you can expect the content to be work-safe, and you can certainly expect professional level production quality.
The only drawback that I see to this podcast is that listeners to the podcast don't seem to have any way to interact with the hosts. In fact, it's not necessarily that interesting to listen to a radio show call in that happened some time in the past. The positive side of this is that some of the podcasts have been editted to drop some of the commercials, so we don't have to sit through all of that. [editorial comment: Michael tells me that the podience gets the same version that the syndicating stations get, without the additional adds that the local stations put in.]
The shows often have interviews with some science fiction luminaries (e.g. Terry Brooks and Nancy Kress in one show) and their conversation deals not just with the science fiction world, but also on the regions where science fiction impinges on today's culture.
Subscribe to mp3. Their webpage has a lot more information about sci fi as well.
Ths post has been copied to this location from House of the Hanged Man for the purposes of consistency. As such, no comments made on the orignal have been migrated.
View the original post.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 06:44 AM
Podcast Review: Treo Podcast
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4 stars
, I do not subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: Talk
Content: currently details of the Treo experiment and some news
Rating:
What I'm going to do: check back
Typical Length: varies; 5 - 15 minutes
Speaking of interesting things at OpenPodcast.org, Russell Holliman is doing some really interesting stuff. He's been creating his podcasts (almost) entirely on his Treo 600 cell phone.
He's running some software that allows him to play sound clips through his phone, he's handling all the fading in and out of the music from his phone, basically everything; all really cool stuff! The only part of the process that he doesn't handle on his phone is the encoding of the .wav file the phone generates into an mp3; from what I understand, the phone even builds the RSS feed that is uploaded to the server.
Russell has had a few problems with bit-rate, with some apparently interesting effects, but with the change to a faster memory card these seem to have been worked out and the quality of the audio in the podcasts I've heard is good.
The only concern that I have thus far is that Russell's content is not overwhelmingly compelling - it's been a lot of bits from the news media in Houston, where he's located. He has addressed this in his 'casts and seemingly had plans to provide more generally interesting content; since this is primarily an experiment in technology at this point, I have a lot a hope for this one down the road.
Subscribe to mp3s, or also at the OpenPodcast RSS Feed. Russell has some more information at his weblog . Go visit and give him some encouragement!
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 04:38 AM
October 23, 2004
Podcast Review: OpenPodcast.org
This entry posted in:
4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: varies
Content: varies
Rating: varies, but as a concept:
What I'm going to do: subscribe!
Typical Length: varies; under 5 minutes suggested
The folks at OpenPodcast are doing something really interesting!! They are aggregating mp3 files that they receive via email into one feed that we can subscribe to. They conceive of it as an audio wiki.
In an interesting option, you can also call a phone number and record your 5-minute or less segment (see the site for details). It would be interesting to know which of the segments had been submitted in this manner.
Given the nature of the feed, it is naturally going to vary widely in terms of content, quality, and length, so I really can't comment too much about those things, but some examples include "Nu-metal, old country" - a quite well produced public radio-styled commentary segment, and "Seafood Man" - a 37 second description of a slightly crazed Sybway customer. Good stuff, although there are ceratain to be
some bombs as well since these are not moderated in any way.
Also due to the unmoderated nature of the feed, there are guaranteed to be some non-work-safe episodes, so keep that in mind.
Subscribe as mp3. Their website has more information if you're thinking about contributing. Please do! The more, the merrier!
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 01:03 PM
Podcast Review: The Dawn and Drew Show
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4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: talk
Content: Personal life details
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Typical Length: mostly 20 - 25 minutes
Listened to my first Dawn and Drew show the other day; after all, Adam's mentioned them and even played one of Dawn's poem's on the air, so I had to give it a try.
It was ... interesting.
Let me say this to start with. I'm not partial to tons of commentary about the lives of people I don't know. I didn't really get into the whole blogging thing until recently because many of the blogs I has seen were basically regurgitations of people's days - like an online journal. That certainly has its place, but it never really interested me.
That's what I thought when I started listening to my first Dawn and Drew show. Ho hum, details about somebody else's life. Next.
But they were ... well ... funny. I mean, not all the time, but when they were, they were really funny. Laugh-out-loud-in-the-street funny. Have-to-pull-over-to-the-side-of-the-road funny. I really enjoyed it!
Their format is that of a coversation that we're listening in on, with a little bit on one-way interaction with the listener. It reminds me a lot of a radio show I did in college with my then-girlfriend. Except these guys don't just think they're funny. They are. Being a conversation, there are definite spots of dead air, but not too many - not enough to be bothersome, and their audio quality is good.
One thing to keep in mind if you listen is that they do not self-censor. That's a good thing, but they swear, and there is definite sexual innuendo and talk of blowjobs and the like. Probably not to everyone's taste, and probably not something to put in the car stereo when driving the kids to school.
Subscribe as mp3. Their website has a brief synopsis of each episode.
Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 07:07 AM
October 20, 2004
Podcast Review: Evil Genius Chronicles
This entry posted in:
4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: talk, with some music
Content: podcasting (mostly, for right now)
Rating:
What I'm going to do: subscribe
Dave Slusher, at Evil Genius Chronicles talks about podcasting. A lot. Just ask Russell Beattie. And that's OK. Just ask Dave.
Seriously though, I''m not here to give Dave a hard time about talking about podcasting a lot. It's his feed, and as he rightly says, if you don't like it - unsubscribe.
What I do want to talk about is the high quality of Dave's RSSAudio feed. Dave's one of the grandfathers of the new audio broadcasting movement - having been posting audio feeds since at least late September, 2004, [editorial comment: Dave tells me his first audio post was on August 20th, almost 2 months ago. That makes his one of the very first in this wave, along with Dave Winer's post starting in June] which in this technology is a very long time. He's been mentioned in public forums by Steve Gillmor and Robert Scoble and the like, and with good reason.
Dave's feed is well produced and interesting. He's personable and has an easy manner of speaking, with few hesitations; he's obviously either a great extemporaneous speaker or he's got a script to work from. He's also often very funny and self-deprecating, and is insightful to boot. He has a lot to say about the technology and culture of RSSAudio feeds. His posts are also well edited, and he integrates audio of other things he's heard (IT Conversations in particular) and music into his shows quite well.
I'm sure this 'cast, with it's rich and varied talk about 'casting and the technology behind it, is a great inspiration to new RSSAudio creators, and Dave's willing to help new creators set up their system to enable creating their feeds. He wants to help people, as he says, "eat his lunch." I don't want to eat your lunch, Dave, unless it's a nice grilled cheese with bacon on rye, then I'll take it. What I do want is for Dave to keep producing, so we can keep listening.
Dave's posts usually run around 30 minutes. You can subscribe to the Evil Genius Chronicles RSSAudio feed as mp3s or bittorrent.
Ths post has been copied to this location from House of the Hanged Man for the purposes of consistency. As such, no comments made on the orignal have been migrated.
View the original post.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at 05:58 AM