Aztec Media

There is a new mobile device coming out that lets users listen to streaming media while not connected to a network.  The device is called the Slacker Digital Player and Walt Mossberg @ WSJ.com recently did a review.  There are also some recent pictures posted to Gizmodo.

I think the device would be ideal for distributing traditional podcast material using a 'station' format based on topics or music.  An indie music channel seems like a natural.  Maybe a technology talk & news channel would be another logical topic cluster.

There seems to be a lot of stuff going on, so I thought I'd do a quick list of things I'm tracking:

1. Treedia Labs has started a beta of Podcast.com.
2. Quick review at Gizmodo on the Elgato Turbo.264 Hardware H.264 Encoder.
3. Amazon MP3 has DRM free music for purchase.
4. Lifehacker on Gmail Mobile 1.5.
5. Bias has released Peak Pro XT audio production suite which includes SoundSoap Pro and Master Perfection Suite.
6. Sound Ideas has released a new version of their Podcasting Production Toolkit 2 with over 500 audio elements, music, and sound effects.
7. The October 2007 edition of Blogger & Podcaster magazine is out.

I think #1 is important because if the domain becomes a popular user site then it will be a great site to promote material.

I am interested in #2 because it could save time in post production for any video podcasts.

#3 is cool because I hate DRM solutions for most of new media.

I think #4 should be tracked to see what effect the new version has on consumption of new media products as they move from the web to email.  What does your content look like from RSS reader to a forwarded email that ends up on Gmail mobile?  Could you make it better?

I added #5 because not everyone is happy with Audacity.  Here is an option that might fit your style better.

The pointer to #6 is because you might want some new sounds in your library.

And you should check out #7 because it is full of great information.

PodCampSoCal audio sessions have been posted using Podango delivery and hosting services.

The conference was held Sept. 25, 2007 just before the Podcast & New Media Expo (PNME).

It is probably a good sign that you are on to something when the Wall Street Journal has a front page article published on Oct. 6, 2007 examining short Lego animation "brick films" being created and posted to sites like YouTube.

The first one they highlighted was called "Cognizance" and it is a short 3 minute story of a hit man making a key decision as a song from Coldplay plays in the background.

If you check out the link above you'll find more Lego movies on YouTube.  I also found several Star Wars ones over at Blip.TV.

According to Future Tense Podcast there are now two organizations that have recently started up to help define how future advertising should be integrated into downloaded media like audio and video podcasts.

The groups are:

• Association of Downloadable Media
• Association of Podcasters and Online Media Producers

There are some interesting related comments from Eric Rice and Podcast Brothers.  I think the concept is good and something that should be monitored for those interested in taking advertising for their new media content.

There is also a very interesting thread related to this topic called "How To For New Media Makers" that has some interesting ideas worth digging into.

Since Monday (6/11) I have been troubleshooting an issue with the Jersey Boys Podcast RSS feed.  After posting the latest podcast I notice that iTunes was not picking up the file for download.  I use TypePad to host the blog/website, Feedburner to host the public RSS feed, and Libysn for the MP3s.  This is really the first major issue I've had with any of these services.

After doing some troubleshooting on Feedburner per suggestion from their help desk, I ran into a situation where now all the iTune tags went missing from all the podcasts in the feed.  This was causing players from Podtrac and Odeo to have issues also.  So, effectively I had no iTunes or podcast enclosure tags in my RSS feed.

At first it looked like there might be an issue with Libysn not returning the audio/mpeg tag to Feedburner in a timely manner, but I moved some files off Libsyn to make sure that wasn't the issue.  Neither Feedburner nor Libsyn could identify an issue on their end, and they were responsive and as helpful as possible.

So, I then did some digging on Typepad troubleshooting site, and noticed that they recommended that the feed you give out to podcast listeners be the website/rss.xml instead of website/atom.xml.  So I went into Feedburner and changed the URL, and things went back to they way you'd expect it.  The RSS feed now had iTunes and podcast enclosure tags!

So the Jersey Boys Podcast is now completely back online ... but it was a complicated troubleshooting experience that required a high level of expertise and flexibility. 

Online user-generated video provider GoFish Technologies has announced a new consolidated business operating naming strategy, finalized leadership appointments, a stock-for-stock merger, and $12 million in private placement stock and warrants financing.

GoFish reports having hundreds of millions of videos watched over the last two years, and is also producing and distributing their own original series called "America's Dream Date" (which after watching for a few minutes you might want to hurl like I did).

There is definitely some value in these online video sites ... or Google would not have purchased YouTube.  But at some point, there can only be so many because frankly if the Internet has shown us anything is that we have a low attention span, and attention (ie. via ad revenue) is all that matters for those trying to make revenue.

JotSpot has announced that they have been acquired by Google.  JotSpot is a popular for fee scalable Wiki service provider who will be moving into a traditional Google free but ad supported business model after this purchase.

You can expect this Google's purchase will mean increased integration of 'wiki like' collaboration services across their current product line which will make for a compelling solutions for distributed groups working online together.

I have been a long time user of TypePad.com for posting my blogs and creating my podcast websites.  This site is a TypePad.com site.

They have a new free (ad supported) blog publishing tool and site called Vox.com that just launched officially (even though it has been in beta for a while).

I am not sure I'm ready to make a dedicated move to Vox.com, but from what I've seen ... by playing around at sholden.vox.com ... it is a very good tool for someone who just wants to get started blogging without having to know a lot of the technical details.

I also think the privacy features are well thought out and attractive to those who want to family/personal/friends blog but don't want to be completely open to the whole Internet.

I was recently approached by PhoneCasting.com about putting my podcasts on their mobile phone focused network.  It is pretty clear my intentions on my current podcasts - TechNewsRadio.com and JerseyBoysPodcast - they are both licensed Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike v2.5.  So I just sent them email that all they need to do is abide by the license, and then they could do whatever they liked.

From a quick look at the PhoneCasting.com site.  It appears the RSS and the iTunes feeds are re-generated feeds that PhoneCasting.com is hosting.  It also looks like they are re-hosting the MP3 files. 

I could be wrong, but that is my initial assessment.  I think that will in general go over very poorly in the podcast community, especially for any podcast currently in a network.

This "re-hosting" though may be part of the general industry-wide mobile phone distribution technology challenges looking to send down to the phone a more mobile network and device friendly content.  In that case, podcasters are going to have to get use to this idea or decide not to participate.