Category Archives: Technology

Technology

Songs, Schmongs – Subscribe to Podcasts!

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So I spent the equivalent of about 3 or 4 days loading up my iPod with music from the CD collection. I listen to that for about a week and then discover these things called ‘podcasts’. The next thing I know, I’m not shuffling music anymore, or really even listening to it that much, but I’m downloading podcasts and listening to them instead. I’m getting addicted to one show in particular, called Keith and the Girl.

I’ve always been a big fan of ‘personality’ type of radio. I’ve been a Steve Dahl fan since my Uncle introduced me to Steve and Garry back in 1980 or so. I was a big Howard Stern fan for a while. As time went on, and the commercial breaks got longer (and longer, and longer) and the FCC started renewed efforts to censor what I could listen to, I began to get disenchanted with radio as a medium.

As Stern began talking about his move to Sirius Satellite Radio, I seriously considered getting it. Then I got this iPod and found that there were actually independent, ‘real’ people doing broadcasts that I could download and listen to.

This is the kind of stuff I like. I like to listen to regular people. I like the concentrated hour of content rather than the multiple commercial breaks. Most of all, I like having full control of what I can listen to rather than someone else picking and bleeping things for me.

Keith and the Girl are Keith Malley (comedian and webmaster of shite.com) and his girlfriend Chemda. They started their podcast in March of this year. I really enjoy it.

Those with iTunes 4.9 can subscribe to the ‘Keith and the Girl‘ show and get daily downloads as you update your podcasts lists.

As I get caught up on this show, I am also going to start hitting the top 10 on Podcast Alley to see what else is out there. If you’ve got an mp3 player, and you haven’t started checking podcasts out yet, give them a shot. You might never go back to regular radio.

Beginning an Addiction to Podcasts

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Yesterday I hit the Acts of Volition episodes that seemed interesting to me, today I hit Adam Currys The Daily Source Code. I heard two promos for shows that sounded interesting on that and am downloading them for tomorrows drive.

For those who are new to this as I am, a good resource for finding podcasts (aside from iTunes), is Curry’s site iPodder.

I think I have my latest addiction … its definitely made the morning drive a little more interesting.

It’s a Great Time To Be an Entrepreneur

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Tom pointed me to this article yesterday, which outlines quite effectively why bigger companies should worry about the “little guy”. Its definitely much cheaper to start out these days than it was “back in the day”.

I’m continuously amazed at how much Open Source Software has completely changed the landscape we live in. What I’m sure seemed like an impossible task when Stallman started it turned into a huge disruption for the industry.

Related articles and links

Related Books

My Introduction to Podcasting

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With the 4.9 release of iTunes, support for podcasting was introduced. Now, I have to admit, I’m behind on all this new-fangled iPod stuff, so I wasn’t really sure what was involved in it at all. All I knew was from what I read, that it uses RSS feeds to organize and publish audio files. I didn’t realize how cool of a concept it was until I downloaded my first podcast and listened to it on the way to work. The first choice, of course, was from the Acts of Volition web site, since I’ve heard a lot of great things about the show on the Internet and read that it was actually available through the iTunes Store – and therefore was easy to get right into iTunes (which should be read “I didn’t have to think that much”).

Here’s what I can tell you. Now that I have my Transpod FM and can listen to the iPod in the car without completely cutting out the world around me, I may just stick to podcasts from now on.

There’s something really nice about listening to someone talk about and play music that they are really passionate about, without all of the corporate bull getting in the way (you know, the 20 minute commercial breaks, etc). I was really entertained by Session #21 – A Musical Baton. Great music, by a guy that just loves music and wants to talk about it and give others the opportunity to listen to it and appreciate it with him.

This is really what radio should be. When I was a kid (and much into my adult life) I wanted to do that as a career. Now I’m tired of radio, of 15-20 minute blocks of advertising, and especially the FCC, who treat the American public like a bunch of idiots who can be turned into raving maniacs if they see a cartoon ass on the television.

The iPod and technologies like it, combined with publishing possibilities on the Internet, have the potential to completely change the way we view radio, allowing people to create and share things they are passionate about rather than what will get ratings from the currently popular majority.

I think I’m hooked and apparently so are a lot of other people, as 1 million podcast subscriptions happened through iTunes in the first two days after the release.

This new fangled technology stuff is really cool …