Podcast Academy

The door bell rang today as someone delivered a brand new Marantz PMD 620 from my friends at Denon/Marantz Professional. I’ll put it through the paces in the next few days, but I must admit, after about an hour of just playing around with it, my general thought is that is a great little unit and definitely a keeper. Stay tuned.

The Second Edition of Podcast Solutions, is now available. Dan Klass and I took it as a great compliment that the First Edition went through multiple printings and sold well enough to warrant a Second Edition. The book has been updated to reflect the latest podcasting tips, techniques and hardware as well as brand new chapters added to cover video podcasting.

Special thanks go out to my co-author, Dan Klass, who once again did an amazing job. I’d also like to thank Paul Figgiani, (who runs this site) a true podcasting expert, who joined us this time filling the role of Technical Reviewer. You can pick up your new copy at local retailers or at Amazon.

2007 Complete Event Audio

Get immediate access to the complete set of audio programs from the 2007 Podcast and New Media Expo. Our QuickCast™ service allows you to download all of the recordings from the Expo now:

Audio:

The complete set:
All 3 Keynotes & all 50 Session; 53 recordings total now just $99.00.

Once you complete the transaction, you will receive an email from GigaVox Media with complete download instructions.

Highlights include:

• Keynote: Howard Lindzon of Wallstrip
• Keynote: Jim Louderback of Revision3
• Keynote: Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine of Ask A Ninja
• Bruce Sharpe - Simple Post-Production Techniques to Get Professional Soundli>
• Rich Harrington - Field Production Strategies for Video Podcasting
• Michael Geoghegan - Selling the Unique Value of Your Content
• Roxanne Darling - Video Podcasting for Business
• Jason Van Orden - How to Generate Buzz and Extend Your Brand with Social Media
• Panel - Metrics in New Media: Showing Results and Judging Success
• Panel - Music Licensing for Podcasts and New Media - A Crash Course
• Alex Lindsay - Behind the Scenes at MacBreak and PixelCorps
• Paul Colligan - The 7 Secrets of Monetization

Complete List:

You can find complete listings of all sessions including detailed descriptions here:
Day 1, Friday, September 28, 2007
Day 2, Saturday, September 29, 2007
Day 3, Sunday, September 30, 2007

Here is a brief description of the new conversion and publication features included in the current version of Quicktime. Specifically there are two new exporting options directly available from the QT File menu: Share, and Export for Web.

The Share option offers three choices: Email, Homepage, and Podcast Producer. The Email option converts a copy of the source movie and embeds the low resolution output version into a blank email message prepared for sending. The Home Page option will post the converted movie to a .Mac account. The Podcast Producer option requires access to a Mac running OSX server. My guess is the distribution options available in OSX Server are extensive.

Here is where it gets interesting … the Export for Web feature offers three resolution/options: iPhone 900 kbps, iPhone 56 kbps [cellular] , and Desktop 1500 kbps - all using the h.264 codec. Prior to conversion you can set the current movie frame as the poster frame. Why is this important? Well the best feature of all is upon completion of the conversion session, Quicktime places a folder on your desktop that includes the converted movies, a reference movie, a poster frame jpeg, and a page that includes all the necessary HTML code snippets required for subsequent publication. The reference movie will automatically deliver the correct version to the viewer as soon at it is available on your server.

The processes is simple: You must copy the provided code and paste it into your movie delivery page that lives on your server. Next you will need to upload the entire output folder [or the individual files]. to your server. When the URL of the delivery page is accessed, the poster frame of the embedded movie will be visible and clickable for dynamic playback of the associated movie..

Nice job with this Apple …

Occasionally I am contacted by manufacturers of gadgets and gear offering review pieces that have nothing to do with new media production. In most cases I cordially decline. Recently we were presented with the opportunity to a review a device, and my initial thought was it is just another example of something that would not be of interest to the readers of this weblog or to me personally. In this particular instance I was wrong. I really enjoyed testing the performance of the product that I am about to introduce to you to.

The HeadRoom Desktop Amp is much more than what it’s name implies. This customizable component offers a wealth of connectivity options, and most importantly it is capable of reproducing excellent sound quality. In fact, I was surprised when I realized how much better my headphone audio output sounded through this device compared to what I am accustomed to on a daily basis.

Let me explain…

Read more…