Comments on: I am PodCasting Now

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 20:49:44 +0000

hey guys as i said, this is just an early trial so please forgive me for the mishaps. i am certain to create a better experience the next time around. hang on for a few more weeks.

By: dano

dano — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 19:57:08 +0000

Om,

Great news that you are podcasting now. I look forward to future episodes.

By: Reilly

Reilly — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 19:15:39 +0000

One more thing to add, since I have seen this happening a lot — is that .mp3 audio files are not actually “podcasts.” Podcasts are really only such when they are put into a feed, such as XML. I do hope, therefore, that this does become an actual “podcast” because I would love to add Om to my podcast must-listens.

.mp3 files by themselves are just, well, .mp3 interviews, etc.

By: Permanent4

Permanent4 — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 14:13:09 +0000

If you get onto the iTunes podcast directory before I do, I’m going to storm Cupertino and break something.

By: Neville Hobson

Neville Hobson — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 12:57:54 +0000

Great to see (hear) your toe in the water, Om!

For your first one, it’s kind of listenable although overall sound quality is pretty poor as I guess you already know.

How did you do the interviews? Sounds like over regular phones. Why not use Skype? If you’re using a Windows PC, combine that with a software tool like Hot Recorder (unless you plan to invest in a hardware solution) and you’d have miles better sound quality in your recordings, all other things being equal.

If you want to hear an example of excellent sound quality in an interview over Skype and recorded in Hot Recorder, take a listen to a June 17 phone interview I did: (link)

Re the MP3 file, I suggest you set your bit rate at 44.1kHz not the 80 this file has. That’s pretty standard for many podcasts plus it will avoid the ‘chipmunk effect’ if you listen to a show with some Flash-based web sound players.

In any event, a great experiment. You can only go upwards with this!

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 10:41:09 +0000

Om,

I am listening to the podcast now. I agree with some of the previous comments about the production quality. If you haven’t already, I would suggest listening to the TWiT cast to get an idea of a very good podcast. It would help tremendously if you prefaced the actual interview with some kind of introduction and/or background information. I would also agree with Capastorm, limit the podcast to once a week or maybe twice a month, and shoot for quality over quantity. Other than that, keep em coming!

If anyone is interested, I used Odeo to listen to this podcast, it rocks! I did a small write-up on my blog (http://josh.the-owens.com/archives/2005/06/30/odeo/).

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 08:48:41 +0000

Awesome! Om, You’re crazy in the best ways! :)

By: Capastorm

Capastorm — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 06:32:54 +0000

Great! Love to see some faces behind the names. I would keep it limited to maybe 1 podcast interview per week…but maybe better 2 a month to keep thge quality instead of going for quantity. I also think that most people reading your blogs have a broadband connection so pump up the sound & vision quality of the podcast…

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 04:16:59 +0000

guys since this is first time up, this is just a little experiment and production values i promise will increase. no rest for the wicked.

having said that, someone said what do i bring to the table and how is that different from what i have not been doing anything. actually a few days ago i asked people to send me their feedback and one of the things they said, why don’t you post interview transcripts. frankly too lazy to transcribe, but i do a lot of interviews and some of them are worthy of sharing.

so perhaps i am starting out with interviews, small short bursts, but not spending time on transcribing them. this just to enjoy.

clearly. not making any major or radical departure from what i do. somedays even i am entitled to slacking off. so those days will serve up little podcasts. i assure you it is not going to be an every day affair.

david, thanks for making your preferences clear - hopefully rss will keep you busy but maybe some interview might interest you.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 03:28:55 +0000

Alright, I’m sorry. It does run using Window’s media player but doesn’t run using Winamp.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 03:27:09 +0000

I don’t know about you guys, but the mp3 file is not running. Something’s wrong with the mp3 file, i’ve downloaded it twice now.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 03:16:47 +0000

Very nice. But how did you get that tin can line to stretch all the way to New England? :)

By: Terry Oliver

Terry Oliver — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 02:58:38 +0000

Interesting stuff. However still need work on sound quality etc. Clean up the production values a bit and they won’t detract so much from the content. Great content! Don’t stop.

By: Christian Gloddy

Christian Gloddy — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 02:19:02 +0000

Can you explain why you are podcasting? You jumped in, but what are you going to bring to this format that you aren’t already bringing through your site? I’m not criticizing but am simply curious as to why people have been adopting podcasting.

By: David

David — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 02:15:14 +0000

I honestly do not have time for podcasts. I don’t understand the fuss. RSS gave me time back to do other things and now podcasts want to suck it all back up. I’m sorry but I just won’t listen. It’s too inefficient.

By: Sean Bohan

Sean Bohan — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 02:11:08 +0000

Rock On OM!

Check out some of the content from Gnomedex this past weekend, especially about podcasting. There has been a lot of talk of using bittorrent to distribute the casts (both to conserve bandwidth and legitimize the platform) and this was before the Supreme’s weighed in the other day on Grokster.

Been following your blog for a while now and have been a fan of your writing (loved broadbandits) - cant wait to hear your interviews.