WPF Blog

Company Receives Patent for Podcasting

2009-07-30T15:07:00.002+01:00

VoloMedia, a podcast analytics, advertising, and distribution company, just received a patent for "providing episodic media," including podcasts. According to the company, which filed for the patent in November 2003, U.S. Patent 7,568,213 covers all episodic media downloads, not just the RSS-dependent downloads that power today's podcasts. VoloMedia CEO Murgesh Navar says that the company doesn't plan to go after individual podcasters, but that the company plans to "work collaboratively with key participants in the industry."

More on ReadWriteWeb.

BBC Tweaks Podcast Service: All in One Place

2009-04-16T14:20:00.003+00:00

The BBC has refurbished its podcast service and has made all the Beeb's audio content available in one place. The podcast directory is split into two categories: Editor's Pick and Recently Launched. There's also a 'quick find' search bar and the directory is further broken down into radio station or genre.

There are currently around 200 podcasts available to listen to, with content ranging from football to Scott Mills Daily. While each podcast varies in length, most have a file size of are around 3MB, and can be downloaded as an MP3 file. Or, if you don't want to download, you can listen to the content straight from your browser.

Have a look at the BBC podcast directory.

Podcasting as a Marketing Tool for Small Business

2009-03-23T23:31:00.008+00:00

Duct Tape Marketing has a post on the usefulness of podcasting as a marketing tool for small business.

The hype surrounding Podcasting, especially among early adopters and those who tried to make a quick buck, eventually led to a backlash and a subsequent hype about 'the end of podcasting'. But as the writer notes: "the usefulness as a marketing tool for the small business is better than ever."

If you have a small business, he continues, think of Podcasting as:

● A great way to feature the stories of your best customer - interview your customers and post their stories for prospects to hear. It doesn’t matter if you have a large audience for your podcast, your customers will dig the attention and you’ll get content on the fly.

● A great way to open doors - when you contact an author, industry leader, or expert of any kind with the offer to interview and feature them on your podcast, you’ll be amazed at the quality of guest you can secure and then the quality of content and exposure that can bring. If you run a print shop in the middle of Des Moines Iowa you can offer your customers and prospects access to the leading design, print and color experts from around the world - would that be valuable?

● A great way to build and solidify your strategic network - By routinely interviewing the members of your network of partners that you would like your customers to meet you can build a stronger network and make referrals to that network more easily because of the focus you can bring with an interview and audio content featured on the partner section of your site.

● A great competitive advantage - Does your competitor have an interview with the current president of your trade association on their site?

● Two for one - hold live web conferences using either interviews or presentations, record and viola, podcast episode.

From the beginning, podcasting has been a very promising component in the marketing mix. Now that the hype (either way) has died down, actual practice is finally defining the terms.

Ricky Gervais' Take on His Successful Podcast

2009-02-05T18:18:00.004+00:00

The "Ricky Gervais Show" was downloaded nearly four and a half million times in January.

Why podcast? "Podcasting is perfect for me, because I'm always trying to aim at those things that only have self-censorship. I'm trying to cut out all interference artistically. That's also why stand-up is so exciting. What you say is what is heard. I think Woody Allen said,'The best an idea gets is when it's in your head.' So I've always been conscious of control. The more control you have, the more it can be what you would want to see or hear."

More about his take on podcasting in this months Asylum Magazine.

Barriers to Podcasting in China

2008-08-21T12:34:00.003+01:00

Steven Lin, senior editor at Sohu.com and one of the founders of the excellent Chinese podcast Antiwave, writes in 'The Ogilvy China Digital Watchabout' about the barriers to podcasting growth in China. An interesting read.

Annual Study on Podcasting Use in the US

2008-06-03T00:39:00.008+01:00

A few weeks ago we reported the first results of the annual Arbitron-Edison Media Research study on Podcasting use in the US. More results have now been published and are available here (pdf).

Its principle findings:

- Awareness of podcasting has stabilized. 37% had ever heard of podcasting, the same percentage as in 2007.

- The audience for both audio and video podcasts has grown considerably since last year. Americans indicating that they have ever downloaded and listened to an audio podcast grew from 13% to 18%, while video podcast consumption grew from 11% to 16%.

- Podcast listeners enjoy additional listening opportunities. The time spent listening to all forms of online audio for podcast listeners is approximately 90 minutes longer per week than it is for other online audio consumers. The portability of podcasts has enabled new contexts and environments for listening to downloadable audio.

- Podcast consumers are extremely attractive advertising targets, though difficult to reach via traditional interruption models. Podcast users are far more likely to have attained at least a college degree, and are also more likely to live in households earning in excess of $75,000 per year, than Americans who have not consumed podcasts. Furthermore, Americans who have watched or listened to a podcast are more frequent online shoppers and spend more money online than other Americans. Podcast listeners and viewers are also far more likely to block pop-up ads, SPAM, and use non-traditional means to view television.

- Podcast consumers are heavily involved with social networking. Over a quarter of persons 12+ who have ever consumed an audio/video podcast have a profile on MySpace, and the percentage of podcast consumers with profiles on other social networking sites is significantly higher than the percentage of non-podcast consumers. Podcast consumers also spend markedly more time on the Internet every day than the average American.

Studies: Podcast Ad Recall Rates Impressive

2008-04-23T18:34:00.002+00:00

Advertising during podcasts has been thrust into the limelight, thanks to recently released data from a series of ad effectiveness studies.

Podcast audiences are loyal to their regular hosts and pay attention to the advertisers that support their favorite shows, according to online and podcast show network, Podtrac and TNS.

Podcasts attract niche audiences that are more receptive to the carefully targeted brands being advertised or that are sponsoring their favorite shows. So much so, the average unaided ad recall among Podtrac’s respondents was 68%. Podtrac’s CEO Mark McCrery says this is “considerably higher… than in other offline and online media.” He’s not wrong. Industry benchmarks currently put unaided recall for ads in streaming video at just 21%, mobile ads 20% and television 10%.

Some experts believe that ad recall might not be such a viable measurement of an ad's effectiveness. However, Podtrac's studies showed a "73% increase in likelihood to use or buy an advertised product which is an indication of successful targeting, the unique relationship audience members have with the hosts of today’s online shows, and their ability to quickly move audiences from awareness to consideration to purchase,” said Velvet Beard, Podtrac’s vice president of products.

So what of the future of podcasting? According to eMarketer analyst Paul Verna in his report “Podcast Audience: Seeking Riches in Niches”, the podcasting audience is set to rise 251% to 65 million in 2012. The same goes for spending which will he predicts will rise from last year’s $165 million to $435 million in the next four years.

Courtesy of Helen Leggatt - Bizreport.com

From the Pentagon to the Weather Bureau, the U.S. Government is podcasting

2008-04-23T03:12:00.003+00:00

Don’t have time to catch the morning weather forecast? If you live in the United States. the National Weather Service might have a solution. Get your weather to go in a podcast. People living in the Baltimore-Washington region can already do that. The Weather Service’s Baltimore-Washington regional office in Sterling, Va., started making daily forecasts available about a year ago as a way to experiment with the technology, said Steve Listemaa, an information technology officer in the regional office. “It’s an easier way to get our information out there,” he said.

So far, only three Weather Service offices — Sterling; El Paso, Texas; and Anchorage, Alaska —make weather podcasts available, but those examples are indicative of various agencies’ efforts to explore how they can adapt podcast technology to disseminate information about services or events.

USA.gov lists a range of government podcast topics here. One of the first agencies to move into podcasting was the Defense Department. It began offering audio downloads of programs on the Pentagon Channel — in spring 2005. The channel offers news and documentaries, among other programs. Since then, more than 7.1 million podcasts have been downloaded, said Michael Winnaker, a marketing coordinator for the channel.

Brian Natwick, general manager of the Pentagon Channel, said he got the idea during a trip to Afghanistan in 2005 with the military. As he boarded an aircraft, he noticed about 80 percent of the soldiers on board had whipped out their iPods. “It just kind of hit me that this is another distribution technique that we have to add to our model,” Natwick said.

The podcasts are an easy and inexpensive way to reach deployed troops, Natwick said. “We’re pushing voting right now,” Natwick said. “Overseas voting is really important to us.”

There are about a dozen Pentagon Channel video and audio programs available as podcasts. Among the most popular are daily news roundups and “RECON,” a monthly documentary series on topics such as operations and military history.

This month’s series is about preparing for war at the Joint Readiness Training Center. Also popular is “Fit for Duty,” a half-hour exercise program that offers resistance and strength training and pilates.

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) will launch its first podcast this week and is planning two series: One is targeted to consumers; and another, with information about safety inspections, is meant to reach plant owners, managers and employees. “Different people receive information in different ways,” FSIS spokeswoman Amanda Eamich said. “It’s kind of a no-hassle approach to getting information out there.”

The Federal Aviation Administration is also exploring podcasts as a way to communicate with air traffic controllers, FAA spokeswoman Tammy Jones said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relies on podcasts to reach some public health professionals and health care providers with updates about vaccination issues and news such as E. coli outbreaks, said Fred Smith, a senior technologist with CDC’s Division of e-Health Marketing. He also has discussed the idea of cooperating with the State Department to provide podcasts targeted at overseas travelers. “The idea is to get this set up [so] that if there is a pandemic flu,” the government can more easily deliver vital information, Smith said.

The Coast Guard’s District 13 headquartered in Seattle is eyeing podcasting as a possible recruiting tool.

The office started to offer video podcasts on its Web site in January and has purchased helmet cameras for boat crew members to wear during missions and catch some of the action for later upload, said Paul Roszkowski, an assistant public affairs officer who helped coordinate the project. “What it allows them to do is to show a recruit, or a possible recruit, the different aspects of the job,” Roszkowski said. “It’s new ground for the government.”

Podcasting as Language Learning Tool for Children

2008-04-13T16:18:00.009+00:00

A report on Apple's website looks at the use of podcasting in language teaching at ACS Egham International School in London. It teaches English as a foreign language to seven and eight year-old children.

“Learning a new language can be very frightening for a young child”, says Wendy Brandse, 2nd Grade Class Teacher at ACS Egham. “Making a podcast is something they can be successful at straight away. They can record and listen to themselves, and delete and re-record if there is a mistake. The child has control, and doesn’t feel exposed to the whole class, while the teacher can monitor more effectively how each child is doing”

The school has found that using podcasts as part of the teaching process has significantly boosted learning on the part of the pupils.

UNESCO Video Podcast Series

2008-04-10T22:06:00.016+00:00

UNESCO just released a series of 9 video podcasts on "human rights, peace, tolerance and the fight against discrimination".

The videos were selected out of more than one hundred proposals from fifty countries submitted under a project on so called 'ICT-enhanced Public Service Broadcasting'. The podcasts have been released on DVD and through podcasting platforms.

This project aimed at putting ICTs, particularly new formats, at the service of content development on major societal and development issues.

“Public service content is not limited to news formats; it can be provided to people/users through different genres: documentary, fiction, TV magazines, animation, etc. In addition to these traditional audiovisual genres, the last few years have witnessed the emergence of new online formats and mobile distribution platforms that have had a tremendous impact on the type of content being generated and the profile of those generating it. Content produced for small mobile devices - commonly called podcasting - will entail different audiovisual choices than those we may apply to images conceived for a big screen”, said Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant Director General for Communication and Information.

For more United Nations related issues, check out the Unicef and
'United Nations Yak' podcasts.

Podcasting Industry News

2008-03-28T14:31:00.005+00:00

The podcasting network Wizzard Media announced that it has signed a content licensing and advertising agreement with YouTube.

As a YouTube content partner, Wizzard will have its own brand channel that will enable users to access video podcasts from the Wizzard Media Network. Through this agreement, YouTube will run ads against the shows in Wizzard’s YouTube channel. YouTube will share with Wizzard any ad revenue generated by the streamed Wizzard podcasts.

In addition to the ad revenue generated by increased audiences and advertising opportunities, the agreement with YouTube will also allow for content from the Wizzard Media Network to be incorporated into the Google AdSense Network. Wizzard will receive a share of revenues for certain ads displayed in connection with the playback of Wizzard Videos on the Google AdSense Network. Wizzard has opted to share a percentage of these revenues collected with the show’s creators.

In other news, Data Call Technologies, known for its Digital Signage technology, is acquiring Podcast Ready. Both companies are based in Houston.

Data Call said the acquisition will strengthen its business strategy focusing on emerging new markets for audio and video content. Podcast Ready has an existing infrastructure through which it can provide advertisers with content verification, enabling those advertisers to match their ads with content that is custom-tailored to specific demographics.

Podcast's technological capabilities integrate easily into Data Call's technology, products and services, said Jim Ammons, Data Call's chief executive officer. "Crossing the two technologies of Data Call's Digital Signage with PRI's podcasts technology and services contributes significantly to both entities ability to grow significantly. In the world of marketing, it's all about exposure," he said.

Podcast.com Announces the Top 10 Podcasts of 2007

2008-02-08T18:56:00.001+00:00

Treedia Labs, a leading media aggregation and distribution company, announced today its Podcast.com "Top 10 Podcasts of the Year" Award for 2007. Podcast.com is the premier podcast destination that provides access to a growing list of over 43,000 curated and updated podcasts representing more than 175,000 hours of audio and video content. Podcast.com's unique solution for content consumers also presents an unsurpassed way for content providers to reach an audience that consumes podcasts via the Web, mobile phones and other multimedia devices.

Each year, Podcast.com tallies the total number of times a program has been accessed by consumers. In 2007, Podcast.com tracked over one million podcast access connections via the Podcast.com portal. The top 10 Podcasts represent those items that were accessed the most in 2007.

Podcast.com's Top 10 Podcasts of the Year Award recipients are:

1. World Soccer Daily Podcast - independent
2. CNN News Update - mainstream
3. ESPN Radio Daily Podcast - mainstream
4. Geek News Central Podcast - independent
5. BBC's Best of Today - mainstream
6. NOVA - PBS - mainstream
7. Slate Magazine Daily Podcast - mainstream
8. 60 Minutes Podcast - The Full Broadcast - mainstream
9. Face the Nation Podcast - mainstream
10. CNET News.com Daily Tech News Podcast - independent

This year's winners are enjoying the sizeable and growing audiences of downloadable media consumption. According to Edison Media Research data from 2007, more than 37 million podcasts were accessed by consumers in the US. According to Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), a group dedicated to measuring radio audiences in the UK, podcast listening increased 40-percent, to 2.7 million people throughout the UK in 2007.

Podcasting as Recruiting Tool

2008-01-21T12:45:00.000+00:00

A growing number of employers are beginning to use podcasts as recruitment advertising in an effort to standout and connect with the iPod generation now entering the workforce.

'Jobcasting' as it's called is a fairly new tool among corporate recruiters. Companies like Microsoft and Accenture were among the first to recognize the media as a marketing tool. Microsoft began theirs in March of 2005. You can hear several of them on the Microsoft Jobs Blog. Now a new service called 'Jobs in Pods' has become the most prominent site to hear jobcasts from employers in the US and Canada. In existence since March of 2007, the site now claims several prominent companies such as Intel Corporation, ZoomInfo.com, AT&T, Verizon Wireless among its clients.

What's unique about the service is that employers don't have to have any knowledge about actual podcasting. "We do all the work," says Chris Russell the founder of Jobs in Pods. "All the employer has to do is pick up the phone and answer the questions," he adds. Once the call is finished, the audio file is then published on Jobinpods.com and sites like Podcast.com, Blogorama and Podcast Alley. They even make their way onto a YouTube channel as videos where the audio is teamed with an image placeholder that details the topic of the podcast.

Jobcasts are also available for employers to place directly on their own corporate career site via the use of a widget or RSS feed.

Each jobcast is about 8-10 minutes long and typically discusses one job in detail or a particular career path within a department. Employers are given the questions ahead of time so they may prepare. Russell believes that podcasting is part of online recruiting's future. "Social media is taking over and employers can either embrace it or hide. Blogs, podcasts, video and social networks will soon become the candidates preferred choice of contact", he adds.

Courtesy of pr-usa.net

A Bottle of Red. A Bottle of White. And Podcasting.

2007-12-16T10:34:00.001+00:00

The Australian wine industry has taken the hi-tech route in its communications strategy by taking the podcast path in order to educate people about its wines. And it seems to have worked. The first podcasts describing Australia's wine regions have been downloaded more than 10,000 times since being launched in April this year.

The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (Wine Australia) has benefited from this new media with 15 per cent of website traffic visiting the podcasts, claimed Lucy Anderson, Manager of International Marketing and Communications with the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation (AWBC).

"Narrated by Australian wine writer Max Allen from his book Crush, Wine Australia's first series of podcasts have proved a popular addition to our marketing efforts," said Lucy, "There's nothing intimidating about it” she continued, “the use of technology in wine education makes it easy and fun for anyone that has an interest in wine and wants to learn. This is an innovation that will benefit all of the Australian wine industry as it quickly and easily facilitates knowledge transfer. "By enabling people to simply download a host of regional information and listen to it on their computer or iPod we've taken Australia's wine regions to the world. The popularity of the podcasts and flexibility of the medium has prompted us to launch a new varietal series and additional episodes of Crush. "There are now 47 episodes available with a new series of vodcasts showcasing the diversity of varietal wines from across Australia. Presented by Ben Glaetzer - one of Australia's own 'Regional Heroes' - Ben comments on how the region dictates the style of wine that ends up in your glass and then talks through the variation you might expect to find between enjoying a Coonawarra, Limestone Coast, Riverland or Margaret River Cabernet, for example."

To access the Wine Australia podcasts or multimedia files visit www.wineaustralia.com (Resources) or go to the iTunes music store and search for 'Wine Australia' or 'Regional Heroes' and subscribe for free

You Pull. I'll Push

2007-12-04T13:35:00.000+00:00

In analyzing why users have failed to adopt mobile data applications, as well as what must happen for such adoption to take place, three factors get cited the most:

- The user experience must be simple

- Content must be compelling

- Low cost

This article argues that the common methods of delivering data services – mainly WAP Portal Pull - fail on all three counts and are the main factor behind low user uptake. Background download solutions, similar to RSS podcast push in the iPod/PC domain, address these factors by delivering full-length commercial-quality content directly to the handset without requiring any user activity, such as overnight. Content consumption is offline and immediate. Finally, as background delivery can take place when the network is empty, the cost of data delivery is zero allowing operators to launch affordable rich-media services.

It is common knowledge that the Pull mode of content discovery and consumption has failed for all but the die-hard users. Only the most committed users will spend five minute browsing countless WAP menus to download a ringtone or short video clip. Those that do will do so infrequently, when they have a sudden urge. For many, that urge will be a one time affair, ending after they see the bill – a few Euro, dollars or Pounds per transaction. When compelling content is easily available via the wireline internet for free, why should one have to struggle to find mediocre content, and pay dearly for it? Indeed, most people do not and will not.

Background download offers an alternative.

What is background download? Background download is the automatic delivery of content to the phone that occurs without the user having to do anything. The content is delivered to the user while the user is asleep (for example), and the content is ready to be consumed when and where the user wants, even in areas without network connectivity (such as in the subway on the way to work).

Podcasting on the iPod is a background download service. Users subscribe to specific podcasts, and each new episode is pushed to the user, to be listened to at the user's convenience on the PC or iPod.

Background download in the mobile world resolves the three major problems that WAP pull services suffer from. First, the user experience is compelling and in fact better than the iPod experience. With iPod, users must transfer each new podcast from the PC to the iPod, not a trivial thing to do each morning before heading off to work. With mobile background download, the user wakes up each morning with the latest content already on the mobile phone ready to be consumed without the need to connect to the network.

Second, the content delivered via background download can be full length podcasts or TV episodes, unlike the short content available in WAP portals. Why? Unlike background download, WAP pull has three problems: (1) content pulled by the user off a portal is delivered and consumed in real time. The user will not wait an hour or two to consume content while a large file is downloading. Satisfaction must be immediate. (2) Users want to consume content during the day, usually in congested areas. Mobile data networks are inefficient and the network cost of downloading large files in peak hours in congested areas is huge. The operator/carrier must charge high prices for such downloads. (3) The chances of a poor data connection during a large download is high, rendering the user experience poor.

These problems vanish with background download. Large files can be delivered overnight (or when the phone is in the user's pocket) with the user receiving a notification when the content is available. Consumption is immediate. Second, networks are empty at night so the network transmission cost is zero. Third, with the phone stationary, the chance of transmission interrupts are reduced, and with build-in retry mechanisms when failures occur, delivery can be assured.

Finally, given the efficiency of delivering data overnight on empty networks, the cost of background push services can be drastically reduced. Compare paying 2 Euro to download a one minute clip to paying five Euro a month for subscribing to five daily full-length podcasts as a major multi-national carrier/operator has just launched. Which would you prefer?

Apple has proven time and again that it can identify and capitalize on consumer trends with cool user-friendly goods. The iPod, which gave birth to podcasting, is just one example. The iPod has succeeded where all operators have failed, and that is in proving that people do want to carry their digital entertainment with them. Background delivery addresses the problems characteristic of most mobile services and has to potential in enabling rich-media services that are easy to use and inexpensive to enjoy.

Police podcast too!

2007-11-29T10:36:00.001+00:00

The Italian state police, who publish one of the country's most popular podcasts, are no longer alone. In Garner, North Carolina (U.S.), the town's police officers have taken a more interactive approach to warning shoppers of the dangers of shopping online. They now use video podcasts.

The shows are the department's way of getting news out to a new audience. "I think you hit the younger generation more so this way," says Sgt. Joe Binns. "A lot of them get their news from the Internet, and a podcast is a little more interactive than just reading."

For the six-minute piece, the police department educates shoppers on checking out merchants, using secure sites and canceling credit cards in the event of a breach.

The shows are five minutes long and feature crime-prevention tips and news updates. The idea came up as a way to expand on the television show Garner police officials have been doing. "We're reaching an older generation with the show, but we wanted to reach the younger generation as well," Binns said. "Plus, we basically record the show, and we're done. This gives us an opportunity ... to do something a little more creative."

One of the next show, for example, will continue with the safety theme but will take place in a store parking lot. In the future, those receiving the podcasts will also get a glimpse inside the town's "most wanted" list.

German and UK iPhone sales exceed targets

2007-11-26T19:10:00.001+00:00

German T-Mobile and O2 in the UK, the mobile operators with exclusive sales rights in their countries, reported strong first-day iPhone sales. T-Mobile reported selling 10,000 devices on the first day. O2 sales greatly exceeded expectations, with 8,000 in sales compared to the 3,000 target. Orange France, with the exclusive rights in France, will launch the device on November 29. The devices cost €399 ($540) in France for the 8GB model and £269 ($550) in the UK. Users in both countries are required to sign special subscription packages. It is reported that O2 has a 5 year exclusivity deal, similar to ATT's contract in the U.S. Of special interest is the fact that O2 UK agreed to give Apple 40 percent (yes, 40%) of the revenue it makes from customers using the device, while it was reported that the launch in France was delayed because of Orange discontent with demands for at least 33% of service revenues.

iPhone Launches in Germany

2007-10-21T14:04:00.000+00:00

Another day, another complete lack of surprise as T-Mobile revealed itself to be the exclusive carrier of the Apple iPhone in Germany. The wonder device will launch in Germany on November 9, the same day as O2 begins selling it in the UK.

Customers will be required to sign up to a lengthy two year contract and pay Eur399 for the device, which makes it a tad more expensive than the UK device too. T-Mo has not yet revealed details on the tariffs available but it is likely they will be some variant of the company's successful Web n' Walk plan so as to allow for the expected all you can eat data allowance.

"We are convinced that we can get our customers excited about experiencing the mobile internet with the iPhone," said Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International. By the end of this year, T-Mobile claims it will be the only network operator in Germany to offer EDGE throughout its entire GSM network, accelerating the mobile data transfer rate to over 220Kbps per second. T-Mobile also has 20,000 own-branded wifi hotspots worldwide, of which 8,600 are in Germany.

Meanwhile, after revealing itself as the UK iPhone carrier on Tuesday, O2's website reportdly fell over Wednesday morning in the rush, as 1,500 visitors per second logged on to see when the device is available.

7 Simple Tips for Improving your Audio Recording Quality - By Pascal Roobrouck of Alcatel Lucent

2007-08-22T08:11:00.000+00:00

This list is the result of experience collected at Alcatel-Lucent University. It contains 7 tips to improve your audio recording quality and make professional sounding recordings, even with affordable microphones.

1. Keep the background noise down: Noise is part of the audio signal that you don’t want to hear. The more noise in your recording, the more difficult it becomes for the listener to ‘filter out’ the good part of the audio, and as such the more difficult it becomes to listen to your recording. First you need to take measures to introduce as little noise as possible into your recording. (Further below are tips on how to deal with noise already into your recording). So when you are into the location where you’d like to record, stand still and listen to the background noise that is present. Normally you are not aware of this noise, because our brain tends to filter it out. If you start actively listening, you will notice that there are things like noise from air-conditioning or ventilation, radio’s – TVs, machines, people talking, phones, etc. Try to get to a location with a minimum of this noise, and if possible try to shut down (during your recording) equipment that makes noise. As an example I often need to shut down the refrigerator in the room. Also the fan of a computer can generate noise, so you could use a long cables and put your computers as far away as possible from the microphone. One last kind of noise, is caused by mobile phones. They emit very strong signals and those are picked up by the microphone, so keep phones away from your recording spot. See also here and here.

2. Keep the levels correct : Each microphone has a maximum audio signal that it can record without distortion. Recording audio that is louder will result in so-called ‘clipping’ : the signal is limited to its maximum level, causing a terrible distortion. On the other hand, each microphone also picks up noise. The noise is fairly constant, so the lower the audio signal you record, the smaller it becomes versus the always present noise. Therefore you should try to put your microphone in such a position (or tune the sensitivity or gain if you can) that the signal you record, results in the maximum level it can record, but not more. As audio-levels of speech vary all the time, the easiest way to check your levels, is to do a test-recording, and then look at the wave-form in your audio mixing software. If there are peaks reaching the maximum level (often called the 0 db level), then you are recording too close . If your waveform only uses 20% of its vertical range, you are probably recording too far away from your source. One final tip here is that often, a speaker will use his ‘normal’ voice during the test recording, but raises his voice as soon as there is an audience. You should try to anticipate this. In the ideal situation, you can monitor the levels during the recording, and slightly adjust them when needed, eg. when changing speakers in the middle of a recording.

3. Microphone handling sounds : Inside a microphone, there is a so called diaphragm that is moved by the airwaves. Any movement from the body of the microphone itself, will result in some movement of the diaphragm as well and as such result again in a kind of noise. As this noise is not constant, it is also much harder to filter out later. So you should carefully position your microphone in such a way that you never need to move it or touch it. On a table is OK, but not perfect, because people tend to move their hands on the table, which moves the table , and hence moves the microphone on that table . A better way is to have the microphone hang on a beam above your table. Also there are solutions that suspend your microphone with rubbers, which to a certain extent keep it ‘floating’ and isolated from movements and vibrations. If you have several people to interview, it is best to provide each of them a separate microphone. In case you just have one microphone, be aware that moving it to the next person will introduce noise, so leave some time between the move and the next question to allow you to properly cut the noise during the move.

4. Include 10 seconds of silence at beginning and end : Even if you take precautions to minimize background noise, reality is that with affordable microphones and real-life environments, you will always have some noise. But today’s Audio Processing software (such as Adobe Audition) allows to filter it out to a large part. This works better if the software ‘knows’ what is the kind of noise you have in your recording. So simply record a 10 second long silence at the beginning (and/or end) of your recording. This part contains just noise. From this part the software will learn your ‘noise profile’ and be able to filter out the noise from the remainder of your recording in the best possible way.

5. ‘Normalize’ and ‘Process Dynamics’ : After recording, you will mix several parts together in a so-called mixdown. To be able to mix properly, all different recordings should have the same level. If you took care of tip 2 (see above) this will almost be the case. Still the first processing you can do on your recording, is to ‘Normalize’ it. This will amplify the complete file in such a way that the loudest part of your file is amplified to a chosen maximum level. The absolute maximum you can set is 0db, but in my experience it is more reliable to normalize to a maximum level of (eg.) –1db, which is just a little under the absolute maximum. This leaves a bit of margin for rounding errors. Now, having normalized all your recording files, you may experience that still they do not all sound equally ‘loud’. The reason for this is that there could be a peak in your audio file, which is very loud, so the file as a whole cannot be amplified, because then the peak would be more than –1db and result into distortion. A solution for this is to ‘selectively’ amplify the signal : amplify the low parts more than the loud parts. The technical term for this process is called ‘dynamics processing’. If you apply this onto a voice recording, the peaks of the recording will be ‘flattened out’ to some extent, so it is then possible to amplify the whole file without distortion at the peaks. Feel free to experiment with a sequence of ‘dynamics processing’ followed by ‘normalization’ followed by ‘dynamics processing’ etc. See also here and here.

6. POP Filtering screen : While pronouncing the letter P (as in the word Pop) your mouth exhausts a sudden blast of air. This results in an air wave which is sometimes too strong for the microphone to digest, and so again it distorts the recording. A simple way to prevent this, is to stay further away from the microphone, or to place a so-called pop filter between your mouth and the microphone. See also.

7. Clap a Marker : While recording, if something goes wrong, you can stop the recording, discard it and start again. You can also just continue recording and later edit out the mistake. If the recording was good until the mistake, I suggest to just keep recording. In order to easily correct the recording later, you can simply make a loud clap with your hands. This will result in a visible spike in the waveform, and make it easy for you to locate the re-take. Be sure to remove all the bad parts, as well as the claps themselves before doing the normalization and dynamics processing (see above).

Podcasting and Education: Can schools use podcasting to teach us anything? Part 2. By Monte Silver, Bamboo Mediacasting

2007-08-19T20:41:00.001+00:00

Part 1 of this article on the use of podcasting in higher education concluded that while podcasting lectures is the most obvious use, it does not provide compelling value. One main reason for this is the fear that podcasting lectures will cannibalize the in-class experience.

There are two other ways in which podcasting has been used: (1) the delivery of supplemental educational materials and content, and (2) assignments requiring students to produce podcasts.

1. Supplemental material. Many instructors have experimented with the delivery of supplemental materials designed as podcasts (or audio files). Compared to lecture podcasts, supplemental materials have a much better track record of positively influencing learning outcomes and student performance. These materials can be listened to before the lecture, and focus on important topics and questions in preparation for the classroom experience. Or, the material can be posted after the lecture, such as homework assignments and additional "optional" material for those interested.

Equally important, with supplemental material, the classroom experience is not cannibalized, rather enhanced. Futhermore, the supplemental material, often created by the instructor, can create a special bond with the students, which is especially the case given the pleasant and informal experience that audio material provides. Strengthening this intangible yet very valuable teacher-student relationship is an important element of education.

However, such successes are on a case by case basis. And every small success generates disproportionate media coverage. One case involved the use of podcasting as a supplemental tool in a medical course. The media reported that "iPods help doctors improve stethoscope skills,” that “iPods are good for your heart,” and "Dr. iPod can double successful heart-condition diagnosis”. The hype generated by media bears little relationship to actual experience.

Futhermore, supplemental audio material is usually just one component in an online course offering. Such audio files are usually posted on a course website and listened to via PC.

(2) Student generated content

Besides strengthening the teacher-student relationship, another important goal of education is to motivate. Active and involved students are more likely to find interest in the course and do better. Student podcasting (or actually, the creation of course-related audio content) has proven an effective way to achieve this goal. Students are often technologically keen, and many reports show that students eagerly seize the opportunity to use technology to create content for assignments. In several cases, well structured assignments created friendly competitions between students who tried to be the most creative with their final projects. Using podcasting, they created advanced audio and video recordings, educated classmates how to use advanced features and worked together to overcome technical challenges, like poor quality screen captures. It is clear that podcasting can be valuable for the development of technical competence, listening and presentation skills, and in gaining how new media can impact social and professional dialogue.

To summarize the use of podcasting in higher education usually involves an upside down process. Educational technologists begin with a specific product. They then determine what kinds of activities that product or channel can support, and work backwards to identify what educational goals those activities might help achieve.

Although reversing the process can sometimes lead to interesting applications of technology, it frequently results in “technology for the sake technology,” with little or no actual effect on outcomes in student learning.

The conclusion: Universities have lots of technology at their disposal. As with any educational technology, whether and how podcasting impacts the quality of the learning experience depends largely upon how the technology is put to use in a specific context. It appears that podcasting does not contain any inherent value. It is only valuable inasmuch as it helps the instructor and students reach their educational goals. And to accomplish this requires careful planning and execution.

Podcasts to Go - by Bena Roberts of BKI Media

2007-08-14T07:59:00.001+00:00

The mobile content market currently resembles guerrilla warfare where everyone is fighting to make money, but no-one is winning the war. Yet the argument that mobile services haven’t delivered and SMS is still the undisputed leader is suffering from battle fatigue. There is no doubt that mobile operators are being forced to rethink their mobile content strategies.
Older directors of mobile portals and multimedia strategies are being replaced by younger, messier individuals who need to tune into youth and inject up to the minute ideas into mobile portals and content.

In the meantime, user generated mobile content has become a household term, while music and gaming on mobile are starting to become trendy. Now mobile podcasts are entering the arena.

Unlike all other mobile content, which is often adapted from the web, mobile podcasting is the only true, new, made for mobile service on the market. Mobile podcasting uses audio and listening is rapidly becoming the killer app of the mobile Internet: in March M:Metrics published research showing that ownership of musicphones (defined as phones that are capable of music storage and playback) is growing rapidly across Western Europe and the US. The UK has the highest penetration of these devices at 40%, while the US lags at 17%.

Mobile podcasts can range from bursts to sustained instalments of audio content and the time is ripe for them to become very hot indeed. The biggest barrier to them becoming a mass market phenomenon, as with so very many other mobile services, is operators’ weak business models. At the moment, the most common way of charging for mobile podcasts is through subscription, which removes all spontaneity and is truly middle-aged. Alltel in the US charges USD 3.99 per month for its mobilecast service and M1 in Singapore charges 5.99 Singapore dollars per month. In keeping with new trends in mobile, operators need to start employing younger and funkier billing and tariff setters too to ape the early successes.

The most impressive uptake of mobile podcasts has been in the US. Vendors such as Mobilcast and UpSnap are stimulating podcast sales via SMS, then enabling customers to listen to them via a phone call or voice mail. This is a simple idea – using traditional audio services as the delivery mechanism – and is especially popular with users stuck in traffic on their way to work. Users pay per minute to listen and the charge is integrated into standard call charges. This is critical as customers use their existing voice minutes as part of a bundle or listen to free podcasts at the weekend as part of an operator package.

In Europe, which has a far higher penetration of musicphones indicating a much greater interest in audio services, operators are already in danger of fudging their mobile podcast services by opting for a streaming data transfer model, which is an untidy, unnecessarily complicated delivery mechanism, inappropriate for mobile podcasting.

The 3 network in the UK falls into this category. It is the first UK-based mobile operator to launch mobile podcasts, as part of its X-Series bundle. Audio is native to mobile. Data (even on 3G) is not. Mobile operators should be using the inherent audio stream to sell and push these new podcasting services.

By bringing data and streaming into the equation, the price of the podcasts rises and the potentially brilliant audio quality deteriorates, moving from hero to zero in one fell swoop. This is because mobile operators eager to secure return on investment (ROI) from podcasts forget about user experience and the fact that the mobile device is already an audio rich media. Or at least that’s one argument.

Another is that the early adopter mobile operators tend to mask the introduction of new data features to encourage competitors to play catch up, then them with an even better service. Certainly 3’s history reveals that it has scored several successes through this strategy.

There are several new players in mobile podcasting who are using more innovative ways of podcasting, which are also being introduced through social networks such as YouTube and Flickr. The arrival of podcast RSS will really herald the benefits of audio on mobile and demonstrate clearly how users can listen to the highlights of their favourite RSS feeds on their mobile phone instantly.

In addition, IM alerts of audio RSS could be set up to ensure that once the service is set up it will be hard for customers to resist. Audio, in the form of mobile podcasts, could be the sticky service mobile operators are desperate for.

There is still an everything to play for and mobile operators need to wake up and grind the beans. Mobile podcasting has huge potential. For these services to deliver on their potential, operators need to action now. Some slick marketing, simple to use services and transparent tariffs are the order of the day.

Podcasting and podcasters have their own community on the Internet and there is no reason why this should not be replicated on mobile. Recently AirG, Boost Mobile and West Coast Customs launched a community based mobile promotion to win a new car which caused mobile traffic to increase three fold and nearly every community member participated. These types of promotions are needed to kick start mobile podcasting.

This means positioning all new mobile services as community services and then watch their popularity spread virally via mobile. The trick is not simply to launch a mobile podcast service, but to bundle it as part of a community offer such as Kink Kommunity or Boost Mobile. This way mobile podcasts can be integrated, paid for features or self-created to gel consumers together. This approach is simpler and new business models can be created using a sponsorship or funding through advertising. Consumers will no longer be restricted to accessing content by subscription only or through data tariffs. Instead they’ll be able to indulge in happy hours or special content subsidised by third parties.

'BusinessWeek' Hits 1 Million Podcast Downloads

2007-08-13T07:29:00.000+00:00

For the first time since its Web site introduced podcasts in January 2006, BusinessWeek recorded more than 1 million podcast downloads in June. Leading the way were podcasts that supplement its cover stories and its regular Q&A column "The Welch Way," penned by Jack and Suzy Welch (Jack Welch is the former CEO of General Electric). The cover stories for the month were "Hot Growth: The 100 Best Small Companies To Watch," "3M's Innovation Crisis," "The Real Cost Of Offshoring" and "Telecom Back From The Dead."

In their podcasts, the Welches discuss in lively fashion (relatively, for business reporting) the issues suggested by readers. His status as the legendary leader of GE, and her wide-ranging business knowledge--she was formerly editor in chief of Harvard Business Review--have contributed to the popularity of both the column and the podcast.

BusinessWeek has been careful to avoid some of the familiar mistakes made by magazine publishers trying to cash in on podcasts. Foremost, the podcasts typically feature new content, rather than stale retreads of the print stories.

Nor do they steer clear of personal controversy, often lacking in business journalism. Some BusinessWeek readers (and listeners) may remember that Suzy Welch was forced to step down as head of the Harvard Business Review for having an affair with her future husband while reporting on him. There's a certain appeal in hearing the voices of this famous couple as they banter about issues of the day. Done correctly, this kind of human element can be a huge boost for podcasts.

Courtesy of mediapost.com

Crossing the Digital Divide, Teachers Tackle Podcasting

2007-08-06T14:31:00.000+00:00

'Podcasts' may sound like a bizarre sci-fi creation to some teachers, but they are just another option on the high-tech entertainment buffet for many of their students. Podcasts -- downloadable online broadcasts that can be played on computers or portable devices -- are a leisure pursuit to a generation that has grown up in the technological age. That is why teachers -- some of them self-confessed technology neophytes -- are willing to give up a piece of their summertime to learn how to bring the medium into the classroom for teaching purposes.

"Technology is here, it's here to stay, and it's just a case of bringing technology up to where they are," language arts teacher Brian Conway said, referring to his seventh-grade students at Meredith Middle School. He was one of 16 teachers -- most of them in their 30s or 40s -- who attended a two-day podcasting institute at the school last month. "The world is even more dependent on technology. And if we don't get up to that learning curve, we're going to be left behind."

The Appoquinimink and Capital school districts and the Positive Outcomes Charter School in Camden formed a consortium to win a $400,000 federal grant that provided podcast training for teachers, said Karen Hartschuh, an instructional technology specialist at Appoquinimink. The teachers and their students don't need to own portable media players to create podcasts, Hartschuh said.

A podcast -- audio, video or photos, alone or in combination -- can be delivered via the Internet to any computer. But devices such as iPods make podcasts portable, allowing the lessons to travel with students. "You can go on vacation with your family, and on the plane cover all the assignments you are missing," she said.

And in the classroom, as students create their own podcasts, the assignments become more important to them, Hartschuh said, because their Internet audience is global, rather than the 20 or 30 people who normally might see it in a classroom.
Podcasting also opens up doors that might be locked to a variety of other teaching methods, offering new avenues of instruction to students who learn more easily through visual or auditory mediums, she said.

"It's an incredibly powerful tool, because students are digital consumers," said Jane Keyes, a former teacher who teaches the podcasting institute for Apple Inc. at schools in the Northeast, including the recent session at Meredith Middle. "They work with technology constantly, and they multi-task. They're used to learning by investigating, by being hands-on." With podcasting, she said, students also learn something about reading and writing along the way, because they have to draft a plan and research text to create a podcast.

The technology is catching on fast in schools, said Christine Dowd, another former teacher and an education development executive with Apple who also travels with the institute. She has helped train more than 500 teachers at about 30 schools in a little less than a year. "What you find is that a school has to be open to students being creative," she said of the typical participants. "It's the forward-looking schools that realize this is a great learning tool."

Delaware schools that have used podcasting to teach students include Downes Elementary in Newark. Downes formed a partnership this past school year with seniors in digital media at Delcastle Technical High School near Newport, whose students also learn by helping the younger children use the medium to create stories or poems for the Internet.

To be sure, not everyone is embracing podcasts. "People can be very scared, because they don't want to be foolish," Keyes said. "There are still school districts all over whose teachers are struggling to use word processors." Teacher Cheryle Allen-Spells, 59, who teaches eighth-grade language arts at Meredith Middle, is only just beginning to learn what podcasting is about. But attending the institute will get her going in the right direction, she said. "I just want to learn to do anything I can to help," she said of her students. Fellow institute participant Tom Harrison, 52, a Meredith Middle teacher, is much more technologically plugged in than most, he said. He has yet to use podcasting in his classroom, but looks forward to introducing it to his seventh-grade science students."To me, it's another way to get to them," he said. "You look at every trick you can to get them involved."

Podcasting and Education: Can schools use podcasting to teach us anything? By Monte Silver, Bamboo MediaCasting

2007-07-16T10:10:00.000+00:00

Sharing audio and video files on the Web has been possible for most of the last decade. Why, then, in the past two years has podcasting exploded onto the scene and become such a hot topic
in educational technology? Can technology, and the widespread adoption of mass market media devices, improve education and learning outcomes Or is it merely a passing trend? The Next Big Thing?

This article explores the subject of podcasting in education. It is based on Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) recently published concise, yet comprehensive and objective analysis on the subject, as well as interviews I have conducted with especially educators involved in such projects.

The CMU analysis examines three areas: (1) the creation and distribution of lectures for review, (2) the delivery of supplemental educational materials and content, and (3) assignments
requiring students to produce and submit their own podcasts.

The most obvious user scenario for podcasting is making new and archived lectures available for students to listen to out of class. Clearly, lectures can be delivered using several web and other techniques. Podcasting is one more tool in the educator's arsenal. Thus podcasting lectures must provide additional value beyond existing methods.

As to the unique traits of podcasting over other tools, the CMU report finds that students found obtaining files via RSS as helpful, a fact that increases the likelihood that they download a lecture.

However, there is strong resistance among educators to making lectures available on-line. In the report, as well as among educators I interviewed, there is concern that making lectures available on-line may negatively impact the valuable "in the classroom" experience and interaction.

However, the report finds that most students perceive lecture podcasts as a tool for review, rather than as a replacement for attending lectures. A small percentage of students indicated that the availability of recorded lectures might make them more likely to miss class, but none of the studies report a significant impact on overall attendance.

One especially interesting and consistent finding was that a majority of students report using lecture podcasts at home or on a computer, rather than in a mobile environment with a portable device. Clearly, this finding flies in the face of the RSS concept, and podcasting being necessarily a "mobile thing".

In summary, the report and my interviews seems to emphasize the many problems raised associated with the undermining of the "in-class" experience. If there is a compelling value to educational podcasting, it must be found elsewhere.

These areas will be explored in Part 2 of this series

Get the CMU white paper here.

Mobile Phones vs. iPod - Can Mobile Operators/Carriers Win? - By Monte Silver, Bamboo MediaCasting

2007-07-08T11:43:00.000+00:00

It is the strangest thing. The iPod and podcasting have proven that users will gladly overcome complex routines in order to take their entertainment with them when they are on the go. Some of us transfer MP3 files from the PC and enjoy music. Others subscribe to podcasts. Both usages requires a user to actively connect a media device to a PC and transfer content – an action which I personally find technically challenging. Yet people do it. Over 100,000,000 iPods have been sold so far.

On the other hand, the cellular industry has repeatedly tried to get us to use data entertainment services on our phones. Internet became Mobile Internet. Television became Mobile TV. Despite the investment of billions of dollars in data networks, spectrum, devices and marketing campaigns, users have not adopted these services.

Can the mobile phone compete with the iPod as the user's device of choice? For example, can podcasting become a service enjoyed on mobile phones? Clearly, podcasting is very suitable for the mobile phone. First, it is an “on-the-go” experience. Second, audio content is not effected by the handset’s small screen. Third, mobile phones already support video and high-quality audio. Four, content can be delivery directly to the handset with superb user experience.

If podcasting on the mobile fails, the mobile industry will have difficulty explaining why. Indeed, one may argue that such a failure is final proof that the phone is simply not a media devices, and that convergence is just hype.

This series of articles analyzes the critical issues that must be addressed if mobile podcasting is to succeed and prove that the phone has worth as a media device. In this first article, we now address fundamental user issues:

First, is there a clear scenario where users will consume podcasts/content on the mobile phone? The answer is yes. If the service is user friendly, compelling and affordable, people will do what many already do on with iPod. Many of us have clearly definable windows of dead time where we are a captive audience, such as while commuting to and from work. Also, enjoying audio content can be done in parellel to other activities.

Second, will people use their phones for media consumption? The experts say yes. "So the split where the phone world and this Windows PC world have been two separate worlds - that's changing utterly," says Bill Gates. "You'll have the PC and then you'll have your mobile phone. And the mobile phone and that PC will be working together in a rich way."

All of us carry our phones with us everywhere. We like our phones. Phones are getting smarter, with better user experience. The iPod is great, if you have one. Most do not. An iPod also means carrying around two devices. I do not. Given a compelling user experience and fair and clear pricing, many will gladly listen to great audio content during dead-time.

Third, will people pay for a mobile podcast service? After all, most content (including podcasts) is free on the web, with the perception being that content (even if pirated) should remain free.

Whether people will pay for a mobile service depends of factors such as easy of use, content quality, and price. True, Podcasts are available free on-line. But I personally would pay a small premium to receive unique Brand content on my mobile phone rather than buy an iPod and have to bother with transferring podcasts from my computer every day. Sure.

Finally, as will be discussed in the following articles, there is one more critical factor on which the success of mobile podcasting depends. Mobile operator involvement. Issues of easy of use, compelling content and price are all under the operator's control. Major mobile operators are designing and will soon launch podcast applications with great client expereince. As to content, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange are closing deals with Brand new media – the recent announcements of Vodafone with YouTube and My Space to name a few. As to price, operators control the cost of data on their networks. Adopting clear flat monthly fees for mobile podcasting services is mandatory to attract the mass-market user.

Will operators commit to mobile podcasting? They must. The success of the iPod is a strategic threat to them for several reasons: (a) If iPod becomes the user's mobile media device of choice, the phone will remain only a voice-only device. (b) iPhone will allow Apple to work one operator against another, such as by entering into an exclusivity deal with Vodafone at the exclusion of others - see Apple and ATT in the US. (c) Once iPod goes WIFI, the operator is out of the loop altogether.