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[jough]

Hey Kids,

I'm thinking of starting up a podcast for my poetry archives site but I'm new to even listening to podcasts myself, and am wondering what you like or don't like in other people's podcasts.

I think I like the ones that seem more like audio blogs than I do those that are like radio shows or talk radio, but I'm curious to know if you prefer off the cuff ramblings, well-produced slick shows with music and *ahem* sound effects, etc.?

Also, length?  How long is too long or too short?  I think I could come up with 10 minutes a week of actual content, and can probably lengthen that to 15 minutes with padding.  But I'd rather not pad.  I'm just wondering what you feel is a good length to make it worthwhile to download, yet not so long that you wouldn't want to listen to it (assume for the moment that the podcast would be about something you're interested in).

[AlohaDawg]

Never listened to one.

Sounds interesting though.

[side_show]

pod...cast...?

[jough]

I thought you people were geeks!

Yeah, essentially, Adam Curry (the old VJ) coined the term for broadcasts on an iPod (or really any mp3 player, including your pc).  It is basically just an mp3 and an RSS feed telling you where to get it, but you can subscribe to them through iTunes and automatically get the latest "issue" (or whatever they're calling them).

It's pretty cool.  At least, in theory it is.  I've yet to listen to one that I found useful that wasn't just a repackaging of some other radio or television show (like the Ebert & Roeper podcast).

Anyway, I was hoping someone here would have more experience with these things than I do.

[CortJstr]

It's pretty cool.  At least, in theory it is.  I've yet to listen to one that I found useful that wasn't just a repackaging of some other radio or television show (like the Ebert & Roeper podcast).

I thought that was kind of the point. Like the all-news radio station condense everything you need to worry about into a 20-minute mp3 to listen to on the subway.

Although I know originally they were more for extremely tiny online radio stations this newer format seems to be pretty sucessful.

[robot_roll_call]

The only word I hate more than "podcast" is "blogosphere".

[jough]

Yeah, I was going to call them something other than "podcasts" but fuck, that's the term for them that everyone else is using.

[pmcd9]

Pod o sphere.

~Paul

[pmcd9]

I've never actually heard a podcast, but it sounds like a great idea.  Rather than stretch 10 minutes of  material into 15 with padding, take 10 minutes of good material and condense it down to 5 minutes of gold.

~Paul

[robot_roll_call]

You have my approval if you call them "joughcasts".

[starlight]

I actually was baffled about podcasts (I knew they existed, but not how to listen) till last week when I realised I needed to upgrade my iTunes player (I recently got told again to upgrade, speaking of which.. geez) to get the podcasts.

I then listened to a 30+min talk with Twilight Singer's Greg Dulli talking about his new album.  there were clips of the songs played inbetween.  I rather enjoyed it despite its length.

..so yeah, if there were some put up, perhaps I'd tune in now and then.

[slink]

I have listened to a few podcasts, and my highest ranking problem with them is that people seem to tend to sound rather pathetic and... nerdy on them.
So if you can avoid that all will be well.

[jough]

I don't think I can avoid sounding pathetic and nerdy, but I have now learned how to delete pauses (longish ones) and "ums" from my recordings using Audacity so I think I can at least keep my podcasts tight and fast-moving through planning and editing which seems to be the hallmark of good podcasts more than anything.

Also, five to ten minutes seems more than long enough for a one-man podcast.  And other people that I polled about this said that they like podcasts with regular segments, and sometimes will skip to only those segments that they like each week.

I'll see how it goes.  I think I could spend an hour or two a week working on a five minute internet radio show that people could download.

[arkabee]

Yeah, essentially, Adam Curry (the old VJ) coined the term

ahhhhh hahhahhahha, ha.

that explains so much,
about me,
about them,
about life.

[jough]

Yeah, he still wears a satin baseball jacket everywhere he goes.

However, even though Curry is pretty much cheesy, his podcasts are AWESOME.  Well-produced, he's a fuck*ng PRO at riffing off the cuff, and the content is even very good.  You can check them out through the iTunes Music Store (it's free to listen to most podcasts).