iTunes Congratulations

One of my very favorite clients (ok, they're all my co-equal favorite) has broken through on the iTunes directory... Hip Tranquil Chick is currently featured in the iTunes Self Help section, and is also rated #4 at the time of this post. To see Hip Tranquil Chick make its way into the top ten is a real thrill, and a great accomplishment for Kimberly and her show. Congratulations!

Many people ask me what it takes to make the top ten on iTunes. The honest answer is consistent, good programming... barring a contact with the good people in Cupertino, I suppose. My first podcast, Supreme Court Watch, was featured and ranked in the top ten political podcasts for most of its run, but that was a different time (all the way back to 2005!) with far less big media competition.

The great advantage to a podcast that is featured on iTunes is exposure. Massive exposure. Once a podcast achieves top ten in any given category, it seems to stay there so long as new shows keep coming. The top ten list apparently (although not officially) measures new iTunes subscriptions... so, people browsing the iTunes directory tend to see those shows first. This leads to more new subscribers for the featured shows, which can cement the show as a fixture in the top ten. Getting featured on iTunes is huge.

So, bottom line... focus on quality and regularity. The ratings and accolades will follow!

iPhony

The desire to have something...anything to get one closer to having an iPhone just went to the bizarre. Palm OS smartphone owners were given the opportunty to slap an iPhone interface on their soon-to-be-recycled phones. Dubbed the iPhony, this was an interesting way of slapping a dress on a pig (my apologies to all pigs for that dismissive remark). Of course Apple shut down the iPhony in about 27 nanoseconds given that the graphics were likely thieved directly from Apple's home page.

Barring any new revelations on the iPhone's podcasting support, let me categorically state that there will be no more posts on it here... the iPhony means the iPhone has officially jumped the shark... for now at least.

Microsoft and the Zune

With all the iPhone talk, maybe it's time to look up to suburban Seattle and see what's up with Microsoft. Their latest entry into the mp3 player field is the Zune. Sadly, the Zune has no real podcasting component because the software that works with it doesn't have a viable podcatcher incorporated within it. This from the alleged #2 player on the market? Luckily we've learned from Paul Colligan's blog something's on the way from Microsoft... apparently they are "working on it." Good news for podcasters... anything that makes it easier to get podcasts on any device (iPhone over the air... Zune, um, like at all) is a step in the right direction.

iPhone fallout

Well, it's confirmed... amidst the massive onslaught of MSM attention given to the iPhone on this day after the Apple (no longer Apple Computer!) MacWorld keynote we learned that the iPhone will not have any over the air iTunes Store downloads. I think that's a bit of a shortcoming of an otherwise amazing device, and it's a particular bummer (technical term) for podcasters because the tantalizing prospect of an expanded audience access point is toast.

For now.

Why just for now? Well, two things... first, I am not sure Apple will keep iTunes out of the wireless download business forever. I suspect this exclusive deal with Cingular may be just the start, and it is Cingular that has possibly hobbled the iTunes wireless download feature so it doesn't compete with its own music store. Once Apple can move out of the exclusive agreement, they'll probably have more leverage.

Second, think about widgets for a second. If Apple is going to open up widget development for the iPhone Mac OS X like it did for the desktop/laptop OS X, then it's entirely possible that a far-smarter-than-me person might be able to develop a widget that taps into the Internet connection to create some kind of podcatcher? Hmmmmm.... now THAT would be a cool workaround. To be continued...

iPhone... wow

Look at this gentleman here... (I'm quoting Say Anything for a reason that is not clear to me at the moment... my apologies).

Everything I said previously about the new iPhone's podcast functionality is off-base as I understand Jobs noted that the iTunes Store would not be accessible over the air. That being said, the iPhone is still part iPod and podcasts will be heard on this little number starting June 2007. Wide screen... touch screen... switches automatically from landscape to portrait and back when you turn the phone sideways or vertical... this is quite a device.

Needless to say, my Treo's days are numbered. I've always been a huge fan of Apple's products, so it looks like they'll be picking another several hundred dollars out of my pocket for the iPhone. I'll be listening to podcasts on this by summer... very nice.

guest waivers

One of the informative sections in the Podcasting Legal Guide has to do with consent to have one's voice recorded for a podcast. Colette Vogele, the attorney who wrote the guide, is now working on a collaborative effort to set up a site with some boilerplate waiver language. The site has placeholder information for now:

We are working on a number of informational offerings to the podcasting community and rest assured we’ll do our best to keep you up to speed. Right now our focus is on getting a basic podcast guest waiver (created by Colette) up on the site.

I don't think podcasters should view this as a magic talisman to ward off potential legal issues... it's the danger of relying solely on legal forms... I do believe this will prove to be a valuable resource. If it launches, as promised, into a registration service where the guest can click their assent online, all the better. Very cool.

the 4th screen

The internets are all atwitter about tomorrow's big MacWorld keynote from Steve "boom!" Jobs. The worst kept secret in Cupertino is the announcement of an Apple branded cellular phone. What intrigues me from a podcasting perspective is that this little device... the MacPhone... the iMobile... the iBoom!... whatever... will likely allow one to download content straight out of the air. If one of the rumors is correct, the phone will be as much a mini computer running some version of Mac OS X on it with iTunes. Podcasters suddenly have another option to get their shows out there... consider the roadtripper who is tired of his playlists and wouldn't dare hit up talk radio unless on a dare. At the next rest stop, our intrepid traveler surfs his phone for a podcast or two for the next 150 miles. No wires... no desktops... simply put, the future.

Boom!

macworld and podcasting

After this clever bit of youtube video, I suspect we won't be hearing Steve Jobs say "boom" even once at next week's MacWorld keynote. We will, however, hear a lot more about podcasting. Garageband is rumored to be getting some additional podcasting features... we'll almost certainly see some expanded features, but it would be nice to see even tighter integration with a far improved iWeb interface. I haven't typically suggested that my clients use Garageband yet, but it's mainly because most of them work off Windows XP. Look for my thoughts on Steve's announcements sometime Tuesday night.

Boom!

Sound improvement

Virtually every podcast client I have asks for tips on how to improve sound quality. There are a lot of different ways to achieve this, from voice technique to hardware to software... from time to time, I'll throw out some tips in the blog to help your podcast sound better. My tip for this week is an amazing piece of (free!) software called Levelator by Gigavox Media. It does a very nice job of evening out loud voices to soft voices in a podcast. If your show includes interviews or a roundtable format, you probably notice that most of the voices come in at different levels, creating a bit of listener fatigue (especially when Mr. Loud Voice chimes in right after Mr. Low Talker). If you do not have a hardware compressor to even out the levels during recording (few do), this software can help in post-production. The best part is that the interface is a simple drag and drop, and it's available for both Mac OS X and Windows. I'm just beginning to fool around with it a bit, but so far it's performed beyond my initial expectations.

Check it out...