rumor mill: iPhone to download podcasts wirelessly

Ho long have I been wanting this? Wishing for this? Rumors are that the iPhone's next software update will include the ability to download podcasts from "the cloud." Niiiice. Only took 18 months, but I won't quibble.

Now, syncing a to-do list with iCal? Helloooo?

Fair Use: Using copyrighted material legally

American University's Center for Social Media recently released a tremendously helpful resource that helps to clear some misconceptions about the concept of fair use of copyrighted materials. There are a lot of people out there that think fair use is any use where they aren't paid... not true! There are a lot of ways a video producer can rely on fair use, and this Code of Best Practices soes a great job of spelling it out. Check it out here.

Best Wifi Hotels

Talk about a great resource for the mobile traveler... I've been surprised to find that sometimes nicer hotels have worse amenities in the WiFi space than cheaper hotels. Now my suspicions and anecdotal experiences have been confirmed by the folks over at Hotel Chatter. Take a look at their 2008 Best WiFi Hotels for more...

Easy Podcast Marketing

Great stuff from Chris Penn... an eight step guide to marketing your podcast.

A sidebar regarding the title... it's funny how some people are staying away from using the term "podcast" while others are doggedly sticking by it. There's no question the technology will be around well into the future as we get more and more adopters, but what might happen is that the name gets subtly changed because of this (silly, in my opinion) fear that the term podcast connotes an amateurish production.

Ok, sidebar over... check out the audio or e-book version of Penn's guide.

How does your iPod's illegal tracks stack up against the average teenager?

The Times of London reports a study regarding the amount of illegal tracks on the typical iPod:

Teenagers and students have an average of more than 800 illegally copied songs each on their digital music players, the largest academic survey of young people's music ownership has found.

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The average digital music player carries 1,770 songs, meaning that 48 per cent of the collection is copied illegally. The proportion of illegally downloaded tracks rises to 61 per cent among 14 to 17-year-olds. In addition, 14 per cent of CDs (one in seven) in a young person's collection are copied.

So, how does your iPod stack up? A quick poll here is definitively "under" but we're a squeaky clean kind of operation...

Podcasting in plain English

Kudos to commoncraft.com:

Podcasting listenership continues to grow

Continued growth in the podcasting sphere... the latest technology poll from Jacobs Media reports an 87% jump in numbers year to year. The survey covered 27,000 respondents, across 69 Rock-formatted stations, so it's not exactly a broad demographic, but a pretty important one. Of those surveyed, nearly one in three people had listened to a podcast before. Lots of room for more growth...

New media ad rates announced

The Association for Downloadable Media announced an industry-wide proposal for advertising standards in podcasting and video podcasts. The highlights, as reported in Podcasting News:

• Insertions - Pre-recorded file provided by sponsor
• Time :10, :15, :30, :1:00
• Location: pre roll, mid roll, post roll
• Frequency: variable by episode or time period
• Audio: 128k stereo/64k mono mp3
• Video: H.264 mp4 Aspect: 4×3 or 16×9 – sd and hd
• Content Participation - sponsors message included in show
• Time: variable from :1 second to full episode
• Location: pre roll mid roll post roll or integrated w/in episode(s)
• Frequency: variable by episode or time period

Check out the ADM website for more. I like the concept of standards here, but as I've been posting lately, podcasters that are in it to make some dineros should probably seek to diversify beyond just ad revenues.

Using New Media to Promote Your Book

Podcasting News has a great story that goes hand in hand with my post from the other day about using podcasting and new media as a way to promote other things you are selling... like your book.

One of Nineball Media's clients has found success in creating an ongoing community that is tied into a book. It's a great way to expand on the concepts and create a launching point for other ideas... different products? a second book? The best part is that the podcast is free content that listeners are excited to receive - not merely a series of advertisements wrapped around some minimal content.

If you're a budding author, think about how you can use new media before, during and after you publish as a companion to what you're writing! With the news that podcasting continues to grow and reach mainstream acceptance, the time to integrate new media into your plans is now.

Will It Blend: a great model for revenue generation from new media

Podcasting News has a terrific article on the Will It Blend phenomenon... using new media as an advertising substitute (although that might not be the right way to look at it).

If you haven't seen the videos, the Blendtec blender company has found a huge earnings jump by showing their product demolish things like soda cans and iPhones. Do yourself a favor and check out what happens when an iPhone is blended. Wow.

Moral of this stor: Think of your podcast or video podcast not as a revenue generator in and of itself... it might be a better awareness raiser for some other business interest: a service you provide or a product you sell. Sure, some podcasters are doing a good job monetizing their shows through ads, but for others this may be your better path if you want to leverage new media into profits.

The latest on LibSyn stats problems

I've long been a proponent of LibSyn as a host for podcast files, and I've generally been happy recommending them to clients. One of these days, they just might get stats right. Here's their latest on the latest in the years-long battle they've been fighting against the lack of scalability of their original system:

We have repaired this mishap as best we can and are moving forward with the work on the next generation stats system which will handle these types of issues in a much better manner. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

This next-gen system apparently will fix the stats issue from the ground up... here's hoping it will succeed (I'm a fan of the LibSyn folks and hope for continued success). One solution in the near term is to store files on LibSyn, but run your RSS feed through Feedburner. Use the Feedburner feed as the one listeners and viewers use to subscribe to your show. Of course, Feedburner isn't immune from issues, but from a stats standpoint, it seems to be a lot more stable than the built in Libsyn option for now.

New Media Expo: Vegas, baby, Vegas

The New Media Expo schedule is official... lots of people were interested in a move from (sleepy?) Ontario, CA to a slightly more uptempo Las Vegas locale. Good thing August 14-16 is a good indoor time in the desert... more quality time with vendors and podcasters in the AC!

PodCamp DC

I'm happy to say we're getting a great group amassing across the river in Arlington, VA for the upcoming PodCamp DC. It will be April 18-20 at the Art Institute of Washington in the Spectrum Theater. Just judging by the list of attendees, this should be a good show if you live or work near the DC area. PodCamps have been really great resources for new and experienced podcasters... check it out here. Oh, and it's totally free!

Podcast host sees profits increasing

Podcasting News reports good news for podcasting host Wizzard Media:

Wizzard Software, the parent company of Liberated Syndication and several podcast hosting services, announced today that revenues for the fourth quarter of 2007 were $1,540,992, a 108% increase over revenues of $739,551 in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Podshow on layoffs: no comment

Adam Curry talks about "the focused strategy and direction PodShow has embarked on" for Daily Source Code 733 but nothing about layoffs. Mark Hopkins at Mashable called around and got this:

I tried contacting three different PodShow offices in search of someone for comment, but the only one that picked up was their San Francisco office. They were aware of the news, and sounded rather irritated that I’d be calling to check up on the rumors, but offered no comment, confirmation or denial on the matter.

We'll likely hear more next week.

Podshow layoffs?

Valleywag is reporting that Podshow's venture capital is apparently not enough to save about 30% of their workforce. Take this one with a few grains of salt... a lot of their reporting (particularly on Yahoo) is way off or overstated. If true, however, this strikes me as a serious indictment of Podshow's growth strategy.

Housecleaning: server transfer/downtime

We'll be having some downtime here at Nineball Media as we shift servers on March 20th (next Thursday as I type this). You might experience some delays in getting in touch with us during that process, but everything should be operational in short order. Thanks!

You don't need a million downloads to be successful

I thought this piece by Kevin Kelly was really interesting... he suggests you can find a great deal of success if you have 1000 "true fans" rather than striving for a million downloads. Good stuff if you are trying to find ways to make a living off of your new media.

MacBook Air: A downside to the ever-shrinking technology

From the latest Newsweek... Gone, Without a Trace

On Sundays in my apartment, the coffee table where the Air sat becomes the final resting place for the bulky New York Times. It is not unusual for other magazines, and newspapers from previous days, to accumulate there as well. My wife, whose clutter tolerance is well below my own, sometimes will swoop in and hastily gather the pulp in a huge stack, going directly to the trash-compactor room just down the hall from our apartment, dumping the pile into a plastic recycling bin.
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As humiliating as it sounds, let me repeat: the MacBook Air is so thin that it got tossed out with the newspapers.

Yikes. For the record, my girlfriend has a MacBook Air, and I can totally see something like this happening...

Podcasts and music: law and licensing issues

Form time to time I like to sprinkle in a bit of the law here on the blog (which is only a slight hat tip to my other life as an honest-to-goodness lawyer). I only do it when we need to, and only when I stumble upon good stuff like this great resource... last summer's Podcast & new Media Expo panel on music licensing. One of the panelists is Colette Vogele, an expert on IP law in this area (and author of the Podcasting Legal Guide... an indispensable resource).

It covers the four different types of licenses and a primer on copyright law. Check it out here.