EGC Clambake Episode for Dec 18, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC clambake for December 18, 2004.

I talk about my sponsorship and how Kristopher Smith was inexplicably surprised by this; I expound on my belief that people worry too much about “selling out”; I relate the tale of my trip out to see the Siderunners and play another of their songs; I talk a little bit about why I’m in Chicago and how hard it can be to leave my new home to come up here; I talk about Jason Loveall and his fight against the man with his fiddle; I play two of his songs and say goodnight.

This episode is sponsored in part by the fine folks at iPodderX!

Links mentioned in this episode:

EGC Clambake Episode for Dec 16, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC clambake for December 16, 2004.

I talk about my itinerary of freezing my ass all over the country; I proudly kick off our sponsorship by iPodderX; I talk about the time spent on topics and the slow distributed conversations spread throughout the podosphere; I cover a little more on the civility issue and how that relates to a background as a DIY punk; I play a song by the Siderunners (who I hope to see in Chicago); I giggle along with a funny Michael Butler clip from the Rock and Roll Geek show; and what the hell, I play more Siderunners.

This episode is sponsored in part by the fine folks at iPodderX!

Links mentioned in this episode:

EGC Clambake Episode for Dec 13, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC clambake for December 13, 2004.

I talk about my appearance on Script School Radio; I wonder what Tony Kahn said about me at Internet and Society Thing at Harvard last weekend and ask if anyone has the audio from his session; I play a song by Don Tiki from the Two Zombies Later CD

Links mentioned in this episode:

Update: thanks to those of you who pointed out the direct MP3 link was broken. It is now fixed.

EGC Clambake Episode for Dec 8, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC episode for December 8, 2004.

I talk about my capturing of internet streamed radio and play a choice nugget of wacky Cajun music; I discuss the ongoing dialog with Tony Kahn and dealing with the anger within with a interlude on why I don’t consider that I “rant” in here; I play a song by Dead Meadow; I discuss band websites and why MP3s should have the ID3 tags filled out; and I play a song by DQE.

Links mentioned in this episode:

EGC Clambake Episode for Dec 6, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC episode for December 6, 2004.

I discuss my fears of what happens when I put out so few episodes; I play a song from Paul Melancon; I don’t want to be used as the negative example in any more episodes of How to Really Speak Spanish; I talk about the ongong dialogue with Tony Kahn; I tell a story about interviewing legendary comic book artist Joe Kubert; I play another song from Paul Melancon; and I talk about bit rates, sampling rates and file sizes.

Links mentioned in this episode:

EGC Episode for Dec 2, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC episode for December 2, 2004.

I talk about some resuts of my Bittorrent experiment with statistics; I play a song from Spoon; I talk about the search for relevance, connection and being challenged to use podcasting in positive productivity and not in anger.

Links mentioned in this episode:

EGC Episode for Nov 30, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC episode for November 30, 2004.

I talk about why it has been a week since the last episode; I tell the story of Tony Kahn’s story about his father and an email from him; more about Butler and the Rock n Roll Geek Show and Alice Cooper; I note that Michael Geoghegan is the perfect critic for me; I play Nicole Simon’s piece about my foul mouth; I play a song from the fantabulous Gentle Readers; I talk about the IT Conversations business model discussion; I play a great newish song from Brad Sucks.

Links mentioned in this episode:

EGC Episode for Nov 23, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC episode for November 23, 2004.

I talk about why I’m dropping the term “audioblog” as relates to our clambake here; talk about Ross Rader and his interview with Bret Fausett who is trying to get his podcast licensed under webcast rules; I say why I don’t like that and why I think big media machine music is leaving me in the cold; I encourage people to podcast in their own, authentic voices; I play a great newish song from Brad Sucks; I talk more about the grand Bittorrent experiment; I play a song by DQE and tell a one degree of separation story between me and the head of their record label.

I made a false statement in here, in the heat of passion. I say that “no one has asked me anything about Bittorrent in podcasting.” That’s not true, a few people have. I was thinking of some specific people who are exploring it and haven’t, but after I finished the episode I remembered a few who have asked for and received my input. Sorry guys, didn’t mean to diss you.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audioblog for Nov 20, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for November 20, 2004.

I talk more about the ever-more-tangible Myrtle Beach blogger shindig; play a little snippet of Eric Rice and discuss a little about his Stanford Bloggercon wrapup; talk more about the results of the Bittorrent switch experiment; and I play a song by Sonia Tetlow.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audioblog for Nov 17, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for November 17, 2004.

I talk about autumn in Conway SC; play a song by Twin Six; talk about the feedback to my “southern voices” and encouraging people to sound like themselves; I discuss the possibility of the Myrtle Beach blogger shindig;
play a song by the Siderunners; talk about the results of the Bittorrent switch experiment; play a song by Astroslut; mention the improvement of iPodderX; and discuss the new Voices in Your Head episode.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audioblog for Nov 14, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for November 14, 2004. Yes, that’s a few days ago. I recorded this Sunday morning but just got it posted now. Life is very lifelike lately.

I talk about Voices in Your Head and how it is different from the radio show; Warren Ellis is interested in podcasting and I fear for us; I play a clip from SPXDS and talk about southern accents with a veer into anger at the stereotyping of southerners; I play a clip from the Gillmor Gang and note the irony of skepticism about the business model of podcasting coming from the heart of a podcast; I play a song by the Gentle Readers (different than the theme, my absolute favorite song of theirs).

It should be noted that I seemed to be pretty angry about a lot of stuff when I recorded this episode. I almost certainly misidentified several of the voices in the Gillmor Gang piece, and almost certainly overreacted to some extent. Such is the nature of recording a “soliliquy.” If I had a co-host, they’d call shit on my game immediately and rein me in rather than letting me cringe afterwards. I do think the “If this was true, we’d be making money hand over fist on broadcasts on CB radio” is one of the most spectacularly dumb things I’ve yet heard said about podcasting. Also, I was making the assumption that Warren Ellis was interested in producing podcasts – from email he tells me that isn’t on the agenda but that he wants to hear them. Que sera. If and when he gets in this game, I want to hear the crazed shit he comes up with. So there you go, a show full of misplaced anger and factual slipups. I’m ready to go into professional talk radio!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audioblog for Nov 11, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for November 11, 2004.

I talk about the Gentle Readers giving me permission to use the theme music; I do my rundown of Bloggercon and quote some other audioblogs; I play a song by Sonia Tetlow.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audioblog for Nov 7, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for November 7, 2004. It was recorded in the Charlotte airport as I changed planes to go home.

I talk about the evening after Bloggercon and the various luminaries I got to meet; I beg my listeners to tell me your names when you meet me; I play a song by DQE.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audioblog for Nov 6, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for November 6, 2004. It was recorded the morning before Bloggercon and is just now getting posted (although it’s been on the Bittorrent feed for days though, hint hint). Getting this writeup written was the slow step that I just couldn’t get to.

I talk about the meet and greet dinner the previous evening; I talk about how I’m planning to tape spontaneous interviews with people (which never happened – I never unpacked it); and wonder if I am becoming a cheap bastard. It’s a pretty short episode for me.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Swapping Directions

I am strongly considering swapping the roles of Bittorrent and the direct MP3 downloads in my RSS feeds. Currently, the MP3 downloads are the enclosures in my main feed and you need a special feed for the Bittorrent enclosures. I’m thinking about switching that, so that the main feed has the Bittorrent enclosures. If that doesn’t work for you, then you’d need to switch over to the special MP3 download feed.

Right now, the vast majority of podcatching clients that are downloading the MP3s could in fact be using Bittorrent. They are BT enabled iPodder variants. The only reason most people are subscribed to the main feed is because that is the first one I publicized and the one that ended up in the directories. In fact, if (when) I do this switch I think many many people will just end up getting the files and not even know anything has happened. If 80% of the people downloading the MP3s were using Bittorrent, there would be an incredible overlap and lots of concurrent peers in that period right after I publish. I think it would work very very well.

I’m looking for feedback on this. Does anyone have a big problem with this? The worst case is that you have to unsubscribe from one URL and resubscribe to a different one. If I do this, the last thing I podcast before switching will be a short announcement saying what is happening that will be a direct MP3 download. I want to avoid breaking subscribers feeds such that they just stop getting it and never know why. Talk to me, friends. What do you think about this?

Audioblog for Nov 3, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for November 3, 2004. I talk about the election a little and how it affected Patrick Nielsen Hayden; talk about the confluence of crap making my life miserable; play some listener feedback about the John C. Dvorak article; talk about the cessation of hostilities between myself and the forces of WebTalkRadio; and I play a cheering up song from Nathan Sheppard.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Happy Halloween

The city of Conway decreed that trick or treating would occur last night, and so it did. I decided to wear my wrestler outfit – tights, boots and a Champion tank top – while I was handing out candy. D convinced me not to wear the luchadore mask because it would frighten the kids. Out of nowhere, she decided to dress up in the Pocahantas costume that she bought years ago but never wore. It was great! One little girl was also dressed similar, and spent a minute or two talking about the ins and outs of their different costumes.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. Because of our position near a main road but off it a little, we got a fraction of the traffic that was going on 50 feet away. As is typical, I way overbought on the candy. We’ll try to remember this lesson for next year and scale appropriately. We were led astray by predictions from the neighbor across the street, whose big house actually has a front door on the busy street even though their driveway is across from ours. Live and learn, we’ll know better. I had a hoot dressing up and hopefully we’ll do it again next year.

Audioblog for Oct 30, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for October 30, 2004. I talk about life in a small town and “fitting in”; I talk a little more about Jaime Hernandez and Robert Rodriguez and play audio clips from each; and I play a Le Tigre song from the Wired CD.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audioblog for Oct 26, 2004

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the audioblog for October 26, 2004. I talk about music permissions and Creative Commons; I play a song by Chuck D from the Wired CD and an excerpt from a Spanish language podcast; talk about Jaime Hernandez and Robert Rodriguez (who I suggest as a spiritual father of podcasting); and now that I’ve got permission from the label and the band, I play my favorite song by DQE.

Bonus game for this episode – count the occurrences of the words “awesome” and “cool”, of which there are many apiece.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Audacity is Bugging Me

I don’t know why it is doing this, but my last few audioblogs have all been encoded at 22 kHz sampling rates. Each of the individual tracks are 44 kHz, the project is set to 44 kHz, and the bit rate is 64 kpbs. When I encode it to MP3 with Audacity, it shows up as 22 kHz. From everything I can see in the docs, the project setting is what controls this. If I have it set at 44, that’s what the MP3 is. I tried setting the project to 48, but it still encoded at 22 kHz. This is really really annoying, and I can’t figure out why it is happening. If I export to to WAV, it stays sampled correctly. I tried exporting to WAV and then using command line lame to encode to MP3 and it sounded really funny and flangy. Audacity is using lame anyway, so somehow it is using settings that are better but I don’t know what those are.

Does anyone know of a workaround for this pain in the ass problem?