A Podcasting Blog from Podcasting Tools - Daily Podcasting News and Information for Podcasters and Listeners.

Daily Podcasting Blog and news related to podcasting, RSS, podcast news and aggregation. Information related to podcasts are added on a daily business and cover the gamut, from new podcast product announcements, podcast directories, marketing for podcasters and much, much more.

07/31/2005 Podcasting helps Times 'tell stories in new ways' When Seth Gitner and Tad Dickens of The Roanoke Times sat down in March to talk with a local musician for their first podcast on Roanoke.com, fewer than 10 newspapers around the country had ventured into the emerging venue. Now, there are about 15, according to lists on cyberjournalist.net, a site that focuses on ways the Internet and converging technologies are changing the media. Podcasts don't generate profits - yet - but those newspapers intend to be poised when they do. "Every day, more and more people turn to the Internet to get news and information, and The Roanoke Times plans to continue to meet those new demands," said Editor Mike Riley. Gitner, the newspaper's multimedia editor, said that first podcast turned out better than expected. The show's guest, Roanoke musician Cyrus Pace, played a few guitar licks in the makeshift studio that had been set up in the newsroom and "it turned out great." That first interview was set up to be an experiment aimed at eventually promoting the newspaper's weekly tabloid Inside Out, aimed at younger audiences. But the show turned out good enough to be posted online at Roanoke.com.

07/29/2005 FOX Introduces "FOXCASTS" on July 28 To enrich the television experience for fans and offer on-demand audio programming, Fox Broadcasting Company is now providing podcasts of episode recaps for all its series. These "FOXCASTS" enable viewers to download audio recaps of their favorite shows to their MP3 player or listen to them on their computer anywhere, anytime. Beginning today, a centralized web page containing every FOXCAST will be accessible from FOX.com as well as each show's individual website. Additionally, FOX will offer RSS feed subscription options, which means that users can have the podcasts automatically downloaded to the player of their choice each time a new one becomes available. "It's important to take advantage of every avenue available and talk directly to our audience," said Carolyn Gray, Vice President of New Media at FOX. "Podcasts are an emerging and important platform, and we want to be at the forefront of their application to our young and first adopter viewers." FOX will also take the innovative technology one step further and offer DVD-style content on select shows. This will give fans access to exclusive cast interviews, special event coverage and custom audio programs. The debut of this content will coincide with the premiere of PRISON BREAK Monday, Aug. 29 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). Additionally, recaps of entire seasons of select shows such as 24 and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, premiering Monday, Sept. 19 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT), will be built into podcast packages that can be downloaded prior to season premieres.

07/28/2005 Free File Hosting for Podcasters Switchpod is providing a free solution for hosting your podcasts.bscriber receives a personal folder on the SwitchPod servers to store content. Podcasts can be in various audio formats the bandwith will be unmetered. How are they making money? They put small advertisements* along with your podcast that your listeners will recieve. If you don't want ads, upgrade today for only $6 in your control panel.

07/26/2005 RSS and Podcasting Recognized As Best Internet Communication Tool FeedForAll, a tool designed to create podcasts and RSS feeds was nominated with big names Skype and Trillian for the best Internet Communication Tool for 2005.  And FeedForAll took home the prize! The recognition and momentum behind RSS and podcasting pushed FeedForAll into the forefront with the most votes.  FeedForAll emerged as the overall winner collecting the largest number of votes in the Internet Communication category. Additional Details - FeedForAll Walks Away a Winner

07/26/2005 Podcasting Staying at ABC The head of the ABC's podcasting trial says the service is here to stay. The public broadcaster's trial, which commenced in May and offers 16 ABC radio programs for download, has been a spectacular success, says Radio National Program Director and podcasting guru Gordon Taylor. He's ready to declare the trial over. "We quickly realised it's the future. It's a permanent service now," Taylor told CNET Australia. "It was just such a success we didn't need to keep trialling it. We've come to realise that a large part of the future of the radio lies in podcasting." Complete Article

07/26/2005 Paid Podcasts aka Infomercials follow on the Heals of Paid Blogs As a blogger, is it ethical to take money to endorse a company? Even with total transparency, is something unique to blogging lost when you do? On July 27, Janet Johnson, Vice President of Communications at Marqui, will speak at a conference at Simon Fraser University on the marketing idea that eight months ago snagged the attention of both the blogging and business worlds. In December, 2004, Marqui partnered with experienced blogger Mark Canter to launch the “paid-blogger program.” Bloggers wrote about the company twice a month using information and links to Marqui, and bloggers added Marqui’s linked emblem to their home page. In exchange, the blogger received US $800 a month for the three-month period. Marqui supplied bloggers with content that includes weekly stories about the company and its clients, which bloggers were then free to ignore. Complete Article

07/26/2005 Podcasting meets politics. Lawmakers, now playing on your iPod It's like C-SPAN for your iPod. A growing number of lawmakers are offering their speeches, news conferences and radio addresses to the millions of Americans who own digital audio players such as Apple's iPod. House Democrats have now joined the "podcast" bandwagon, releasing half a dozen audio files on both their Web site, HouseDemocrats.gov, and at Apple's popular iTunes online music store. There is a free, downloadable file of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Calif., blasting the GOP's energy bill. In another, Rep. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, complains that the Bush administration is shortchanging security programs for public transit. Complete Article

07/26/2005 Podcasting Changing the Face of Politics First, it was blogs. Then, it was Meetup.com. Now, the newest technology to combine the Internet and politics is slowly starting to creep into the mainstream: podcasting. "I'm pretty sure whether it's 2006 or 2008, we're going to be hearing as much about podcasting and video blogging as we heard about blogs helping (former New Hampshire Gov. Howard) Dean in 2003," Joe Trippi, former presidential candidate Howard Dean's campaign manager, told United Press International. Complete Article

07/25/2005 Is Apple Alienating Independent Music Podcasters? Even though most podcasts only take 48 hours to appear, many music podcasters are finding themselves left out in the cold.Despite the widespread proliferation of podcasts through Apple"s new iTunes version 4.9, it appears music podcasters that legally distribute independent music are being left behind and effectively locked out of the iTunes podcast directory, which is fast becoming the primary vehicle to find podcasts. The Association of Music Podcasting (AMP) represents the largest podcasting content group in the world, with forty three members. As of this release, three weeks after the delivery of the latest version of iTunes, thirty four AMP podcast feeds remained unlisted in the iTunes directory. These podcasts were subsequently either listed in the iPodder.org directory that served as the initial basis for the iTunes client ,or were submitted within twenty-four hours of the iTunes release.  It appears Apple has placed procedural obstacles for many older, established podcasts to quickly enter its iTunes directory. Despite that brand new podcast submissions appear to be taking a reasonable amount of processing time (approximately 48 hours), many legacy podcasters have waited weeks without a presence on iTunes. Moreover, podcasts taken from the original iPodder.org listing are barred from resubmission, with no available option to resolve the issue of podcasts "on hold." "It"s frustrating," says Chris MacDonald, owner of IndieFeed Podcasts, founding member and Director of Legal Affairs at AMP. "We"ve been podcasting since mid September of 2004, when this thing really got started. I have thousands and thousands of listeners; yet our fans can"t migrate to iTunes easily. We are losing loyal listeners who aren"t technically savvy or who choose not to run two podcast aggregators at a time. It"s silly to suggest Apple can"t add those feeds to their directory in a reasonable amount of time. It"s also odd that my non-music feeds, which were provided to Apple at the same time, migrated to the iTunes directory in only two days." "Corporations are looking to take advantage of the roadwork that the existing podcasting community has created via an unfettered, open-choice format," says Derrick Oien, President of AMP. Oien is one of the earliest legal music podcasters, going back to the fall of 2004. His show is among many not yet listed in the iTunes directory. Oien adds, "It appears that Apple is more concerned with molding the community to their immediate commercial needs than with embracing this open community and adhering to an effective long term strategy. We have witnessed the early evolution of podcasting at a break-neck pace; partly because podcasting"s open format rapidly adapts to fit the needs of the community at large. Successful corporations will embrace rather than attempt to control this phenomenon. AMP continues to rapidly amass a large and dedicated collective audience, and we are working with people and organizations that approach podcasting in the spirit in which it was conceived. We look forward to working with them. At some point we expect that the support we receive daily from listeners and artists will get Apple's attention."

07/25/2005 Podcast.com for $ 250,000 ! Podcaster Allan Hunkin is seeking $250,000 USD for the domain name podcasts.com. Hunkin is selling the domain to concentrate on his core business, SuccessTALK Channels. He also hopes to sell another domain, MyPodcasts.com, for $75,000.

07/25/2005 Godcasts' booming across the Internet Behold the Godcaster, spreading religion and spirituality, one iPod at a time. Godcasts, religious and spiritually themed podcasts, have been fruitful and multiplied, becoming the most popular use of the new online technology since it debuted less than a year ago. Searches for "Godcast" and "pod preachers" increased 355 percent in just one month this spring, according to the Internet search engine Lycos, on par with searches for the super model Naomi Campbell and the television show "ER." For a listing of popular GodCasts check the Spiritual Podcasts on RSS Network

07/25/2005 Apple Plants a Seed to Help Raise Podcasting The most useful part about iTunes' newfound embrace of podcasting, however, may not be what it does to simplify tuning in, but how it presents the breadth of podcasts available. The most promising part about the podcast business is that, unlike radio, it has infinite room for anybody; there isn't a fixed set of channels that can be bought up by the big media conglomerates. Podcasting may be a mess, but at least it's a mess that everybody has the same access to. Complete Article

07/22/2005 BX Radio Network is Looking to for Podcasters Podcasters unite, BX Internet and Lockergnome's own Matt Hartley have teamed up to form the BX Radio Network. The BX Radio Network interested in broadcasting your Podcast to new listeners. Dubbing themselves as the next big thing in Podcasting, the BX Radio Network is actively seeking Podcasters interested in bringing their show to a live Internet audience. Selected Podcasts will be prerecorded and then submitted on a regular schedule to the BX Radio Network under the 'Cool Cast Radio' brand. Approved programing will then be streamed live via the Internet to listeners interested in discovering new Podcast-based programing. Unlike other Internet radio brands that simply offer their listeners canned in-house radio talk radio shows, the BX Radio Network believes that there is more than enough amazing Podcast content on the Web for listeners seeking a more engaging, independent talk radio environment. Working with Podcasters from all over the world, the BX Radio Network will empower audio content creators with the ability to offer their work to a brand new audience. Advantages for all participating Podcasters will include: the opportunity for joint promotion, networking with other content providers, and getting their own show exposed to an audience that they would normally never be able to reach thanks in part to a typical show's promotional challenges. Interested Podcasters need to contact the BX Radio Network as soon as possible. Submission schedules and other details will be discussed upon the Podcaster's acceptance into the Cool Cast Radio lineup. BX Radio Network 103 Francisco de Avando Socorro, NM 87801 Phone: 505.835.8967 Toll Free: 877.893.2662

07/22/2005 License Fees for Podcasting Music BUMA/STEMRA, the Dutch collection organization for composers, lyricists and music publishers, has come up with licensing rates for podcasting. The license structure looks much like that for webcasting, of which the organization thinks podcasting is a comparable form. Commercial podcasters will have to pay a minimum of 85 euros (about $103 at the time of writing), and amateurs can get a license for 35 euros (about $42) per month for an unlimited number of podcasts. The rate for amateurs seems rather high, though, coming to 420 euros (about $509) per year. And other collection organizations might set their own, additional rates. Details for Licensing

07/21/2005 Pay Per Podcast E-payment service to allow charge for podcasts Click&Buy, a Manhattan-based e-payment service for digital content, will announce on Monday a plan to launch software allowing podcasters to sell content for a small fee. Most podcasts are free to download today, but the company is betting that media companies or small Web publishers will take advantage of the revenue opportunity and eventually start charging consumers for digital content, said Fabian Siegel, Click&Buy’s president.

07/21/2005 Where's The Profit In Podcasting? The medium is growing exponetially, but profits are elusive. Depending on whom you believe, by 2010 as many as 57 million Americans will be listening to podcasts -- audio files downloaded onto a PC or portable listening device. Thats almost one of every five people in the country, and a jump from about 6 million people today. Sound like a lot? The media hype surrounding podcasting, which barely existed 18 months ago, is approaching the dizzying heights once reserved for home delivery of pet food and other dot-com pipe dreams, but one thing is certain: Many of the podcasts available today are free, which begs the question, can anyone ever make money off them? Complete Article

07/20/2005 Is Google Developing A Podcast Search? With the popularity of podcasting continuing to climb, a few, perhaps smaller search service providers have integrated the ability to search out the audio files, and it looks like the big guns are considering it as well. It certainly looks as if Google is eyeing podcasts as being the next member of their massive search index.

07/20/2005 Podcasts demystify for-sale-by-owner market A for-sale-by-owner real estate site is joining the podcast party, offering podcasts for the FSBO industry starting this week. ByOwner.com, a site where owners can list their homes for sale, has FSBO-related podcasts available for download. The site soft-launched today. Podcasts are audio files, usually MP3s, in talk-show format, that can be downloaded to any portable MP3 player, such as an iPod, or personal computer. Complete Article

07/19/2005 PirateWeather.com PirateWeather.com has added podcasts for every zip code in the US. The podcasts feature a short forecast "read" by a text-to-speech program. You can get your local podcast by using a URL like this: www.pirateweather.com/weather/podcast/YOURZIPCODE Make sure you replace YOURZIPCODE in the URL with your zip code.

07/19/2005 Podcasters at Mike Everyone from Disney to Newsweek to National Public Radio is now offering podcasts, and Apple Computer Inc. last month made it a whole lot easier to find them and download them to iPods. While profits remain elusive, there's a bigger prize out there -- the company that manages to become the go-to Web site for podcasts could gain enough leverage to strike favorable deals with proven content providers, and generate cash by charging for subscriptions and advertising. Complete Article

07/19/2005 Apple Celebrates 500 Million Downloads Through The iTunes Service We already knew that Apple has really hit the jackpot with its iPod and iTunes Music Store, the combination of these two being one of the most successful products the company has ever launched. And this success is confirmed once again, because Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than half a billion songs from the iTunes Music Store.

07/19/2005 Podcast Awards Voting Open Nominations are in and voting has begun for the 2005 Annual podcast awards. Vote now in your favoriate categories for your favorite podcasts! Voting ends July 31, 2005 so don't delay!

07/14/2005 Podcasting: Can This New Medium Make Money? Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh and his nemesis, Al Franken, are podcasting. As are ESPN, former MTV video jockey Adam Curry and thousands of others. Podcasting, a way to broadcast audio over the Internet, has become the latest web movement to get everyone's attention. Complete Article

07/14/2005 Disneyland Podcast Beginning 15 July, Disneyland Resort will "podcast" three days of memorable festivities leading to the actual 50th anniversary of Disneyland on 17 July. This unique Internet-based show is free and will be accessible to a global audience at: http://www.disneyland.com/podcast.

07/13/2005 Sirius Joining Podcast Craze Beginning later this month, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. will launch its first “podcast” talk show. The “do it yourself” program will become a daily feature on the network which is countering last week’s Infinity Broadcasting announcement to convert a San Francisco talk station into an all-podcast format.

07/13/2005 WeightCasters WeightCasters.com, a new podcast site, provides users with free weight loss, fitness, and motivational tips that they can download directly onto their iPod or MP3 players. Users can subscribe to podcast playlists, which are made up of informative audio tips that can be accessed at any time through any form of standard media or MP3 player. The Podcasts include tips from health professionals about weight loss, fitness, nutrition and healthy cooking.

07/13/2005 Pitching a VC via podcast Matt Marshall and John Boudreau of the San Jose Mercury News point out that New York VC Fred Wilson is experimenting with podcasts as a way of reaching out to fledgling entrepreneurs: "He's soliciting entrepreneurs to send him their company pitches on a recorded audio file, which he downloads for later listening on a bike ride. Complete Article

07/11/2005 New Podcasting Search GetAPodcast is a new podcast search engine with instant inclusion. To submit your podcast enter it here.

07/07/2005 According to BBC - Podcasting Growth Due to Explode Market researchers and analysts continue to buoy up podcasting's future with latest figures suggesting a US audience alone of 56 million by 2010. Complete Article

07/06/2005 PodcastSPOTS Paid Podcast Content The new PodcastSPOTS model lets a podcaster and musician share in the revenue from advertising. With PodcastSPOTS’ proprietary insertion system, ads surround artists’ songs when included in a podcast. Additionally, the site lets artists and podcasters work out other deals. For instance, a songwriter can earn money from commercial-free downloads of their songs and pay the podcaster that aired their song, all, some, or none of that revenue. Alternately, a podcaster could pay an artist for the right to play their song in their podcasts. There’s even a rating system that helps podcasters and listeners find the most-liked music.

07/05/2005 Text to Speech Podcasting! We have recently begun playing around with NextUp's TextAloud software. The software allows you to paste or type in text, and the text can then be saved as an MP3 or wave file. This means that you can take existing content and turn it into an audio podcast in seconds! To demonstrate I've created a small podcast feed containing a few of the RSS articles in the RSS Article Directory. Eventually all of the articles will be available via podcast. The created podcast uses a synthesized voice, but the quality is really quite good. Check out the new RSS Podcast.

07/05/2005 Teen Killed for iPod Two teenagers were under arrest Sunday on suspicion of killing another teen for his iPod portable music player, police said. The boys were facing charges of murder, robbery and weapons possession in the death of 15-year-old Christopher Rose, police said. Rose and three friends were accosted by a group of young men Saturday evening in Brooklyn, police said. Members of the group demanded Rose's iPod and stabbed him twice in the chest when he resisted. The group fled, taking Rose's iPod and a backpack, police said. Complete Story

07/04/2005 Virigin Atlantic Travel NYC Feed Virgin Atlantic has announced a series of podcast guides for travellers. The first podcast series is for travellers to New York. The podcasts take a look at top restaurants, an insider's guide to shopping, a guide to the quirky side of the city and the 10 best things to do for the first-time visitor. Subscribe to the Virgin Atlantic NY Tour Feed

07/04/2005 Podcast Offers On-Demand Audio Forecasts for Kansas City Local meteorologist offers his forecasts in the rapidly growing medium of podcasting. One of the few locally-centered podcasts on the internet has a home here in Kansas City. The Kansas City Weather Podcast started in February and continues to grow rapidly in popularity. Former Kansas City broadcast meteorologist Ed Roberts brings his listeners weather forecasts for the Kansas City area every day. Ed's forecasts continue to be some of the best in the city, and have many turning to his podcast as their only source for weather forecasts.

07/02/2005 Purina Dips Paw into Podcasting As for the podcasting, Moore said the initiative was born of the enthusiasm of the interactive marketing team, as well as the availability of audio content -- an "Ask the Vet" program the company had long produced for a local St. Louis radio station. Complete Article