Why Apple Needs to Fix Its Podcast Problem

Apple treats podcasting like an unwanted stepchild. 

I think this is a huge missed opportunity for Apple — and for audio and video content creators.

Here’s what Apple is doing wrong, and how they could do it right. 

Read the rest of this post »

A Deal That Will Bring Music To Your Ears [Deals]

The latest Cult of Mac Deals offer is natural fit for your audio needs – on more ways than one.

The Clarity Series CW31 In-Ear Wooden Heaphones are truly the “natural” way to listen. These eco-friendly headphones feature rich, natural sound with housing to match. The best of premium technology and long-lasting natural elements…and they can be yours for just $24 for a limited time.

Read the rest of this post »

How Apple’s Podcasts App Hints at the Future of All Content

Apple quietly released an app called Podcasts this week. The app enables the discovery, organization and playing of podcasts on an iPhone.

In the past, users listened to podcasts in the Music app by default. The next version of iOS will apparently come with a Music app that doesn’t support podcasts.

Podcasts are currently monetized using the advertising model. Nearly all podcasts are free, but those podcasts that make money do so through advertising.

Here’s a typical podcast app spoken during the show: “This podcast is brought to you buy Audible.com! For a free audio book of your choice, including audio books by David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, John Hodgeman, go to Audible.com/american.”)

Under the current system, a podcast content creator can make money from ads, but Apple gets nothing, even when it’s downloaded via the iTunes store.

Providing a platform for other companies to make money while Apple makes nothing really isn’t Apple’s thing.

Apple’s new Podcasts app contains two surprising but telling features.

First, Podcasts contains a skip-forward-30-seconds button. The most obvious use for this button is to skip advertising in podcasts, even the kind spoken by the host of the show. (“This podcast brought to you by [skip forward 30 seconds].”)

Second, the Podcasts app has a mysterious “Redeem” button– but only when you run it on the upcoming iOS 6 version.

It’s not clear what exactly the “Redeem” button will do, but it has something to do with a new way for podcasters to charge money.

So let’s put these two new features together: One makes listening to ads optional; the other creates a way to sell podcasts via iTunes using Apple’s agency model.

It’s a carrot and a stick to podcasters: We’re going to reduce the value of your advertising by letting people skip them; but don’t worry, you can monetize by moving to a paid model.

I think this is the direction Apple intends to move all content available on iTunes.

Go here to read the whole story.

Apple’s Podcasting Stroke of Genius

Apple’s developer release of iOS 6 created an instant mystery: Podcasts are missing from the iTunes app! Who dunnit?

At least, that’s the false meme that emerged. In fact, references to “Podcasts” are in there. Things have been re-arranged, and podcasts deemphasized. Something is going on.

The rumor and/or speculation is that Apple will spin podcasts out into a separate app (but keep it in the desktop version of iTunes). This prediction is supported both by funny business in the app, and also inside information from unnamed sources “close to the company.”

The prediction that Podcasts will get their own app sounds reasonable. But the interesting part is: Why?

Why would Apple put music, movies and TV shows all together in one app, but create an entirely separate app for podcasts?

Sounds dumb, right?

Actually, if Apple is doing what I think they’re doing, it’s a stroke of genius.

This single change could align Apple’s organization of services on iOS with multiple strategic objectives at once. Here’s what I think Apple intends to accomplish.

Read the rest of this post »

Review: Blue Mic’s Yeti Captures Monster Sound

Blue Microphone’s Yeti – a versatile $150 USB device from the company behind the legendary Snowball and the must-have Mikey - would be an absolute steal at twice the price.

In applications from podcasting to studio recording the Yeti delivers intimacy and clarity rivaling the output of some of the best microphones from better known companies such as Shure and AKG – all from a single package with setting versatility neither can touch for such little money.

The Yeti has been loose in the wild for a while now so the info and conclusions in the following review may be old news to some. But the quality and value of such a well-made, high performing product deserves an encore.

Read the rest of this post »

CES: Blue Microphones Overhauls The Diminutive Mikey, Adds Blue Fire App

LAS VEGAS — The audio fanatics over at Blue Microphones have popped out the second-gen Mikey, a major overhaul to their plug-n-play iPod microphone.

The original Mikey was a plug-n-play, $80 microphone with on-board software that turned any iPod into a recording device. But it had several drawbacks: It didn’t play well with the iPhone unless you switched on airplane mode and it was only adjustable in one direction (it didn’t swivel). The second-gen Mikey is now $100, swivels, has a USB pass-through and works seamlessly with the iPhone; and like the original, it’s equipped with a three-way sensitivity switch. It’s also even lighter than its predecessor.

As a bonus, Blue Microphones has introduced Blue Fire, a free, feature-rich recording app available from the App Store that can be paired with Mikey to maximize performance.

Cult of Mac on the BBC

The BBC’s coverage of the Mac’s 25th has in some cases left something to be desired, the nadir being a bizarre video showing a Microsoft employee battling with an original Mac and comparing it against her Windows laptop. Ex-Macworld UK head honcho Simon Jary rightly pulled said video apart on his PC Advisor blog, although he didn’t note how, amusingly, the Mac boots much faster than the PC, despite MSN tech editor Jane Douglas cunningly refraining from giving the Mac its system disk until the PC’s been whirring away for a good few seconds.

Presumably wanting to avoid the same level of oddness, BBC Radio Five Live’s Pods and Blogs scoured the internet, looking for a Mac expert to chat to. Failing that, they ended up with me (Oho! You self-deprecating Brit, you!–Ed.), and I spent a happy 20 minutes talking to the extremely personable Jamillah Knowles about all things Mac.

As is always the case, the interview itself was knifed somewhat (due to it being nearly as long as the entire podcast was supposed to be), but there’s still a reasonable chunk left. Importantly, the Mac doesn’t come off looking too bad, although I do wonder what Jamillah’s co-presenter is going on about regarding how rubbish Macs used to be for getting online. (I’ve never had such a problem.)

Anyway, the podcast is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/pods/, and the Mac bit’s at the 14-minute mark.

James and Louis take on the world

Stuff Tech 1 from Stuff Tech on Vimeo.

This is ace. James Jobs and Louis Mirra are junior video podcasters who know what they like and know how to tell the world about it.

Things I like about Tech Stuff Podcast episode 1:

• it’s short. Too many podcasts are so full of themselves that they insist on waffling on and on and on about rubbish. James and Louis don’t do any mucking about, they say what they want to say and then STOP. This is good
• it’s got Cyberduck in it.
• it’s made by kids
• it’s more watchable than most podcasts made by adults
• these lads are naturals in front of a camera

Things I don’t like about Tech Stuff Podcast:

• the music. But I’m 38 and I can remember when Billy Bragg was cutting edge, what would I know?

Things that concern me about Tech Stuff Podcast:

• Louis openly offers Vista help to the world. Does he have any idea what he’s letting himself in for?

Have your kids made a rockin’ tech podcast recently?

5 Time Capsule Tips from Channel Flip, UK

Channel Flip is a “video magazine” produced in London with a focus on Mac tech-tips, video gaming and film. Instead of writing articles, the Channel Flip team produces short, snappy clips of how-tos and reviews of mobile phones, HDTVs, laptops and portable technology, as well as gaming titles on console, portable and PC. The film department looks at the week’s must-watch DVD releases, including film analysis and a close view of things going on in the movie world.

The clip above shows how to use Apple’s Time Capsule for something more than a mere back-up device and network router.

Review: TapeDeck 1.0

If you grew up in the pre-digital age, you might fondly remember the tactile qualities of what would now be summarily dismissed as ‘retro’ recording kit. There’s a definite immediacy to a tape deck: big buttons, with large text that leaves you in no doubt regarding function, and this is something that cannot be said for the bulk of audio-recording software. TapeDeck now aims to bridge old and new.

Boot the app and a digital tape deck appears on the screen. The buttons all work as you’d expect, even making suitably chunky noises when clicked. However, SuperMegaUltraGroovy has made plenty of concessions to the modern age: mono, stereo and quality levels can be selected with mouse clicks; tapes can be labelled and relabelled with ease; and keyboard shortcuts provide an alternate means of controlling the virtual tape deck (with system-wide shortcuts also available for ‘Record’, ‘Pause’ and ‘Stop’).

In keeping with the application’s aesthetic, each chunk of recorded audio is displayed in a slide-out drawer as a cassette tape. (In reality, this is merely a pretty way of displaying the contents of the M4A files TapeDeck stores in ~/Music/TapeDeck, and so users can also manage TapeDeck recordings in Finder.) Tapes can’t be recorded over, although they can be dropped in the Trash via Command-drag (Command-dragging elsewhere copies the tape to a Finder folder).

Other handy features become evident with a little exploration. Control-click on the current tape and the contextual menu provides shortcuts for adding the tape to iTunes or emailing it. And when the drawer becomes full, you can drag tapes around until you find what you want, or use the built-in search field to hone down the displayed tapes.

Strictly speaking, TapeDeck offers nothing new in terms of functionality—the likes of GarageBand and a slew of other recording apps do everything TapeDeck can and more. Also, importing is strictly limited to M4A, which is a shame—it would be great if you could drop MP3s and audio files saved with lossless formats into TapeDeck.

However, as iPhone continues to bludgeon into people’s minds, the interface is often key, and where TapeDeck excels is in making the audio-recording process totally idiot-proof and fun. It’s not quite enough for TapeDeck to garner a Cult of Mac recommendation badge, but it comes close, and if you’re flush and fancy dropping 25 bucks on a fun, straightforward and surprisingly original take on audio recording, TapeDeck more than fits the bill.

TapeDeck: handily lacking a ‘randomly chew up tape’ option.

Further information

Manufacturer: SuperMegaUltraGroovy
Price: $25
URL: tapedeckapp.com