To Podcast or Not--What do You Think?

Over the weekend we have been toying with the idea of producing a Macs Only! podcast, spiced with California slang and a great Maine accent. What is a podcast, you ask? Well, it's an audio recording, like a radio broadcast, that is encoded in MP3 or AAC, downloaded, imported into iTunes and then transferred to one's iPod to be listened to whenever one wants. We find them to be a convenient source of entertainment and education when we travel. We listen to the few that we can find as an alternative and useful diversion in between stretches of our music.

So why do one? Partly because there are so few that cover the Mac (see iPodder.org) and partly because podcasting is slated to be the next big thing with Apple's iTunes v4.9 and the iTunes Music Store so we interested in learning the technology.

There are at least two good internet radio shows (webcasts) that cover all things Mac that we listen to from time to time, Your Mac Life with Shawn King on Wednesdays and The Tech Night Owl LIVE with Gene and Grayson Steinberg on Thursdays. They both produce an archive of their shows that can be listened to at any time but they are streamed so one must be hooked up to the internet to listen. We'd like to be able to download and import them into our iPod and listen when we had the chance. For example, Inside Mac Radio makes podcasts of their shows and The Mac Observer just issued their first last week. That's what we are thinking about doing but shorter--maybe 15 minutes.

Fortunately, it does not appear to be particularly difficult nor expensive to produce a podcast. Glenn Fleishman's article entitled How to Record a Podcast provides a great starting point. All it takes is time. But since time is scarce commodity for us we are still just toying with the idea.

what you think about the possibility of a Macs Only! podcast and what you would like to hear in it. [Bill Fox, Dana Baggett & Brian Nakamoto]