Comments on: Qarrtsiluni Podcast #1: The Water issue

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:27:44 +0000

Great feedback, Pam – thanks. I hope to do a much better job with volume control next time. I already have a top-of-the-line audio software package on order, which I’m hoping will permit us to do a better job of eliminating noise and standardizing volume levels.

We may never have another issue as lengthy as this, but if we do, we’ll certainly consider breaking the podcast into sections. And/or this may evolve into a monthly rather than a bimonthly thing – we’ll see how it goes.

By: Pam

Pam — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:02:53 +0000

I listened to the first half of the podcast. I problem I encountered was the varying volume of the readers. Some were so soft that I found myself trying to find the words to follow along. I don’t know if there is anyway to fix this problem or not.

I would also suggest that you break the podcast into sections. It was difficult for me to find enough time to listen to the entire podcast at one time.

By: Pamela Hart

Pamela Hart — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:51:21 +0000

I guess I was thinking that hearing too many voices all at once might lead to poems getting lost in the crowd. Perhaps your idea of breaking the podcast into several editions, with commentary to break up the voice stream, is another way to go. I like a bit of blather!

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:54:03 +0000

Good suggestions. I’m reluctant to leave anyone off of a podcast, but if it seems too long, I could split an issue into two podcasts and do one a month, for example. And I certainly wouldn’t be averse to adding other content not found in the issue, as you suggest. I’m especially interested in hearing whether people would like more blather in between selections – we could include brief bios of each author from the Notes, for example – or whether that would just be a distraction. Perhaps, as you say, a sort of intermission would provide just enough of a mental break to keep the overall intensity from becoming overwhelming.

By: Pamela Hart

Pamela Hart — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:45:11 +0000

Just subscribed to the podcast and will listen to the poems over the next few days. I could see other possibilities — for instance fewer poems but the editors talking about their selection process. Or perhaps somewhere in the middle of the podcast, you could add a short “author talk,” with a poet speaking briefly about her poem, its origins, how it was re-worked or whatever. And then you could proceed after that break with the rest of the poems. Anyway, great idea and I look forward to other podcasts. Thanks!

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:21:43 +0000

Rob and Harry – Thanks for these helpful remarks (and the link). Of course, since this is WordPress, there IS a feed for every category (but since it’s WordPress.com, the category links at the foot of the post go to their useless and user-unfriendly global tag/category link farm). So thanks for reminding me of that — I’ve republished the post to include it. For now, simply input http://qarrtsiluni.com/category/podcasts/feed/ into iTunes. Later I’ll figure out how to register with the ITunes store, assign metadata categories, and jump through the other hoops apparently necesssary before one can get a podcast officially listed with the Apple gatekeepers.

fiona – Donations are always welcome (Beth has a Paypal account, I believe). If we could set up the podcast so that people would be prompted to make a voluntary donation when it appeared in their iTunes, I guess I’d be O.K. with that. (What would we do with money? Give something to the issue editors, first and foremost. If we had a LOT of money, contributors would get paid, too. Maybe someday…)

By: fiona robyn

fiona robyn — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:54:32 +0000

Great idea Dave – I’m wondering if it might be about time you started making some money from this?! I’d pay a small amount for the podcasts…

By: Harry

Harry — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:02:35 +0000

http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcastingfaq.html

By: Harry

Harry — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:58:38 +0000

It’s possible to subscribe to a URL in iTunes, so if there was a category RSS feed for podcasts, that would work without it being in the iTunes Store. For that matter, I just tried putting the main RSS feed into the iTunes ‘subscribe to podcast’ box, and that already works, but you get each individual poem from the normal posts as well.

Doing it via the iTunes store would be more convenient, though. Potentially it would reach a wider audience, as well. I don’t know what kind of hoops you might have to jump through to get it listed, but there seem to plenty of non-commercial podcasts on there, so it must be possible.

Anyway, I’ve downloaded the first one. I use podcasts to listen to while I’m cooking, so I’ll see how it goes.

By: Rob Taylor

Rob Taylor — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:16:05 +0000

A great idea! I’d subscribe if it was on iTunes.