Sideways Into Darkness!

To the right of the blog, over —-> there, I’ve added an RSS Feed to the audio blog I’ve been working on the past couple of weeks. Sideways into Darkness: An Insomniac’s Audio Blog is now available through the links. It isn’t perfect, nor will it be for some time until

I work out all the details and kinks currently holding me back from doing a better show. Basically, it’s me talking to you for a few minutes. Nothing long and drawn out, just me jumping around on topics and trying to get the hang of this medium of communication. Work in progress, please stay tuned as it grows and gets better.

Cost of said podcast, to date, is $0.00  Hosting on Archive.org is free. Publishing a feed on Blogger.com is free. If I decide to offer through iTunes, which is turning out to be a pain in the butt, that’s free, too. The recording equipment, Garageband, came with my Mac, so technically I did pay for that through the computer purchase, but that was nearly 2 years prior, so it technically doesn’t count. And finally, my headset mic, a Logitech USB model was $39, but that was purchased last year for our son’s online courses. Again, technically doesn’t count.

It’s not that shabby for a “free” podcast, it just needs fine tuning

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

I’m Shaking My Fist

Continuing with yesterdays short blog post about creating an audio podcast, I’d like to say that the free WordPress blogs are just no help. I’m not complaining about this fine site, I appreciate my free WordPress blog and am thankful they offer the option. But when you want to grow it, expand out into other areas, they want the money, I guess. From what I’ve been able to find online, and what little I’ve experienced, WordPress.com blogs tend to get a little confused when it comes to audio files. Pictures are great. Videos linked from Youtube or other online sites are cool. But if I try to throw an audio embedded file up here, it just starts freaking out.

I’ve discussed it with a friend and I think I’ll go the route of having a separate area just for a couple of audio posts. For now, I’m just experimenting with all of this and seeing where I can take it and what it can do. Who knows, we may even end up doing that much talked about podcast we have wanted to do.

Right now, though, I’m going cheap on the set up. Archive.org hosts files for free. Blogger.com will let you set up, embed and give you a nice RSS feed. Feedburner will convert all of that to nice iTunes friendly (as well as other sharing media sites) information. Right now I’m out “zero” dollars for everything I’m wanting to do. Even Garage Band, which I will probably use for recording, and my headset mic I already have, so no money invested there.

I may be boring as heck, but I’m excited to try something new.

Audio, Aaaaaaudio, Testing, Testing

I have been listening to an old podcaster I use to follow. He recently started up a new podcast/audio blog that involves him  just talking to his audio recorder during the commute to and/or from work. I find that fascinating. Don’t know why, but I do. An audio blog of one guy, alone, talking about whatever comes to his mind. I may have to look into that. In fact, I already am! I am no audio expert, have never created anything other than a cd I’ve burned – for perfectly legal backup purposes, of course – and any results would probably be disastrous. But I may just give the idea of a little audio blog a try. I mean, heck, you’ve got all kinds of crazy folks on Youtube broadcasting their faces to the world, why not add one more voice to the mix?

So, I reinstalled Garageband, pulled out my headset and wrote up a little script of some things I wanted to say. I may post this soon, or I may hide it away for no one to ever discover. Either way, it’s something I’d like to tinker with just for the heck of it. I don’t like hearing myself talk, but the whole thing just strikes a chord with me.

Library Police, Episode 90

Sitting in my car on “lunch” break. Listening to the latest episode of this fantastic podcast.

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

I am a huge fan of podcasting. Have not tried it myself, yet, but a friend and I are always discussing the idea of trying out a few episodes of a podcast of our own. I do love to listen to podcasts, though. What a great way to pass the time if you have the opportunity. Just grab your mp3 player and turn on a couple of folks discussing a popular topic you enjoy. The subject range of podcasts is staggering and I’ve added to and deleted from my playlist many times over the past several years. Right now, though, I thought I’d share what is currently syncing to my iPhone to get me through the work nights …

The Angry Mailman Podcast (Yes, Anthony Alex is a real rural postal carrier. His show is G-rated 99% of the time, and Anthony and his co-host Bubba and occasional co-host Andrew Alex, his brother, have great stories to share.)

Critical Hit: A Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Podcast (The guys from Major Spoilers are now in their 4th “season” of playing a custom campaign following 4th edition D&D rules. I love the humor and interactions between players and characters.)

The Library Police (If you are into literature and enjoy listening to two well-spoken gentlemen discussing books, then you should definitely give this one a shot. The duo keep it interesting while talking about a wide variety of novels.)

Major Spoilers Podcast (Steven, Rodrigo and Matthew provide two great shows of the MSP a week, with their mid-week show focusing on reviewing a larger subject, and then the weekend free-for-all where anything goes. Topics include comics, movies, television, history, current events, their personal lives, etc all presented with their trademark brand of humor)

Top Five (The THIRD podcast from the Major Spoilers crew finds the trio rating a vast assortment of subjects from Historical or Fictional Character You’d Like To Have Tea With to Fictitious City You’d Most Like To Live In)

The 40 Cast (Open Forum Radio’s most hilarious drunken podcast. The crew discusses their favorite craft brews, then launch into current events, sports, movies, games and television. They also have a relationship section every now and then and a ton of guest hosts join them from the community.)

What kind of podcasts are you in to? Are there any that you feel you couldn’t live without? I know my list use to be much larger, but I have had to trim it because of the time required to catch up on shows that have a larger back library of episodes.