Does The World Still Need Podcasters?
Sep 27th, 2006 | By James Lewin | Category: Audio Podcasting, Podcasting SoftwareDoes the world still need podcasters?
That’s the question raised by the latest announcement from MagneticTime, a text-to-speech software developer. The company announced today that MT-Podcast, an application that can automatically convert scripts to podcasts, is now available for free to hobbyist bloggers.
‚ÄúThe blogging community is growing and vibrant ‚Äì and one which can benefit from auto-podcasting while spreading the word about it,‚Äù says MagneticTime’s Business Development Manager Shane McAllister. ‚ÄúWe‚Äôre very excited about working with bloggers and helping them use auto-podcasting ‚Äì which is itself a new way of communicating.‚Äù
MT-Podcast converts written scripts to MP3 podcasts without needing a recorded voice. MT-Podcast is a web-based service, letting users to manage individual podcasts, add/edit/remove podcast episodes and manage their own accounts.
According to the company, automating the podcasting process like this can cut the cost of podcasting by 90%.
Bloggers interested in using MT-Podcast can contact the company via press (at) magnetictime.com. Instructions will then be emailed to eligible bloggers.
I’m hoping to interview Shane at the PPME II this weekend as I think MT Podcast is a really cool application. However, as with most products/services, I don’t think it will be for everyone. The sample I heard on the site of “the voice” is really fun and perfect for companies/individuals who want to convert text to speech in an easy fashion. In that sense, I think the technology is great. However, (and I could certainly be proved wrong on this after I hear more samples of how people use the technology), I think people/podcasters producing content “live” (meaning, not generated by a program such as this) will also always hold an appeal to customers/audiences. I liken it to watching a movie and having CGI; effects are cool, but the content has to be solid, no matter how it’s delivered. And (and again, this may be preference) I’m still a fan of watching the original Star Wars as they filmed real models of ships versus over-using CGI. There was a viscertal excitement for me with “live” models versus computer generated ones.
Rambling a bit except to say I don’t see this type of technology usurping the podcasting mainstream. Just complementing it in a great way.
John C. Havens
About.com Guide to Podcasting
http://podcasting.about.com
I podcast for free…how can you cut the cost of podcasting from 90% of Free
Here is the things I use for podcasting
http://www.ourmedia.org – For uploading my podcasts
http://www.geocities.com – for hosting my RSS feed
http://www.feedburner.com – for getting download stats for my podcasts
http://www.wordpress.com – for hosting my site.
I spend ¬£40 all together on software and hardware – not including my iriver which I had before I started podcasting…
a ¬£20 microphone and a ¬£20 audio editing program…because I wanted to use something other than a cheep ¬£5 lapel microphone I had an Audacity.
[…] MT-Podcast otro software text-to-speech. […]
[…] The most marketing promotion for the least effort. If that‚Äôs the type of marketing your industry wants, you‚Äôll be interested to find that a new software release is providing just the opportunity for common bloggers to turn their script into sound. As we know, trailing closely behind technological developments geared toward the everyday social networker is a window for corporate publicity. […]
[…] MT-Podcast otro software text-to-speech. […]