Audio platform SoundCloud has announced a beta podcast release program. SoundCloud has built a large and growing fan base over the past year with its capability to create and upload audio files, and then promote and share users’ sound creations across the web. A number of apps are available for creating and sharing SoundCloud files across various devices and platforms.

SoundCloud is now in the process of offering RSS feed capability, making the site of keen interest to podcasters and their subscribers. Podcasters who are interested in taking part in the beta RSS feature rollout are invited to   fill out this form at SoundCloud.

According to the company’s announcement, current and aspiring podcasters are all invited to take part in the beta RSS program. In addition, “the best and most interesting applications will get a special beta account too so you can really test drive the platform.”  A list of current podcasts can be found on the SoundCloud blog.

Features for the podcast release include:

• RSS capability for your sounds
• Set which sounds are in your RSS feed during upload
• Enable RSS as a default option

Check out these links for further information on the SoundCloud podcast subscription feature rollout

• http://soundcloud.com/101/podcasts
• http://soundcloud.com/101/podcasting-101

From NAMM ’11: Microphone innovator Blue Microphones was promoting its recently-released Spark, a cardioid, solid-state condenser microphone, with high-quality, fully discrete components and an innovative Focus control offering two sonic signatures. Along with its attractive design and wide range of recording capabilities, Spark also comes with a custom shock mount and pop filter in a wooden case for a suggested retail of $199.

The Spark microphone features Blue’s premium condenser capsule, which promises low noise, high efficiency, and rapid response in any recording situation. Blue introduces with this model what it calls “the Focus control,’ which, when selected, results in a tighter, more direct and focused, “present” sound.  The circuit design of this mic pairs Spark’s condenser capsule with a phantom-powered outboard amplifier to drive the capsule with linear control and accuracy.

The Spark microphone package also provides a detailed recording guide showing complete setup and recording tips for a variety of instruments and vocal sounds. Spark comes with a three year manufacturer’s warranty.

2011 NAMM Show: Samson has introduced a stylish new microphone for podcasting and general audio recording with your computer, the Samson Meteor Mic.

The Meteor Mic has one of the larger condenser diaphragms (25mm) of any USB mic available. It offers a cardioid pickup pattern, smooth frequency response and 16-bit, 44.1/48kHz resolution.

The Chrome-plated body features built-in tripod legs that can be used in multiple positions:

The Samson Meteor microphone is expected to be available April 15th for about $100.

Details below.

eMusician magazine takes a look at DIY options for music promotion in their latest issue, and recommends using podcasts and new media:

New media includes blogs, podcasts, vidcasts (video podcasts), and websites. These outlets vary in audience size, subject, and professionalism, especially because most are run by people who are passionate about the topics they cover.

New media is a great place to begin getting coverage for your music if you are just starting out because quotes from blogs can help you to establish credibility for larger outlets, and eventually traditional media, which will do a search on you when they haven’t heard of you. Any new media coverage that you’ve had can help establish your history.

There are no set rules for working with new media—it’s best if you just start with an email, not a press release. Another advantage is because new media is web-based; they often link directly to your website giving you new visitors and a way to track the effectiveness of the coverage.

An obvious option musicians that’s underutilized by musicians is to take care of music podcasters that play the genre of music that your band plays:

• Get them CDs or digital audio files to play;
• Provide them with a written authorization to use your music in their podcast; and
• Ask them if they’d like your band’s CDs, t-shirts or other merch to use as giveaways to podcast listeners.

Got other suggestions on how musicians can work with podcasters? Leave a comment!

Image: Maccio Capatonda

IK Multimedia iRig Microphone

IK Multimedia has announced iRig Mic, a handheld condenser microphone designed to be used with an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

Features:

• The iRig Mic features a unidirectional condenser-electret microphone capsule.
• Real-time monitoring with a dual mini-jack connector.
• Three-level gain switch makes it adjustable for any sound condition.

The iRig Mic comes with:

• VocaLive free, IK’s real-time effects processor app suite for the singer and vocalist;
• iRig Recorder, the new IK free audio recording app; and
• AmpliTube free, a guitar amp application.

iRig Mic also works witt other vocal and audio recording or processing apps for the iOS platform.

IK’s iRig Mic is expected to ship Q1 2011 and sell for $59.99.

Blue Microphones has introduced the Yeti Pro, the first USB microphone combining 24 bit/192 kHz recording resolution with analog XLR output.

Features:

• Yeti Pro is designed to provide the highest performance possible in a digital microphone, with recording resolution of 24bit/192kHz,
• Yeti Pro features an analog-digital converter chip that allows a range of recording resolutions, from 22kHz up to 192kHz and common sampling rates in-between.
• Separate circuit boards maintain the integrity of the analog and digital signal paths.
• For analog recording, Yeti Pro also includes an XLR stereo breakout cable for simple attachment to analog equipment.
• Yeti Pro offers four recording patterns (cardioid, omni, stereo, bi-directional) for both digital and analog recording.
• Yeti Pro maintains zero-latency headphone output with volume control for direct monitoring, adjustable gain control and a digital mute button.
• Yeti Pro is compatible with both Mac and PC.

The Blue Microphones Yeti Pro has a MSRP of $249.

There’s a lot of discussion today about iPad magazine sales plummeting, based on a report from WWD Media:

Remember when Wired’s debut issue for the iPad sold more than 100,000 times in June? It looks like it will be a while before that type of performance is seen again. Digital sales dropped toward the end of 2010 for all the magazines that make those figures available to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

After Wired’s enormous debut month, the magazine averaged 31,000 digital sales between July and September, but even that fell in October and November, with sales coming in at 22,000 and 23,000, respectively. (For comparison, the magazine sold 130,000 total print editions for October and November.)

Remember that this is Wired – other iPad magazines are selling in the thousands.

Mashable offers 4 reasons for the decline:

1. Price: It’s difficult to persuade current subscribers to pay for individual issues when they’re already receiving the same content at a fifth of the price in print.
2. Lack of Exposure: It’s not easy to browse for magazines in the App Store, which are stowed among hundreds of thousands of other apps.
3. Failure to Innovate: Part of the reason the first iPad editions of magazines sold so well is because they delivered truly novel experiences for the device, from animated covers to interactive graphics. The problem is that the experiences haven’t evolved since then.
4. Large download size: Magazine apps need to slim down. Wired’s first issue was half a gigabyte, or nearly one-thirtieth of the smallest iPad’s 16 GB storage capacity; the first issue of The New Yorker, a weekly, came in at 173 MB.

Mashable and others are missing the point, though.

The first generation of iPad magazines are old media dressed in new media clothing. If this is the future of magazines, magazines are doomed.

The current generation of iPad magazines is fat, out of date, anti-social and harder to use than the Web. They don’t deserve to sell.

iPad magazines have to answer the question we raised when the Wired magazine was introduced:

If they want this to be around in a year, they need to figure out what the real benefits of a magazine app are.

The one big advantage a magazine app offers is fast browsing, even when disconnected. A great iPad magazine app would give you the interactivity and timeliness of the Web, but would also degrade gracefully when you were disconnected.

Do you think the current generation of iPad magazines has a future? Or will new media apps like Flipboard drink their milkshake?

Did Apple TV just stop being Steve Jobs’ ‘hobby’ and move on to being a major new business for Apple?

Apple has announced that it expects sales of its new Apple TV to top one million units later this week.

Not that Apple has sold a million unts – but that it expects to reach that milestone later this week.

The premature announcement, combined with the fact that Apple has previously been tight-lipped about Apple TV sales, suggests that Apple is starting to take its hobby seriously as a business – and that the company is concerned about the growing buzz around competitors like Roku.

Apple TV and Roku players complete head to head, with the Roku XD Streaming Player coming in with better specs in some areas and a lower price. Roku is expected to sell a million of its Internet TV boxes by the end of the year.

What do you think? Did Steve Jobs’ hobby just become a business?

A preliminary look at Microsoft’s newest mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, shows that the platform is off to a disappointing start, and is struggling to gain even the tiniest foothold.  According to mobile ad network Chitika, Windows Phone 7 is outnumbered over 100 to 1 by both Android and iPhone, month and a half after its launch.

While MSNBC sounds an optimistic note about the mobile operating system [in the “it’s too early to call it dead – yet” vein], Chitika counted 110 Android impressions and 172 iPhone impressions, for every one Windows Phone 7 impression over the past three weeks since the WP7 launch.  “That number is remaining relatively stable, with very little significant market share growth in WP7,” writes Dan Ruby, Online Insights Research Director at Chitika.

Chitika’s Ruby suggests that, rather than dwell on lackluster adoption rates compared to those of the Droid and iPhone, Microsoft should focus its attention in the arena where it has the upper hand — the corporation. Says Ruby, “Microsoft may do well to position Windows Phone 7 as a BlackBerry nemesis rather than an iPhone/Android killer – the corporate worker’s smartphone of 2011.”

http://vimeo.com/11499353

Vimeo has introduced a new section on their site, designed to help you make better Internet video, Vimeo Video School:

We realized that one of the best ways we could nurture the incredible range of creativity on the site would be to build a system that easily allows members of all skill levels to learn more about making videos and expand their knowledge base. We’re covering everyone, from people picking up a video camera for the first time, to seasoned pros that need info on the newest technology.

Vimeo has three internet video production tutorial series:

• Video 101 -“We hope these 101 videos will answer a lot of first time questions and demystify the process of making videos. They’re fun, so check them out and share them with your friends.”
• DSLR Basics with Philip Bloom – Philip Bloom and Andrea Allen have created a helpful series on DSLR basics.
• Vimeo Lessons – tutorial posts that incorporate instructional videos Vimeo members have created.

Vimeo Video School now offers over 1,000 tutorials, so this is a great resource if you are looking for information creating online video.  An example is embedded above.