A common problem of indie podcasts is excessive or unwanted background noise and room sounds. Several companies have responded by marketing mini vocal booths that are portable and help block out unwanted sounds. Instructables has published a tutorial on building a DIY portable mini vocal booth: The DIY Portable Mini Vocal Booth is ideal for […]

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has been doing some amazing things over the last few years, experimenting with new media and doing more than any other major musician to forge a new model for using the Internet to interact directly with his fans. Here’s a few examples: Reznor has released several albums as free downloads, […]

And Now For Something Completely Different: some upbeat news from metro Detroit. Putting aside the recent grim news about the automobile industry and its hub, Detroit, Michigan, a story in The Detroit News caught our eye this week. Lacking a youth activity center, the city of Southfield (a suburb of the Motor City) has opened […]

Tom Webster of Edison Research has a thought-provoking piece on the future of podcasting. At his blog, The Infinite Dial, Webster qualifies the cup-is-half-empty findings of the Zenith Optimedia report (as detailed by eMarketer). To review, Zenith sees the future of podcasting as rosy and profitable only for the lucky few, and podcasting ad revenue […]

Used to be, the only tools aspiring journalists needed were pencils and a spiral notepad. Then, in the last decade, journalism schools recommended that their students have access to a computer (preferably portable) and an Internet connection. That seemed perfectly up-to-date in terms of media hardware, until today. Now, at the University of Missouri Journalism […]

For nearly five years and counting, we’ve been creating, and writing about, podcasts. We know what podcasts are, and chances are, you do, too. We love them, and think they are super-neat. We think everybody ought to create podcasts, because they help you: share your passion and expertise widely, and connect, over long distances, with […]

Edison Research has released their annual joint study, with Arbitron, of Americans’ radio consumption habits – and it shows that podcasting continues its steady, unrelenting growth.

According to the report, the audience for podcasts has grown by a healthy 22% since last year.

Surroud sound recording company Holophone has introduced Holophone TV 5.1 (iTunes link), the world’s first full 5.1 video podcast series, according to the company. Holophone TV 5.1’s podcasts present a variety of surround content – from music recordings to fireworks to motocross events. The Canadian company also has plans to showcase local Canadian recording artists […]

The sight of workers with smudgy foreheads yesterday when I was downtown reminded me that it was Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the Lenten season which leads up to Easter. The Catholic Online website reports that Massachusetts-based blogger and musician, Susan Bailey, is publishing a daily podcast during the forty days of Lent. “Theosis” […]

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization is now home to a new podcast series. The Sweetest Sounds, hosted by R&H President Ted Chapin, and produced by NPR documentarian Jeff Lunden, will be an ongoing series of audio podcasts about Rodgers & Hammerstein and their music. The first series features five programs focusing on four great musicals […]