podcasting on the run

There are a fair number of decent portable digital recorders marketed by manufacturers such as Sony, TASCAM and Olympus. The latest and greatest for podcasters on the go is the dinky Yamaha Pocketrak 2G.

The Good News:
Dimensions: 1 1/4″ width, 4 5/8″ height, 1/2″ depth
Weight: 1.7 oz including battery
Battery: one AAA rechargeable
Battery life: 17-19 hours for MP3 files
Memory: 2 GB
Internal microphone, Mic mini-jack, Line In mini-jack
Windows Vista compatible
Yamaha quality

The Bad News:
No slot for removable flash memory such as SD card… USB connector only
Somewhat expensive at $350

Unfortunately, I need a portable digital recorder with SD card slot. My Nokia n800 Linux PDA has two SD card slots. It can upload MP3 files to the web at wi-fi hotspots while the cappuccino machine goes WHOOSH. Also videos and photos from the Canon PowerShot camera. The n800 with ultra-portable Sierra bluetooth keyboard can even post text messages to this blog.

Two road warriors that caught my eye are the $230 Roland Boss Micro BR and the $200 Samson Zoom H2. Either one of them is a veritable miniaturized recording studio. Both generate podcast-ready MP3 files. Both have an SD slot.

The Zoom H2 has a cute desk stand. Software like GarageBand will treat the Zoom H2 like it’s an ordinary cardioid condenser mike when it is connected to a Mac or PC via USB.

r.s.v.p.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke was scheduled to conduct a teleconference from Sri Lanka during the upcoming Eaton Conference. Unfortunately, he died earlier this month.

His passing made the timing of NASA’s threatened cuts to the Mars Rover program especially bad. Happily, it would seem that wiser heads have prevailed at NASA. The plucky and cute Spirit has been spared to rove another day.

The Mars Rovers have got competition in the plucky and cute category. This small robot has a puppy-like body with a head that’s a Nokia n800 Linux PDA just like mine. The robopup is operated by remote control with another Nokia n800. The robopup has a friend with a Nokia 770 head.

However, robot pups are no substitute for the real thing. A chihuahua can make some stranger’s travel photos at Flickr worth viewing.

I’m sure that Sir Arthur would have agreed with me. He had a pet chihuahua.

sound check

Your chance to hear me count to ten.

Plantronics Audio 470 headset and mike, GarageBand 2, OS X Tiger, G4 Mac mini.

blogcast numero uno

I’ve taken a longer amount of time getting up to speed than I’d care to admit. I’m ALMOST finally ready to podcast.

“Keep it simple” is my mantra. I’ve gone through a maze of hellish complications to arrive at simplicity. So… Here I am! How did I get here?

The first topic that I researched was choosing a microphone. One option is expensive firewire or USB preamps and mixers and the like for conventional XLR mikes. As far as expense and complicatedness goes, the sky is the limit.

Another option is USB microphones. Phallic or boob… The choice is yours. The Rode Podcaster is phallic. It’s a majestic eight inches plus. The Blue Snowball is a boob. It would go nicely with my Apple Pro speakers. Remember the boob-shaped Apple Pro speakers?

The Rode Podcaster is dynamic, the Blue Snowball is condenser. Studio mikes tend to be condenser, on-stage mikes tend to be dynamic. Both are good quality. Both come with their share of problems because they’re very sensitive. Because of their sensitivity, mikes such as these are prone to pick up unwanted noises like hum.

That’s why pros rent an expensive studio filled with expensive equipment and hire technicians with union cards. If you want magic, hire a wizard. Wizards don’t come cheap.

But not to worry. Keep in mind that a podcast will be squashed into an MP3 file. The sound quality is not gonna be all that great no matter how expensive and fancy the recording equipment. So if all you want to do is yak, you don’t need to spend a lot of money.

Frankly, I spent a little more money than I had to. I blew fifty bucks at Best Buy on a Plantronics Audio 470 foldable USB headset with microphone.

It’s primarily designed for Skype. It can also be used for gaming. I’m using it for podcasting, needless to say. I said it anyway.

All right, selecting a microphone accomplished. Phase two: Software.

My computer is an obsolete G4 Mac mini running OS X Tiger. It has the stock half a gig of RAM. Not a computing powerhouse.

Anyway, after a good deal of trial and error, I figured out how to record a podcast using GarageBand 2. Unfortunately, GarageBand saves the recording as a porky proprietary file. So the podcast had to be exported to iTunes. iTunes 7 can convert the proprietary GarageBand file into an MP3. Select Advanced and then select Convert Selection to MP3.