My current co-host, Sebastian and I had a discussion this last week gone and after an agonising decision he has decided to leave the podcast. This was not because of any conflict or disagreement rather the fact that Sebastian did not think he had the time to dedicate to it because of his own circumstances and also what he wants to focus his efforts on.
So that leaves me here with two weeks to find a new host! You might be asking is that for me? Well the first thing you have to do is head on over to The Podcast Network and The Global Geek Podcast Homepage and have a listen to the show. If you like it or think that you could make it better or are interested in being a part of it, here is what I want you to do:
- Click the Odeo Button , it is the green button. It is not the usual type you would see, it is a custom one unique to The Podcast Network.
- Leave an audio message when prompted to do so, preferably with the mic that you would be potentially using for the show.
- Send me an email by clicking here. In this email I want you to tell me why you think you would make a good co-host. Or if that is too hard then just tell me a bit about yourself!
This may seem like a silly process but it will tell me a lot about you, your ability and some other stuff that I will let the successful person in on ;).
I need your help! So get to it! This is a great opportunity. Consider this in your decision:
- You are in on an existing, growing show.
- You become a part of The Podcast Network, of over 70 Podcasts and 250,000 regular listeners and growing.
I will also inform anyone thinking about this prospect, the show that is a regular weekly podcast that goes for about an hour. But; there are important regular collaborations during the week and especially about two days before when the main body of the podcast is worked out.
If you think you have what it takes then get in touch with me and we can talk. I would also invite anyone that has queries or questions to leave a comment with a valid email address (so I can reply) or contact me via the contact details in the right side bar on this page. I am only too happy to clarify anything here.
Podcasting is a blast; we will have great fun and the result is very satisfying that you have been a part of the growing “citizen media” network that is podcasting and the Internet.
UPDATE: Position filled. Thank you to everyone that expressed an interest.
Odeo Cripples Functionality
June 12, 2006 — The RoosterOne of the great features that is available to Odeo users is to have an "inbox". If you were to place a button on your website, be it blog or some other site you have enabled your readers to leave you audio comments by clicking the link. They get taken to a page that has a recording interface, which is simple and easy to use and the result is great audio. You as the user of Odeo get that recorded audio in your inbox once it is sent to you. You are notified of this by an email.
Another great feature is that you can subscribe to an RSS feed of your own inbox! So this is a great way to receive feedback on anything. Including podcasts. Seb and I saw it as a great way to get feedback for Global Geek Podcast, so we set up an account. The advantage of getting audio as feedback is that you could go to your inbox once you were notified and click the new Odeo comment that was left for you. You can listen to it. But the biggest feature was that you could click a "download as MP3" button and download the audio comment and insert it into a podcast! The result was excellent and we loved it.
The ability to download the MP3 has been removed from the play window! So what the hell is Odeo thinking in removing this key functionality. It means that it is impossible to download the audio from the page to your local machine. Rather it makes it a pain in the butt to do it.
I found that there is a work-around but it is messy: Open Audacity, set the source to "stereo mix" get ready to hit record… Open the Odeo message that you want to record. Flip back to Audacity and hit record, nip over to the Odeo page and click play. Go back and hit stop on the recording when it has finished. As I said messy. In addition the audio that you end up with is less than ideal and requires a bit of editing.
I am utterly dismayed as to why Odeo have removed this from their site. The only thing that I can think of is that they want users to listen to audio, only from them and not from another source. Perhaps they were not aware that the service was being utilized in this way and they have done it ignorantly, I just don't know. Sebastian has suggested that perhaps they are beginning to think about implementing a pay service and this has something to do with it. But since when has any site reduced their services as opposed to offering more. We are not the only podcast doing this. I can honestly say that if this situation remains as it is; the blogging and podcasting community could deliver some negative press, big time.
Global Geek Podcast has mentioned Odeo on every show that we have done. Not only that there is a link on the Global Geek Podcast website to Odeo, there is a link to Odeo on Rooster's Rail, Seb's Random Thoughts and we have plugged them for their service and functionality since utilizing their service. It is not like we have not given back to Odeo. This I feel is the thanks that we get.
Global Geek Podcast have sent off an email to Odeo in regards to this issue and we await a response, I will let you know what we get back from them when and if we do.
Update: Please check out the Follow-up Story