Announcing Podcasts on EOGN!

Podcast: I am delighted to announce another expansion of this newsletter’s offerings: podcasts. I will now be offering “radio broadcast” interviews of many of the world’s leading genealogy experts. To listen to these interviews, all you need is your present computer. In fact, there is no requirement for new software; you can use what you already have.

You can listen to this 9 minute, 47 second story using any modern computer that has either speakers or headphones attached. It can also be downloaded to an iPod or other portable music player. To listen to the interview, click on the "play" button located to the left of the long bar below.

First, a bit of explanation is in order. You may ask, "What's a podcast?"

Podcasts are audio programs that are available on the Internet. They are similar to radio programs. Instead of listening to the programs on your radio, however, you listen on a personal computer or on any of several mobile devices, such as Apple's iPod music player.

The term podcast, like "radio," can mean both the content and the method of delivery. The host or author of a podcast is often referred to as a "podcaster".

A single podcast is loosely similar to one episode of a radio program. New episodes can be made either sporadically or at planned intervals, such as daily or weekly. Podcasts are generally devoted to very specific subjects, such as genealogy or other personal interest topics.

Genealogy talk show programs have been available from time to time on various radio stations for years. However, most of these radio broadcasts have disappeared within a year or two. The main drawback of these programs is in timing: they are on the air at the broadcaster's convenience, not necessarily when it's convenient for you to listen. For instance, a genealogy program might be broadcast weekly on a local radio station at 10:00 AM on Saturday mornings. If you have the time available, you can listen to it at 10:00 AM, but only at that time. If you happen to be working, grocery shopping, or otherwise unable to listen to the radio at 10:00 AM, you miss the broadcast.

Podcasts are different. They are "broadcasts on demand." That is, you can listen to the podcast whenever you wish, not at the whim of a radio station employee who handles scheduling. If you want to listen at 10:00 AM on Saturday or at 3:00 AM on Tuesday, the podcast is always available and waiting for you. All you need to do to start listening to the podcast is to click your mouse.

Another problem with radio station programs is location: you must be within the coverage area of the broadcaster. More than once, I have been frustrated trying to listen to weak signals from distant radio stations. Static, fading, and various noises detract from the broadcasts.

In contrast, podcasts are available anywhere in the world if you have an Internet connection. You receive the same signal in New York City as you do in Queensland, Australia. The sound quality is always consistent and clear with no static or fading. With today's technology, podcasts work equally well on dial-up or broadband connections.

You can read more about the mechanics of podcasting on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

In the case of this e-newsletter, I plan to use podcast technology to offer you something that has not been practical until recently: interviews with leading genealogy experts, authors, lecturers, programmers, software producers, and more. Instead of just reading the words that I write about a particular product, service, or web site, you will now be able to listen to the words of the person or the people who created the service.

I hope to interview many leaders in the genealogy field in coming months and to make those interviews available as audio files at www.eogn.com. I hope that you will enjoy listening to these industry leaders as they describe the work they have done and the products and services they have created.

Anyone can listen to these interviews. All you need is a computer with either loudspeakers or headphones. Any Windows, Macintosh, Linux, or even most of the handheld computers should work just fine. You won't need fancy or expensive hardware; almost all computers built in the past five years or so will do. You simply go to a podcast listed on http://www.eogn.com and click on an icon, and the interview will start playing within two or three seconds.

In addition, if you have an Apple iPod or any similar portable music player that supports downloading of podcasts, you can download the interview while connected to the Internet and then take the interview with you. You can listen to genealogy experts while jogging, biking, walking the dog, or riding the commuter train. This can be an excellent way to use what would otherwise be "wasted time."

I expect these interviews to be available on a more or less random schedule. I am not defining a rigid schedule of podcasts in advance. The podcasts will not be broadcast daily or weekly. Instead of having regularly scheduled podcasts, I am planning to make new interviews available as I can schedule interviewees. You might see two or three new interviews become available online one week, but then new podcasts might not appear again for another week, two weeks, or more.

I expect that most of the podcasts will be available free of charge. However, on occasion there may be a podcast that is available only to Plus Edition subscribers, depending on the complexity and the expenses of conducting the interview.

All podcasts will be available via a link on www.eogn.com. Those who read this newsletter in e-mail will not have any huge audio files attached to those e-mail messages. Instead, the e-mail version of this newsletter will simply show a link that points to the online podcast. You can click on that link to have a web browser open and start playing the podcast.

I suspect you will see (or hear) a few rough edges in the first few podcasts as I learn how to optimize the new hardware that I recently purchased for recording these interviews. However, I believe that the quality will improve rapidly in later podcasts.

I am excited about the possibilities of podcasts. First of all, it allows me to dust off my long-dormant broadcasting skills. (I used to be a radio announcer many years ago.) Next, it opens a new path of direct-to-you information. You can now listen to descriptions of new products and services, described by the people who know them best: those who created the products and services being described.

Finally, the use of podcasts should benefit those newsletter readers who have vision problems. I know from earlier feedback that there are a number of subscribers who are blind or have severely limited vision. If you have limited vision, please let me know how well the podcasts work for you.

Regardless of your vision, I hope that you will enjoy these podcasts. As always, your suggestions are welcome.

To listen to this story, click on the "play" button located to the left of the long bar below.

RSS Feed of Podcasts

MP3 File

Comments

[kdavidson]

Actually, a podcast is further characterized by its distribution through an RSS 2.0 feed. Special "podcatcher" software reads the feed and automatically downloads new shows as soon as they are published. The user doesn't have to do anything special to get the content onto his portable MP3 player. The software automatically downloads shows and loads the player.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case here. The audio shows aren't part of the RSS feed for the newsletter, nor can I find any way to download them manually. What we have right now is not podcasts, but simply audio content that can be listened to while on-line.

If I'm missing something, please enlighten. Thanks.

[Dick Eastman]

The audio broadcasts here are available through RSS or else will be as soon as I can make that happen. RSS feeds are available in the software I am using on this site. I was up until 1:00 this morning getting the first part working so please forgive me if I don't get the RSS feeds working for another day or two. (smile)

- Dick Eastman

[kdavidson]

Cool. I'm looking forward to it. My favorite podcast these days is The Genealogy Guys Podcast, and I'm excited to see more content coming on-line. Thanks. :o)

[Dick Eastman]

The podcast RSS feed is now available at http://www.eogn.com/rss/eogn.xml.

I have tested it with two different podcast programs and it works for me. I would appreciate it if a few Windows, Macintosh and Linux users would also test that URL with a variety of blog/podcast readers and let me know how it works for each of you.

My next challenge is to get it working on iTunes for downloading to iPods and other MP3 players. Stay tuned...

Thank you.
- Dick Eastman

[Bill Puller]

I was able to cut and paste the RSS feed into iTunes (Windows & Mac); I had no problems getting the latest episode to download.

I know how hectic it can be getting the RSS issues sorted. I just started my own podcast (shameless plug www.genealogytechpodcast.com) with tips, tricks and information on using technology in genealogical research.

Good luck with the podcast, I am really looking forward to listening.

Bill Puller
www.genealogytechpodcast.com

[Dick Eastman]

Bill, write up a brief description of www.genealogytechpodcast.com for publication here and I'll see to it that you get another shameless plug! (smile) I'd love to post it as an announcement or a small article in the newsletter, especially anything that is focused on using technology in genealogical research.

Thanks.

- Dick Eastman

[Dick Eastman]

The registration with iTunes has been submitted and should be approved within 2 or 3 days.

- Dick Eastman

[Penny Hartzell]

Dick,
Podcasting sounds great. I'll try it on my ipod and let you know. Also happy to read that there are other genealogy podcasts out there.
Penny Hartzell

[kdavidson]

The new feed worked great using RSSRadio under Windows XP. Sorry for jumping the gun.

[Dick Eastman]

Thanks for the report. That helps.

To anyone else who recently tried the RSS feeds of the podcasts, the URL was changed this morning. The podcasts are now available at http://www.eogn.com/rss/eogn.xml and hopefully that will be the permanent address.

- Dick Eastman

[Thelma Sorenson]

I will be exicted to be able to receive this new audio program. I tried out your initial sample/explanation and all it did was say a few words, skip and then pick up again, eventually it quit. I admit I'm on dial-up and hopefully that wasn't the problem. Do you have any suggestions for me? On dial-up I use Qwest, Firefox and then Yahoo's regular email to receive your newsletters. Thanks! Thelma

[Dick Eastman]

If you are on dial-up, it is possible that there will be interruptions as the data downloads. 56K is about the minimum speed to insure uninterrupted audio while still downloading.

HOWEVER, the data is still being stored on your hard drive and can be used without interruption. If in the middle of listening, wait a minute or so, then move the "slider" that you see moving back to the left to "rewind" earlier in the broadcast and then start listening again. It will play the data from your hard drive even while the rest of the file is still downloading.

On a very, very slow connection you might have to wait for the entire thing to download, then you can listen to it without interruptions.

- Dick Eastman

[John Bartlett]

Hi Dick, I just listened using Firefox and macromedia Flash Player 7 on Ubuntu Linux . No problems at all. It did what it is supposed to do with absolutely no fuss.

Thanks for all the good stuff. I look forward to future articles/podcasts/broadcasts.....

John.

[Bill Puller]

Thanks for the offer of support Dick.

The Genealogy Tech Podcast is a new podcast geared toward genealogists/family researchers who want to learn the basics of using a PC, as well as how to use some of the latest software, hardware, and Internet based applications in their genealogical research.

In addition to the podcast, I am producing some screencast "how to" video tutorials on various subjects - there is already one available on the tutorial page of the Web site.

If anyone has a suggestion about a topic they would like to know more about, I can be contacted via e-mail at gentechpodcast@gmail.com or through the Web site located at http://genealogytechpodcast.com.

The first two episodes of the EOGN podcast are great, can't wait to hear more.

Bill Puller
The Genealogy Tech Podcast

[helen collins]

I got the podcast, but didn't want to spend the time right then. I couldn't turn the audio off. When I tried I ended up with 2 or 3 versions "talking" at the same time.

How do you turn it off after you have started it?

[Dick Eastman]

Barbara, there are several methods of listening to the podcasts. I am going to assume you clicked directly on the bar at the end of the online article. If you used a different method, please let me know.

If you clicked on the bar, you will note that the volume control is on the same bar although on the right side. It is the brown or gold colored part at the extreme right hand side. You can move that to the left or right to decrease or increse volume.

In addition, most computers have ther own volume controls. In Windows, you probably will see a tiny icon that looks like a loudspeaker in the System Tray at the bottom right of your screen. Right-click on that to open the volume control.

[Dick Eastman]

Another way of ending the podcast at any time is to simply click on any other link. You can try that right now while reading these words.

Right now, scoll back up and click on the podcast link bar and click the "run" icon to start listening. After the podcast starts, click on any other link on this page. You will notice that the podcast will then stop.

- Dick Eastman

[Dave]

I just downloaded your three files with Juice: http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net . No problems. The sound quality of the first file and the beginning of the interview with Simon Orde is fine.