Just read this exciting post from Ryan Morrison about the state of BBC podcasts. I listen to half a dozen or so BBC podcasts - the content and quality is always good, but I’ve always found that the number of shows is limited. Ryan explains that the BBC Trust has approved podcasting as a format and that now the BBC will have more control over their podcasts. He also mentions a new podcast page, listing all of the BBC podcasts available from different sources.
I hope that this means we will see many new BBC podcasts, and eventually reach a point where every BBC radio show (every episodic show that is, such as The Archers or The Now Show, not necessarily the “normal” radio shows like breakfast and drive time shows - the daily/weekly digests are perfect and the ugly music royalties issue can be avoided) will be available in a downloadable format, maybe for longer than a week as well. Maybe they BBC Archive will also see fit to release some classic BBC radio shows for us to reminisce - like the fantastic Mary Whitehouse Experience.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Best of YouTube is a daily video podcast (or vidcast if you don’t mind the contraction) showing the best clips from YouTube. These are decided by the votes counted on www.bestofyoutube.com, of videos suggested by website members. The best clips make it onto that day’s vidcast. Because each episode is anything from 30 seconds to 10 minutes in length, they are ideal fodder for a quick video fix and saves me the task of trawling through YouTube trying to find the essential clips everyone is talking about. Its also great for the daily commute - just wish I had a video-capable iPod so I didn’t have to unpack my laptop every journey!
Link
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
I love my iPod, and I use iTunes several times a day to manage my songs and podcasts, as well as my iPod. However, its far from a perfect product. Below is my list of ways iTunes could be improved…
- Video Filter - I wish iTunes had a filter to let me seperate video podcasts from audio podcasts. I only have a Nano, I can only sync audio podcasts and I have a playlist to select randomly 7 podcasts I can chuck on my iPod. It makes it a bit crappy if half of the random ‘casts are video because I end up with only 3 or 4 podcasts on my iPod!
- Profiles - I use my iPod in 3 or 4 scenarios: in my car, on the commuter coach, at home or general walking around. I wish iTunes would let me set up profiles for each of these scenarios, which contained my sync details such as playlists, podcasts, etc. so I can easily switch between them when I want rather than have to set them up each time. For example, in the car I listen mostly to music, especially rock and electronic type music. I have no need for contacts or calendar syncing, and I might want one or two podcasts just in case. However, on the coach I want more relaxing music and all my podcasts, plus calendar and contacts.
- Better Chapter View - I wish it provided a better view of podcast chapters, rather than from a menu. I want thumbnails, chapter lengths, the ability to play a podcast but eliminate certain chapters like a playlist.
- Auto Auto-Delete - When I subscribe to a podcast, I have to right-click on each feed to turn on Auto Delete, so it deletes episodes once I have listened to them. There should be an option to have new subscriptions set to auto delete automatically.
- Hidden Track Analysis - Some albums have “hidden” tracks. Usually this is on the end of the last track of an album, after several minutes of silence. I wish there was an option in iTunes to analyse these tracks and split them apart, removing the silence and spitting out two seperate tracks. I don’t want a 27 minute track with only 8 minutes of music!
- RSS Reader - Slightly unrelated, but I wish there was an easy way to send RSS (textual) feeds to my iPod via iTunes. I subscribe to a number of feeds and it would be great if I could catch up on these offline via my iPod.
If anyone can think of any others, please leave a comment!!!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
