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Hey. My name is Russell Holliman. I'm a professional project manager by day, and one of the founders of Podcast Ready by night. This is my blog about life on the web, life in general, and random things I find here and there.



Best MP3 Players for Podcasts
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

CNET published a review today of the 5 best MP3 players for podcasts. The Zune beat out the iPod, which was #2. But a bigger surprise to me was that they named Cowon's D2 #4 because it comes preloaded with Podcast Ready's myPodder application. :)

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posted by Russell @ 10:29 PM, , links to this post




This is kinda cool...
Monday, March 24, 2008

I don't talk much about Podcast ready on this blog, but this is kinda cool: we're now the only podcast receiver listed on Sandisk's official list of applications for their U3 devices. This is the list of apps that is presented to each and every new U3 owner.

sandisk_u3-1
 
We're not "above the fold" but we're in good company.

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posted by Russell @ 9:38 PM, , links to this post




The Bright and Shiny
Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Tech Crunch reports on a new eMarketer article saying that podcast are "taking off (again)." The funny thing is, that's not what it says. It simply reports on the steady and continued growth in podcast advertising that is expected to reach $435M by 2012. The market itself has seen nothing but constant growth.

It hasn't been, however, bright and shiny. Just as quickly as it hit the scene, podcasting moved on to be an industry... a media market. The hype died, but the industry grew (thanks mostly to the major media outlets according to eMarketer). As someone that's tried very hard to raise additional capital for their podcasting endeavor, I can tell you that it doesn't matter. Its a business now, and no longer very bright and shiny, and that means that most investors these days just aren't interested.

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posted by Russell @ 7:53 AM, , links to this post




No Hulu Love? We're in Good Company.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Still haven't received your invite into Hulu? Me neither. Its seems though that neither has Adam Curry or John Dvorak. In the second episode of No Agenda the two talk about how they can't get in, the writer's strike in Hollywood, unions, and more.

You can download the espisode here, or I've placed it in my podcast channel if you want to subscribe to this and other shows I find interesting.

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posted by Russell @ 10:06 AM, , links to this post




Shameless Plug
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Rarely (or maybe not so rarely, depending on how you look at it) do I plug my company Podcast Ready on this blog. Today however I just have to point you over to our official blog where I've made a post about what we do. In short, we grow audiences.... big time.

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posted by Russell @ 10:16 AM, , links to this post




We're Number 4!
Monday, October 01, 2007

I spoke with a podcaster at the Podcast and New Media Expo over the weekend that had just made the switch from Libsyn's statistical system to Raw Voice Generator. The first thing he noticed was that while Libsyn didn't report any contact with myPodder, Raw Voice's system showed myPodder to the 4th most popular client downloading his show. I wonder if they take that into account when Neilson certifies Libsyn stats...

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posted by Russell @ 11:00 AM, , links to this post




Podcast Industry Maturing
Thursday, September 27, 2007

Rob Greenlee at Mobilecaster News has an interesting take on the closing of Yahoo's Podcast Directory. (Oh yea, did I forget to mention that Yahoo has posted an announcement that they will be closing their directory on October 31? Sorry...)

He sees it as a sign that the industry is maturing, and although that's not my take (nor Yahoo's explanation for the move) I do agree with a lot of what he says regarding what the industry needs, etc.

I started to post a comment to his blog, but then realized that if I am going to blatantly plug my company, I should restrict that to my own site and not spam his. Rob points out that there needs to be a connection between the devices and the content, ala iTunes and the iPod. A single click that will deliver the content to mobile phones, MP3 players, etc.

YES! This is what we've been working towards at Podcast Ready for the last two years. Today, if you purchase an iRiver device (which Rob mentions) it comes pre-loaded with Podcast Ready technology. This technology allows users to select (with a single click) content not only from our directory, but with the use of a browser shortcut any directory or web site regardless of what one-click solutions they've chosen to provide - which is usually only iTunes at this point.

Its been a slow process, but over the next 12 months we should see around 25-35 million of these "Podcast Ready enabled" devices hit the streets and to us that's very exciting news for the podcast industry.

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posted by Russell @ 10:58 AM, , links to this post




Astronomy in Science Fiction
Monday, September 10, 2007

Dr. Pamela Gay, from Astronomy Cast (one of my favorite podcasts) joined Swoopy from the podcast Skepticality and Dr. Kevin Frazier (science consultant for the TV shows Battlestar Galactica and Eureka) at Dragon*Con. They recorded an interesting show about how television gets some science right, and some not-so-right.

You can download is here, or I've placed it in my podcast channel if you want to subscribe to this and other shows I find interesting.

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posted by Russell @ 5:34 PM, , links to this post




Podcast Ready at IFA
Sunday, September 02, 2007

Hagen and Christian, co-founders of Podcast Ready and my business partners, are representing Podcast Ready with one of our licensees at the IFA in Berlin. The largest consumer electronics show in the world... lucky dogs.

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posted by Russell @ 6:09 PM, , links to this post




Channels
Sunday, July 15, 2007

A friend asked me the other day what I thought about all the chatter surrounding channels. I think channels are great... they can be very useful. New? Hardly.

I first saw the channel concept (having an RSS feed that you could populate with episodes from other feeds) when gigadial launched in 2004. They call them stations, but the concept is the same.

We incorporated channels in our system at launch as well, but initially as a 'private channel' - a feed that speaks only to your copy of myPodder and allows you to select single episodes to enjoy rather than subscribing to entire feeds.

It can of course be made public if you wish. (There's a how-to video over on the support blog explaining how.) I've place a link to my channel over on the right side of the blog.

As a bonus, if you befriend me (treocast) then you too can add content to the channel just by sending it to me through podcastready.com. So its not just one-sided experience - anything you add will go to everyone else.

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posted by Russell @ 10:41 PM, , links to this post




Drive 100,000 new listeners to your podcast
Thursday, June 21, 2007

"100K Play" Contest

What's it worth to get 100,000 first-time downloads of your podcast? Here's your chance to find out. Podcast Ready is giving away one placement on every copy of myPodder to one lucky podcaster. This means that your podcast feed will be pre-configured on MP3 devices from iRiver, Cowon, Skullcandy, and Wolverine (just to name a few) as well as in every copy of myPodder downloaded from our site, and other's. Your show will remain in the line up until you've received 100,000 downloads from new myPodder users.

This is a huge opportunity to expand your audience, and its free!

Here's how you enter:

  1. Send an email to 100kplay@podcastready.com and include your contact information, your show's name, website address, feed address, and a desired promotional code.
  2. Urge your listeners to visit Podcast Ready's site (http://www.podcastready.com) and register a new account (this will require a valid email address) or update their existing profile using your promotional code.

It's that simple. The show with the most registrations wins. And one lucky listener who registers using the winner's promotional code will win a free video iPod!

What's the catch? No catch. Before you can be entered, I will have to check out your show and make sure that it's not overly offensive or anything. After all, your podcast will end up on MP3 players sold through Amazon and Wal-Mart so I have to make sure that the content is "retail safe." (And before you ask what "retail safe" is, it's entirely up to me to decide... I'll know it when I see it).

Once you've received confirmation that your promotional code is registered, then you are set. The contest will end on July 31st, so what are you waiting for... more?

Okay, here's a little more: if you have a Podcast Ready chicklet on your site when you register your promo-code you will automatically start off on the scorecard with 1000 registrations to your credit! Now what are you waiting for?

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posted by Russell @ 12:30 AM, , links to this post




PodcampNYC
Friday, April 06, 2007

I'll be heading off to PodcampNYC in the morning. Podcast Ready is proud to be a sponsor, and I'm personally looking forward to re-connecting with a bunch of friends I haven't seen since the Expo.

The schedule packed - there is no way I'll be able to visit all of the sessions I'd like, but with over 1000 people registered and over 100 sessions, this will definitely be one for the record books.

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posted by Russell @ 12:43 AM, , links to this post




The New Phone Arrived Today
Saturday, March 31, 2007

My new Sprint UpStage phone arrived today which, being a Saturday, took me by surprise. I already had my day planned out so I wasn't prepared to play with it a whole lot. But I did snap a new pictures and carried it around with me for the afternoon.




The first thing I did of course was connect it to my computer and load myPodder onto it. Works like a champ! And I quickly discovered that not only will it download all of my podcasts, it will play them through the speaker so I can sit at my desk and listen without headphones... nice!

Beyond that, here are my first impressions:

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posted by Russell @ 11:38 PM, , links to this post




A Phone Conversation with Apple
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Last night I received a phone call at home from Apple. Actually, it was someone from Apple trying to sell me an extended warranty on the Mac Mini I purchased last December. OK... truth be told, he probably didn't actually work for Apple, but he said he did. In any case, at one point I managed to turn the conversation to my company's ongoing dispute with Apple over our trademark myPodder and the word pod.

He couldn't believe it! He went on to tell me how ridiculous it was for Apple to claims any rights over the word pod and how he couldn't believe they would even try. He even pointed me over to yet another example of a pod trademark that's been out there for a while.

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posted by Russell @ 8:44 AM, , links to this post




iPod and U3 Users of myPodder get an upgrade
Monday, March 26, 2007

Recently we've upgraded our myPodderTM to 1.6.5. A few minor bugs have been fixed and the iPod support has been greatly improved. For instance, when you now connect your iPod to any computer (Win, OSX, or Linux) it correctly places the content in the "podcast" section of your player and calculates that playing time for all those off-the-wall bit rates properly.

U3 devices also now have an upgrade. For those of you that are not aware of U3, its a technology that enables thumb drives to run U3-compliant applications right from the drive without installing anything on the host computer.

So you can take your Firefox, instant messenger, and Open Office applications with you where ever you go.

Interestingly enough, we've seen a huge amount of uptake from the U3 community since we won their application design contest back in June. It seems that even though a large portion of the podcast audience listens to podcasts at their desk, they really like the idea of having their content in one location (their U3 drive) and listening to (and managing) that content from whatever computer they happen to be at.

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posted by Russell @ 10:52 AM, , links to this post




Podcast Audience Surges
Thursday, March 22, 2007

clipped from www.podcastingnews.com

Podcasting Audience Up 18% Since Last Year

The audience for podcasts has grown 18% in the last year, according to an upcoming report from Edison Media Research. Awareness of podcasting has grown even more, jumping from 22% in 2006 to 37% in 2007.

  • The audience for podcasts is up by 18% from a year ago. In 2006, 11% of those surveyed listened to audio podcasts; in 2007, the number was 13%, about 18% growth. This figure looks like it may be the most controversial info in the report. At Marketwatch, for example, Frank Barnako is calling this anemic growth. While faster growth would be great for podcasters, a lot of industries would kill for 18% growth.
  • Podcast awareness has exploded in the last year, growing from 22% to 37%.
  • 49% female, 51% male.
  • All ages. The survey found more listeners 55+ than in the 18-24 age group.
  • Wired - spending more than 50% more time online.
  • More than twice as likely to own an iPod or other portable media player.
    •  powered by clipmarksblog it

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    posted by Russell @ 10:52 PM, , links to this post




    Warm and Fuzzy, Web 2.0 Style
    Wednesday, January 17, 2007

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    posted by Russell @ 2:56 PM, , links to this post




    A Warm Fuzzy Feeling
    Tuesday, January 16, 2007

    It was just cool today to be surfing around and come across a blog post that ended with:
    Like all of our interviews, this is available for download at iTunes, Podcast Ready or WRKO.

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    posted by Russell @ 10:20 PM, , links to this post




    Neighbors to the North
    Thursday, January 11, 2007

    The Candian Broadcasting Company has listed Podcast Ready's partnership announcement with iriver as one of the more intriguing announcements to come out of CES.

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    posted by Russell @ 2:04 PM, , links to this post




    2006
    Monday, January 01, 2007

    Although we started working on Podcast Ready in November of 2005, the company did not actually come into existance until December 31, 2005. So New Year's Eve has a much bigger meaning for me this year. We stayed home tonight which gave me some time to reflect, and to organize some photos. Here's a few from the last year that I thought were kind of neat.

    Happy New Year's!
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    posted by Russell @ 2:22 AM, , links to this post