Full Circle Podcast #1
We’ve finally got Full Circle Podcast – Episode #1 out! Yes, the audio quality has increased noticeably!
The podcast is in MP3 and OGG formats. You can either play the podcast in-browser if you have Flash and/or Java, or you can download the podcast with the link underneath the player.
Show notes: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMagazine/FullCirclePodcast/EpisodeOne
Topics:
* Driver-Free Car Runs Ubuntu
* DARPA Grand Challenge
* Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 4
* KDE 4.1 Feature Plan and Release Schedule
* Torvalds pans Apple with ‘utter crap’ putdown
Also being discussed:
* Ubuntu Gutsy Desktop Course Released
* Acer selling Ubuntu laptops in New Zealand
* Linux development more like social network says Torvalds
* Ubuntu download managers
File size: 28.5MB (MP3), 36MB (OGG)
Runtime: ~1 hour
Full Circle Podcast - Episode #1 [59:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10319)
Full Circle Podcast - Episode #1 OGG [59:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (33158)
Great post. I especially found it useful… Thanks for the sharing.
Matt,
the thing about location wasn’t a criticisim – I don’t think most people realise your panel is spread out across the globe so thats worth pointing out. Yes, the UK LoCo boys have got plenty of quality gear to record on.
I’m listening to lots of Linux podcasts as the moment – you’re still doing better than some. There’s one guy sounds like a wasp trapped in a dustbin as the bottom of the coalshed. Another one I haven’t finished as his voice makes me want to slash my wrists!
Press on!
RC
Hey Robin.
If i remember correctly, James’ internet connection wasn’t very great on that day. Why do I sound like breathing pure helium, I edited the breathing out :O
I can promise that FCP 2 will be a shorter show. One hour shows are great, but this is the time where the listener is right.
I have listened to the Ubuntu UK podcast, I’m good friends with Alan Pope. I actually discussed this with him, and he mentioned that they all meet at his house to record. The UK is a small country area wise, Australia is huge area wise. The UK podcast is just that, a UK LoCo team podcast; FCP is a Full Circle Podcast. Full Circle attracts many people across the globe. As much as I’d love to have all my presenters in my house recording, it is logistically impossible to do so, which is why we heavily rely on Skype (yes I know it’s not open source, but it sounds better than Gizmo). The UK podcast team borrow their equipment from various places. They have a professional mixer, some XLR mics; all I have is Skype, the Skype recorder software, and my Plantronics USB Headset. I do try very hard with what I have, and that is all that I can do unfortunately.
One idea which i would like to explore is the pre-recorded content packages. That would work well with breaking up the content a bit.
Thanks for your feedback, and I can’t wait to read some more
Matthew Rossi.
Listened to most of episode #1.
Technical gremlins no entirely banished; there’s still a lot of audio breakup with the US contributors. Don’t know what’s happened to Matt – sounds like he’s breathing pure helium…
A half hour show might be more productive at this stage.
For the armchair critics, keeping a broadcast tight between a panel who can’t see each other and probably don’t know each other too well is difficult. They will talk over each other until they establish a common rhythmn and style. Seemed to be some timing issues too.
Its still early days, keep going
BTW The Ubuntu UK podcast team can at least get all its folk in the same room for recording and splice in pre-recorded content packages.
Find their first ‘real’ episode at http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/
RC
This is a minor point, but can you give your downloaded files more descriptive names. Instead of podcast1 you could use FullCircle_ddmmyy_1 or something similar.
about “MS Linux” – have you guys ever heard of “Xenix” ?
Watching the number of downloads in each format, why don’t you default RSS feed format file to ogg instead of mp3? Or even better, two different feeds, one for each format.
Thank you for the podcast and the magazine.
I’ve listened to the first half ’till now, and I must agree with the comments about the mic-levels. I played it in my car on the way back home, and one voice almost thrashed my speakers whilst the other one was barely audible… But as as been said: normalize in Audacity (maybe even compress – make the soft sounds louder without making the loud ones even louder).
I do agree with some posters that it is slightly too loosely recorded. Some connection troubles, some ‘ummmm… whats up next … let’s see’ should be filtered out so the end product is a little more compact and finished.
Finally, and then I’m being a bit of a jerk, please pre-read the articles quoted, and freewheel a little when you lose track of the exact line (keep the talking going – don’t stop). Nobody cares if you say every letter right (or quote the urls down to the nittygritty), but the pauses and ‘ummm…’s’ do matter.
But for the rest I actually enjoyed most of the show. A little rough around the edges, a little ‘young’ but nice. I’ll certainly download the next episode too.
Volume leveling is mandatory … was difficult to play in the car because some speakers were too soft while others were too loud.
People with a non-neutral accent should at least speak slowly and deliberately… accents are not bad intrinsically, but speed+accent=problem
When I clicked the play now button it wouldn’t play for me. I did get it by using the download button though. I’m using Firefox 2.0.0.12 on Kubuntu 7.10.
Thank you for the podcast.
Acer is selling laptops with Ubuntu pre-loaded in Australia in some electrical chains and white box computer stores.
A show does not need to be entirely scripted, but given the amount of off-topic chat, window bashing and overall production quality (or lack thereof) this show could have easily weighed in at 30 minutes. If they are going to talk about something they should have some experience with the programs in question. I am inclined to give them some time to improve, but only a show or two…
Some responses to the above complaints:
Music: Yes. I’m not involved with the podcast production – only the magazine side, but I will try to get the music changed. I like it, personally, but I do think it’s kind of cheesy.
Licensing: The podcast and magazine license can be seen on the bottom of the magazine index page. It’s CC-BY-SA Unported.
Volume problems: Kind of hard to coordinate. I think the interviews are conducted over Skype, but I’d email Matt (podcast[AT ]fullcirclemagazine.org) and ask him about that. If all else fails, we could just do volume normalization in Audacity.
Windows bashing/chitchat/length/professionalism: I do agree that this would be solved with a script, but our editor Ronnie said to me over IM: “I don’t really agree with scripts, to be honest, as long as they have a list of things to discuss… it’s more of an open discussion show than a scripted show.” Again, I’d talk to Matt about this.
Script: See above.
Accents: Um… they’re people?
Thanks for all the feedback and keep it coming! It helps us a lot!
Plus, if you want to discuss this, come to our monthly IRC meeting today. (1700 UTC, chat.freenode.org/#fullcirclemagazine)
“MetalMusicAddict
Mar 7th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
What license are the podcasts under? CC-BY-SA?
penguincentral: I believe the podcasts are released under the same license as the magazine.”
Which is? I’m sorry. I just can find any license references on the wiki or .pdfs.
A brave effort but…too much chitchat. I suspect it would have been better with a tighter script. More isn’t better, more compact probably would be. Topics covered well chosen.
I would have to agree with Stochastic. Really like the idea but the music was cheesy and put me off instantly. Strong accents make it hard to understand what is being said. Track volumes need to be sorted also.
The content was good, but not very direct. Too many participants?
Thanks for the sharing ^.^
ohh cool. someone else doing a linux show.
look forward to listening.
There is a lack of information or professionalism in the hour long podcast (really could have easily been done in half an hour), and an excess of windows bashing. Also, you should do a level check on the mics as all three voices are at different volumes, making it difficult to hear everyone all the time. Also that song is pretty annoying.
What license are the podcasts under? CC-BY-SA?
penguincentral: I believe the podcasts are released under the same licence as the magazine.
How can I subscribe to your podcast?