Rain Recording, a company that sells Windows-based computer systems for audio production, has introduced a new mobile audio workstation – the LiveBook Zephyr.

Look a little familiar?

While Apple MacBooks have become the first choice of many audio producers, the LiveBook Zephyr looks like a great alternative for those that prefer Windows or have to work on Windows.

The Zephyr is an ultra-portable notebook designed with laptop musicians and mobile audio production in mind. At 4.3 pounds, Zephyr is the lightest and smallest LiveBook ever.

Here are the specs:

• CPU: Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz T2300 2MB L2 667Mhz FSB
• Chipset: Mobile Intel 945GM & ICH7-M
• Video: Embedded Intel 945GM (GMA 950)
• Sound System: Built-in Intel HD, Built-in Stereo Speakers and Microphone
• Memory: 1.5GB DDR2 533MHz
• Display: 13.3″ WXGA (1280×800) TFT LCD Color Shine and Crystal Shine Technology
• Storage: 100GB PATA 8MB Buffer 5400RPM
• Optical: CD-RW / DVD-RW +/- Dual Layer
• Modem: 56k V.90/V.92 Modem RJ-11
• WiFi LAN: Integrated mobile Intel Pro Wireless 3945 a/b/g
• Wired LAN: 10/100/1000 built-in/Realtek Fast Ethernet Controller
• Input Devices: Touch pad with 2 click buttons, Desktop-Like Ergonomic Full-Size 83-key
• Battery: Li-Ion 6 cell: 4800mAh, 53W/Hrs battery pack Battery Charging time, 2hrs quick charge (power off), 4hrs (power on)Run-time: 4.8 Hrs
• I/O Ports

• 3 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x IEEE 1394 port (1x 4-pin internal + 2x 6-pin w/ TI Chipset on PCIe card)
• 1 x VGA port/MiniD-sub 15-pin for external monitor
• 1 x S-Video Composite (TV-Out)
• 1 x Card Reader (MMC/SD/MS/MS-Pro)
• 2 x Audio jack: Audio out (SPIDIF)/Mic-in
• 1 x RJ11 connector for Modem
• 1 x RJ45 connector for Ethernet
• 1 x Express Card Slot

The Livebook Zephyr is priced starting at $1,500.

Here at Podcasting News, we’ve been so preoccupied with local politics (the Iowa Caucuses were last week), and then recovering from same, that we only noticed recently that the weekend is filled with National Football League playoff games.

Who knew that Jacksonville had a professional football team? Not me! But apparently they are playing the perennial playoff contender New England Patriots Saturday evening. Seattle Seahawks are playing a snowy game against Green Bay. Indianapolis Colts meet San Diego, and the New York Giants compete against the Dallas Cowboys.

It’s enough to make even the least enlightened viewer (um, me) feel like staying in and gorging on game-watching. And maybe some game snackage.

Fortunately, there are plenty of NFL podcasts to help the football-challenged:

• ESPN has a podcast preview of the weekend’s NFL playoff games.
• The Packers have their own podcast series, including a whole batch of recent press conferences with players and coaches, like this one with Mike McCarthy.
• The New England Patriots have, on their home page, the “Patriots Today” podcast.
• While I couldn’t find an “official” San Diego football podcast dated more recently than 2006 (?!), the fan site bolttalk.com has a podcast from this week about the Chargers’ underdog status going up against the Colts.

The remaining teams’ podcasts are here:

• Jacksonville Jaguars (unofficial podcast by a fan)
• Seattle Seahawks
• Indianapolis Colts
• New York Giants (audio) (video)
• Dallas Cowboys

Let me know who you think the contenders are going to be for next month’s Super Bowl in the comments.

And no, the GoDaddy girl doesn’t count.

A number of well-known figures in the podcast production and promotion industry will be featured at the MacWorld Podcasting and Rich Media Symposium, all day next Friday, January 18th, at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco.

The MacWorld Podcasting and Rich Media Symposium promises to cover the whole gamut of podcast issues, from creation, audience-building, monetization, and content planning.

“We’re going to share how to move from producing shows you love to do, to shows people love to hear ,” said Scott Bourne, host of The Apple Phone Show.

Session speakers include podcasting and new media figures Leo Laporte, host of This Week in Tech; Richard Burns and Dusty Wright from CultureCatch; Paul Vogelzang, producer of MommyCast and Friends, and Lee Gibbons, CEO of Podango.

The Symposium runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Here are the details…..

CES: Belkin has introduced the Belkin Podcast Studio – a $100 accessory that basically turns your iPod into a mini podcasting studio – just add a mic.

Dual XLR and 1/4-inch channels give you a range of recording options. The Podcast Studio has a built-in mic and speaker are powered by their own battery, so you won’t kill your iPod battery instantaneously.
Belkin expects to ship this in June.

IT Conversations founder and Conversations Network head Doug Kaye sends word that his latest community project, PodCorps.org, is halfway to its goal of 1,000 volunteer audio “stringers.”

PodCorps.org is a team of independent audio/video producers who record and publish important events and interviews anywhere in the world. PodCorps.org is a new project of The Conversations Network, and was announced last fall at the Podcast and New Media Expo (PNME).

PodCorps is building a database of volunteers in different geographic locations who are willing to step in as stringers, tape sync experts, and event producers.

In his latest update, Doug Kaye reports:

“Last night we reached a major milestone. We now have more than 500 stringers in the PodCorps.org database, half way towards our goal of 1,000. Thanks to all of you for joining. We’re getting close to the critical mass we need.”

It looks like podcasting pioneer Dave Winer took issue with Mashable’s rant about their inability to get advertisers interested in their podcast ideas.

Winer also took issue with our response. We said that if you want to podcast professionally, you have to start thinking like a professional podcaster.

“Both sides of this argument are full of shit wrong,” argues Winer.

Podcasts Are Like Porches….

“My phone doesn’t have a business model. Neither does my porch,” argues Winer. “I still like having a phone and a porch because they help me meet new people and communicate with people I know. Same with my blog and podcast.”

We’re not sure if we understand that stuff about phones and porches being like blogs and podcasts, but the gist of Winer’s argument seems to be that blogging and podcasting can’t be done professionally:

“Professional writers and broadcasters probably have a place, I don’t know, it’s not my problem. But let’s be clear – blogging and podcasting exist independent of a professional’s ability to eek out a living using the tools of blogging and podcasting.”

In other words, if you’re trying to do this professionally, Winer thinks you’re really not podcasting and blogging:

“A blogger is person who has an idea, expertise or opinion who wants to convey that to other people. The unedited voice of a person. What makes a blogger interesting is that they do something other than writing a blog. If all you do is write a blog, and if you want or need to make money from your blogging, it’s really hard to distinguish what you’re doing from what professionals who don’t use the web (are there any left?) do.

Same with podcasting.”

Podcasting Is A Technology, Not A World View

Like Winer, we’re big advocates for the idea that the most important thing about podcasting and other types of Internet media is that they make it possible for anyone to publish to a global audience.

Unlike Winer, though, we view podcasting as a technology – not a world view.

Pandora, the internet radio service of the “Music Genome Project,” has announced that it is discontinuing its service in the UK, effective January 15. Pandora lets users design their own streaming radio stations based on their musical preferences.

Pandora’s continued operations have been uncertain since mid-2007, when licensing body protests in North America and UK increased the company’s operating costs. In the US, Internet radio services are licensed under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Streaming music to other countries, on the other hand, has to be negotiated with the groups which represent the record labels, and the music publishers, on a country by country basis.

Beginning in May 2007, Pandora suspended operations outside the United States, except for in the UK. Pandora continued streaming music to Britain while trying to negotiate music licensing deals to keep the service open in that country.

Founder Tim Westergren said this week that the company cannot reach an agreement with music industry trade bodies over music licensing fees, adding that the licensing bodies’ rates “are far too high to allow ad-supported radio to operate” in the UK.

The company vows to “keep fighting for a fair and workable rate structure” that would enable it to restart operations in the UK.

It looks like the proposed tax on iPods to support musicians has finally been put to rest:

Last summer, music industry officials, retailers and consumers all debated the merits of the Copyright Board of Canada’s tentative decision to place a levy on iPod’s and other MP3 players ‚Äì a tariff that depending on the amount of internal memory could be worth up to $75 per device.

On Thursday, that levy was effectively killed by the Federal Court of Appeal, says copyright lawyer Howard Knopf. Although the decision can still be appealed, Mr. Knopf, who representated the Retail Council of Canada as well as Apple Canada et. al, says that the court took only 24 hours to decide the Copyright Board had no legal authority to certify a levy.

“The Applicants were awarded their costs. The reasons are very brief. The Court was very decisive,” Mr. Knopf said.

This is one idea that should stay dead and buried.

Mark Hopkins at Mashable has penned an new variation on the podcasting doom and gloom story, in response to the recent news that Wizzard Media served up 1 billion podcasts in 2007.

Hopkins acknowledges that “people do indeed love to download podcasts, and that it is a sharply growing medium.” But Hopkins goes on to argue that the problem with podcasting isn’t getting people to download them, it’s getting advertisers to advertise on them.

He discusses his personal trial and tribulations trying to monetize his podcast, and his inability to find a sponsor for his idea for a new Mashable podcast.

His bottom line is that he thinks it’s just too hard for podcasters to get advertisers:

The problem that we cannot make reliable money from monetizing these downloads is the issue that keeps cropping up and preventing the rest of the world from taking it seriously.

Podcasters Need To Take Responsibility For Making Their Podcasts Marketable

We understand Hopkins’ frustration with trying to line up sponsors for his podcast concept. There are a lot of podcasters that have the same frustrations.

But Hopkins appears to be making a lot of the same mistakes that keep other podcasters from making money.

Let’s take a look at what Hopkins is doing wrong, and what he could be doing to make a successful Mashable podcast.

Today’s big podcasting news is that Wizzard Media announced their download totals for 2007, an amazing one billion podcast files downloaded. To put that large number into some context, we talked with Rob Walch, Wizzard’s Vice President of Podcaster Relations (and creator/host of the popular Podcast411).

First off, congratulations – this is pretty stunning news. What do you think this billion-download figure means, for Wizzard Media in particular, and for the wider downloadable media industry in general?

To my knowledge we are the first ones to hit a billion in a calendar year in the Podcasting space (wearing my 411 hat). I am sure there will be others — if not in 2008 then certainly in 2009.

But the bigger news for podcasting is that someone has done it. I believe that hitting that the 1 billion mark is the type of benchmark that big ad agencies will take notice of. Now they’ll understand that podcasting is for real — and that is good for everyone.

So, when we were at the Portable and New Media Expo this fall, some guys were talking gloom and doom — that podcasting was essentially dead. Your news seems to belie that prediction.

There is a lot of misguided talk about podcasting being dead. We just are not seeing it. We continue to see growth in the numbers each month. To us, at least, podcasting keeps growing.

What do you think this bodes for the coming year?

We hope that 2008 will be the year that advertisers stop thinking of podcasting as an experiment, and start thinking of it as a necessity for every campaign.