The BBC’s Chris Vallance sent word about a programming experiment that they’ve introduced, iPM on BBC Radio 4.

The show combines elements of podcasting and radio, and is based around a blog which lets users submit story ideas, comment on stories and offer input on stories in progress. It will start Saturday November 10th at 5:30pm (in the UK).

“As a programme team we’re trying to free ourselves from the mainstream news agenda,” says Vallance, “and follow-up stories inspired by the audience and the conversations taking place on-line in blogs and elsewhere.”

“We’ll be posting up our thought processes, early running orders, notes of meetings and discussions and background interviews with guests,” explains Vallance. “The aim of all this transparency, is to enable blog readers to help shape each week’s programme.”

YouTube announced today changes to its service that will make it a better option for people using to host video podcasts, video blogs and other Internet videos. They’ve upped the files size limit for videos to 1GB and released software that lets Windows bulk-upload videos.

Here’s the text of their announcement:

Have a hard drive full of new videos? With the YouTube Uploader, we’ve now made it easier to get them all live on the site. This small piece of software lets you upload multiple videos to YouTube at the same time; each video can be up to 10 minutes in length and up to 1GB in size. That’s right, no more compressing to 100MB – we want your big files!

Right now the YouTube Uploader is only available for Windows PCs but we’re cooking up a Mac version too. To get started, just go to the installer webpage and download the software. Then you’ll be able to access the Multifile Upload page and start your, well, uploading. These videos will be available in My Videos after they have finished processing. (Note: it may take 30 minutes or more for extremely large files to appear on your page.) We link to the Multifile Upload page from today’s single file upload page so you can always find your way back.

Happy Uploading!
The YouTube Team

The announcement is a welcome change from YouTube. As its competition gets more sophisticated, and HD Internet video becomes more common, the low-quality of most YouTube videos is becoming a liability.

via RRW

The Trent Reznor produced debut CD by Saul Williams, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, is now available as a free download. An option is available to purchase the CD for a nominal fee, too.

Here’s what Williams has to say about the new release, and the role of middlemen in the world of digital music:

My Dearest Friends and Fans,

It is my greatest honor to present to you The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, my new album produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder.

The wall of sound that we’ve created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they’d find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren’t aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us ’til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways.

The ways of middlemen proves to be just a passing trend. We need no priests to talk to God. No phone to call her. And when you click the link below, i think it fair that you should know that your purchase will make middlemen much poorer…

You can preview The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust below:

via NiggyTardust!

Podbean, which describes itself as a podcast social subscribing site, has introduced an embeddable multimedia podcast player that can be used to put your podcast on Facebook, MySpace and blogs.

The free player supports both videos and audios. It’s designed so that you can embed the player once, and Podbean updates the player content whenever you create, modify or delete podcast episodes.

Major League Baseball (MLB) has struck out with at least one baseball mega-fan, author and blogger Allan Wood. He got thrown a curve ball when MLB changed their online video service, dumping their DRM provider and rendering fans’ older video purchases unplayable.

Wood’s a vocal, major-league fan of baseball. He’s written a book about Babe Ruth, blogs about baseball and has purchase 71 game videos from MLB’s Internet video site. That’s $280.45 worth of game videos that no longer work, because MLB changed the Digital Rights Management (DRM) service that they used.

Fans trying to view these videos will see a error message, as the player tries to verify the license for the video and finds that the licensing site has been taken offline.

Say It Ain’t So, Joe!

When it comes to ripping off your biggest fans, one strike and you’re out. Major League Baseball’s bush-league stance is telling its biggest fans not to play ball.

“Diehard baseball fans have paid tens of thousands of dollars to MLB to download games,” notes Wood, “and MLB has pocketed the money and is now making it impossible for those fans to watch the games.”
“MLB has stolen your money,” adds Wood.

“Paying customers are at the whims of content providers and whatever DRM clearinghouse they happen to be using at the time,” notes Ars Technica’s Eric Bangeman. “It’s no wonder so many sports fan turn to BitTorrent for game footage.”

Fans Don’t Don’t Let Other Fans Buy DRM’d Video

MLB’s rip-off of baseball fans is one more example of why purchasing DRM’d content can be risky. Internet media fans have beens stranded before, when Google killed its video store and when Microsoft changed its strategy for Internet music.

The lesson for Internet media users is this: don’t buy DRM’d media.

“I buy NOTHING that depends on DRM to control my fair use, which includes HD-DVD and BluRay,” says Geek News Central’s Matthew Greensmith. “We can complain about DRM, but the solution is in our own hands. As soon as consumers en-mass tell companies with our wallets where they can stick their DRM, the problem goes away. My boycott has already started, and I am sure that stories like this will ensure I am not lonely.”

Opportunity is knocking for bloggers, podcasters and video podcasters interested in making money online.

The amount of money spent in the US on online advertising will nearly double in the next four years, going from $21.4 billion in 2007 to $42 billion in 2011, according to a report by eMarketer. This represents an increase from a 7.4% share of total media in 2007, to a 13.3% share in 2011. In roughly the same period, online spending will nearly triple, rising from $16.9 billion in 2006 to $42 billion in 2011.

According to David Hallerman, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report US Advertising Spending, these four milestones mark the change:

“First, US Internet ad spending surpassed $5 billion in Q2 2007, the largest sum recorded in any quarter according to research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.”

eMarketer projections suggest that, in Q4 this year, spending will leap past the $6 billion mark.

“Second, while 69 of the 100 largest US advertisers put smaller budget shares into four traditional media—television, radio, newspapers and magazines—in 2006 than the previous year, 70 of the same group put larger shares into Internet advertising.”

Furthermore, 58 did both—decreased their traditional spending share and increased the Internet share.

“Third, even as the credit crunch pulls ad money off the total media table, the Internet looks to be more resistant to economic turmoil,” says Mr. Hallerman. “To put the obvious into figures, online advertising contributes more and more to the total ad spending universe every year.”

That share will be 7.4% this year, approach one in ten dollars next year, and will likely reach at least 13% by the end of 2011.

Finally, Mr. Hallerman notes, “Data from both eMarketer and TNS Media Intelligence indicate that 2007 Internet ad spending will be higher than for radio, as reported in August. That is the first time online ad spending will be greater than for any of the four traditional measured media.”

Advertisers Spending More Per Internet User

The average ad spend per Internet user is also growing. In fact, 2007 marks the first year that marketers will spend more than $100 to reach each person online. And, by 2011, advertisers will be spending nearly $200 per user.

Amid an ever-increasing number of podcast event offerings, the very first Blog World and New Media Expo officially kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada. Business executives were gathering today for a special pre-conference new media workshop, followed by a special sneak preview of the upcoming movie, “The Kite Runner.”

Podcasting News‘ publisher Elisabeth McLaury Lewin tracked down event CEO and co-founder Rick Calvert on Tuesday, in the middle of setting up for the Expo.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: This will be your very first foray into putting on a blogging/new media conference. How will Blog World Expo be different from the other podcasting and new media conferences and conventions? (The PodCamps, the Podcast and New Media Expo, BlogHer, etc.)

Rick Calvert: Well, for one this is not just podcasting, or tech-centric. This is event is for bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, Internet radio and TV broadcasters, digital photographers, and any other type of new media content creator.

We have also made a concerted effort to reach out to several key communities in the blogosphere including the sports bloggers, military bloggers, political bloggers, pop culture and Godbloggers, in addition to the tech and business guys you normally see.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: For the newcomers to the blogging, podcasting and new media world, what can they expect to see and do?

Rick Calvert: They are going to be able to learn from the leaders in the industry on how to build their readership and community, monetize their content, improve the look and functionality of their site and network with their peers.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: For seasoned veterans, what features of the conference are worth noting?

Rick Calvert: Keynotes from Mark Cuban, Leo Laporte, Matt Mullenweg, and Larry Benet.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Is it too late to register/attend?

Rick Calvert: No, it’s not too late. People can register on-site.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: I know you can’t play favorites, but what are a few of the things you are especially looking forward to?

Rick Calvert: The keynote with Mark Cuban will definitely be a highlight, but the political track and the milblogging track are favorites of mine. The sports blogging track should be a lot of fun as well.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What do you see as the current state of podcasting — for hobbyists and for the corporate podcaster?

Rick Calvert: Well I think more than anything saying you are a “podcaster” or a “blogger” is going to be a term of the past. We are all moving to multimedia. You need to be engaging your community in as many ways as possible.

The other thing I would say is… for as much as has happened this far, and as much as we have experienced explosive growth to this point, we are still at the very beginning of where this medium is going.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Is there anything else you’d like us to share with the readers of Podcasting News?

Rick Calvert: Just that this event has been a dream come true for me. This whole thing started a little over a year ago when I wanted to attend an event like this, but it didn’t [yet] exist.

The other thing I want to mention is how much we appreciate all of the support we have received from the industry, from the exhibitors and sponsors, to the influencers who are speaking and all the attendees who wanted to go to the same show I wanted to go to. Blog on!

Zune Podcast Programming Manager Rob Greenlee sends word that podcasters will be able to add their podcast to Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace podcast directory starting on November 13th.

We will be launching our Zune Marketplace Podcast Directory with approximately 1,000 podcast feeds shortly. The reason we are doing this is to seed the catalog with a base level of podcasts that Zune users and podcasters can build on over the next few months.

Being a long-time podcaster, I understand that most content providers want to know about where their podcasts are being distributed and thus would want to actually submit his or her feed to us. It has been exciting over the past few weeks to have so many podcasters contact me and request inclusion in the new Marketplace podcast area – the catalog will have the first 1000 or so from us, but the rest will come from the podcasting community.

Please plan on downloading the new Zune Marketplace software on November 13th, then visit the main podcast section in the software to “Suggest a Podcast” for inclusion in the public Podcast Marketplace.

1,000 podcasts is skimpy in this day and age. Apple’s directory includes over 125,000 podcasts and video podcasts. Microsoft’s clout is likely to help narrow this gap.

In addition to the directory, users will be able to add podcasts independent of the directory using a “Personal Podcast Feed Submission” feature in the new Zune Marketplace. This will let users to add a personal list of podcast feeds to their own subscription “Collection” area.

Personal feeds submitted to your collection will be your personal and private collection of podcasts that some may or may not be in the general marketplace podcast library.

Podcasting pioneer Dave Winer writes on his blog that Leopard “is not a good operating system release.”

Winer compares the Leopard update to Windows:

“It’s that unpleasant to use. It disappears for long periods of time. Systems that didn’t used to crash now crash regularly. On one system three hard disks were rendered unusable, and I lost a couple of full days restoring them (luckily I had good backups). The user interface is quirky. The new networking interface is a big step backward. The firewall moved and lost features! That’s simply never done, you don’t charge customers to remove features, esp security features. I think Apple doesn’t understand how many people depend seriously on their Macs.”

Our experience mirrors Winer’s. Leopard installed fine on an eMac, but lost many of our preferences on a iBook. Worst of all, Leopard bricked our Powerbook. The root of the problem we encountered updating our Powerbook appears to have been related to using passwords longer than 8 characters. That harkens back to Windows 3.1.

Winer’s experience and ours are far from unique. Others are pointing out bugs that could cause data loss and even comparing Leopard to Vista.

We didn’t lose any data from the updates because of backups, but we’ve lost a lot of time and haven’t been impressed by many of the tweaks to the OS and interface. The changes to the dock are a big step backward, the menu bar is borderline unreadable and the feature we were the most interested in, Time Machine, hasn’t proven to work reliably over our wireless network to a shared drive. In fact, Time Machine reminded us how much more capable third-party backup solutions for Macs were 10 years ago.

Because of the lack of compelling new features in Leopard and the inability to customize interface elements for better usabilty, you may want to wait until Leopard gets updated before you upgrade.

Update: We’re not the only ones suggesting waiting to upgrade to Leopard. Tony Celeste of Tom’s Guide writes “Mac OSX Leopard was released before it was ready. This operating system was not properly beta tested, and Apple’s customers are paying for it, with lost productivity and inoperative computers.”

Update 2: PC Week says Leopard is the new Vista, citing the unnecessary graphics glitz in Leopard, Leopard’s pointless interface “fixes”, like the excessive use of translucency (translucent menu bar, anyone) that can’t be disabled, and bundled apps that suck. We wouldn’t go that quite thatfar – but they make good points.

NPR and 12 NPR Member stations recognized for music programming have launched NPR Music, a new, free, comprehensive multimedia music discovery Web site. The site features on-air and online content aggregated from NPR and the participating stations as well as original-to-NPR Music materials such as interviews, reviews, blogs and live performances.

The site is already impressive and could easily become a destination site for music, especially for fans of NPRs coverage of classical and alternative. We were surprised that the site doesn’t have a section for electronica or even its popular Hearts Of Space ambient program, though. Instead, it appears to be going with its strengths, classical, jazz & blues, world, alternative and urban.

The NPR Music service also enables partner stations and other NPR Member stations to incorporate a variety of modular content offerings, including RSS feeds and Javascript modules, into their own Web sites.