D&M Professional, manufacturer of the Marantz Professional PMD series of professional recording products, has released details on the new PMD620 Hand-Held Digital Compact Recorder.

The PMD620 offers direct to MP3 recording in three quality levels, as well as fully uncompressed, CD-quality 44.1/48 kHz .wav format in 16 or 24-bit resolution, allowing the user to configure the PMD620 for a wide variety of applications, from extended-length voice recordings to high-quality music applications. Sound quality is enhanced by the inclusion of two condenser microphones on the PMD620, as well as line and external mic inputs, and an external mic output.

The new PMD620 use SD flash memory for data storage. The PMD620 accepts memory cards of high capacity (up to 2-TB, 2048 gigabytes).

The PMD620 offers one-touch recording using a button with its own tactile feel and red highlight illumination. The unit’s transport controls will be familiar to users of personal portable music devices, and incorporates a thumb-operated scroll wheel and a vivid organic LED (OLED) display screen, one of the first in the industry, which uses very little power to illuminate, thus extending the unit’s battery life. (The PMD620 is powered by two AA batteries.)

Rain Recording has introduced the LiveBook Diablo, a laptop designed for digital audio production. The portable computer is available with a 2.93Ghz Core 2 Extreme desktop processor from Intel, 3 Gigabytes of RAM and a 200 Gigabyte, 16mb buffer hard drive,

Other features include a built-in biometric fingerprint scanner; 2 Megapixel webcam with face tracking technology; FireWire, USB 2.0 and an eSATA port to connect Rain’s new external StormDrive for a first ever 3000Mbit transfer rate; and Bluetooth and WIFI connectivity.

LiveBook Diablo D1: Price $2,999.95.

Information is staring to leak out about the second-generations Zune portable media players, Microsoft’s answer to the iPod.

Based on unofficial info, the 2G Zunes are not iPod-killers, but instead appear to be several generations behind Apple’s latest iPods. Microsoft is likely to have to compete on price and with distribution deals in order to get these into people’s hands.

Microsoft will have a lot of work to do to rebuild interest in the Zune brand and to combat the “Zunetanic” moniker the first generation players earned. We’ve heard from insiders, though, that Microsoft is hiring people to help with the Zune’s podcasting capabilities, which may be a sign that Microsoft is committing the resources to create a more substantial Zune platform.

Apple’s PR fiasco over its decision to actively fight the unlocking and hacking of iPhones appears to be going from bad to worse.

This video mashup is an example of the fallout Apple is reaping from its decision to fight developers that want to add to the iPhones capabilities. It takes the narration from Apple’s famous Think Different add campaigns and turns it back upon them:

KeeptheiPhoneFree, via engadget

At the Podcast and New Media Expo, Omaha Sternberg, CEO of MacBroadcast, announced the relaunch of MacRadio.com as a podcast directory and community site for the Macintosh community.

MacRadio will be offering access to Mac-centric podcasts listed in the directory, with the ability for users to browse or search through categories and tags to find the right podcast for them. In addition, users may access the podcast streams, enabling them to enjoy the podcast through the embedded Quicktime Player, rate podcasts, comment and tag them, and subscribe to the original feed.

All MacRadio Internet radio programs are available free as a podcast through the MacRadio website. In addition, Mac-centric podcasts can submit their podcasts to the site, and users can invite a podcast onto the site.

Wizzard Media has made several announcements in conjunction with the Podcast and New Media Expo, September 28-30 in Ontario, California.

Wizzard announced that the latest version of the LibsynPRO enterprise publishing service has been opened up to a small group of beta users. LibsynPRO is a media publishing solution for podcast networks, media companies and other businesses that need to manage multiple podcast shows under a single account.

Features:

• Detailed statistics and time-sensitive reporting available in three formats – a web interface, a downloadable spreadsheet or a customizable layout.
• An easy-to-operate interface for LibsynPRO‚Äôs advertising system – tasks like content insertion and removal can be handled quickly and easily, with the ability to schedule customized campaigns in real-time. Wizzard Media‚Äôs partnership with Nielsen//NetRatings has extended into the LibsynPRO system to ensure accurate reporting for users, agencies and advertisers.
• For non-technical content creators, LibsynPRO is designed to act as an easy publishing tool. Users can customize the system to suit their business needs allowing for the creation of custom levels of administration for multiple users. Clients can take advantage of the built-in quality control process that guarantees content receives approval before it is released to the public. Automatic creation of iTunes-compliant RSS feeds assures that content is ready for the web.
• For the developer, the LibsynPRO platform offers support for the building of custom publishing applications through a rich application programming interface (API). Advanced features for Power users include a set of tools to schedule the release and expiration of media, precise placement of dynamic advertisements, and controls over the feeds created by the platform.

Wizzard also announced that over 500 more podcasts, representing more than 22 million monthly downloads as certified by Nielsen//NetRatings, have joined Wizzard’s advertising network. These podcasts have agreed to allow Wizzard Media’s national ad sales team to represent them to agencies and media buyers.

Podcast hosting provider Podango has announced integration with PodPress and WordPress, making it possible to seamlessly use the popular podcast publishing tools while taking advantage of Podango’s unlimited free hosting.

How it works:

• Set up a Podango account. Once your account is set up, you will get an API Key and a podcast ID.
• Add your Podango API Key and Podcast ID to PodPress. These allow your WordPress/PodPress and Podango accounts to do a secret handshake and then communicate back and forth without you having to login each time.
• Upload podcast episodes to Podango. When you are ready to upload your file, you will upload it just as you have always done through PodPress. The plugin will automatically upload the files to your Podango account. PodPress handles adding the files to your RSS feed.

Podango offers free unlimited podcast hosting and a variety of other services in exchange for 50% of ad revenue.

Marantz Professional introduced a new digital audio recorder designed with podcasters in mind, the PMD620 Solid State Portable Recorder, at the Podcast Academy, held this week in Ontario, California.

The PMD620 is a prosumer-level device, featuring a pocket-size form factor, an easy-to-use interface, and built-in stereo mics and speaker.

Highlights:

• Two high-quality omnidirectional condenser mics.
• 1/8″ input for connecting external microphones.
• +5v phantom power for electret condensers.
• 16- or 24-bit resolution audio recording [mono or stereo] direct to SD flash memory
• WAV or MP3 file format.
• OLED display.

The PMD620 uses 2 x AA Alkaline or NiMH batteries for up to 5 hours of operation.

Image: Josh Bancroft

Dave Winer, who authored the RSS 2.0 spec that podcasting is based upon, thinks that it’s time to turn Twitter into a podcasting platform.

“Back in 2001, I wrote a document called Payloads for RSS that explained how you could attach something to a RSS item,” notes Winer. “Today, we may be at a similar place with Twitter.”

Winer suggests that Twitter could be used to deliver content that’s to podcasts the way instant messages are to blog posts – shorter and more timely.

Here’s what he’s proposing:

• The “update” routine, as specified by the Twitter API, would add 2 optional parameters:
• the url of a picture that’s a thumb for the enclosed data; and
• the url of the data.

The image would link to the data. If you made a short “micropodcast” and published it via Twitter, the announcement might be displayed with a speaker icon that would link to the audio. A cell phone photo published via Twitter could be represented by a tiny thumbnail, which linked to the full version on Flickr.

While Winer’s Twittergram concept is interesting, the fact that it’s based on a proprietary platform, unlike podcasting, could create a barrier to adoption.

Apple appears to be betting that bloggers don’t matter in the aftermath of its decision to fight attempts to hack the iPhone, a move that has turned some of the advanced phones into “iBricks.” The move has generated a storm of bad publicity in the blogosphere, with Gizmodo going so far as recommending against buying the iPhone.

Apple largely ignore the blogging world in the lead up to the release of the iPhone, only letting a few mainstream media journalists, cherry-picked for their history of favorable reviews of Apple products, have access to the device. The result was that initial reviews of the iPhone in major publications were all very positive. While Apple’s approach may have been a successful strategy for releasing the product, the company’s lack of engagement with the blogosphere appears to be backfiring now as sites take a second look at the iPhone.

The hyped discussion of the iPhone and ways of extending its capabilities has changed to a backlash against Apple. Wired’s blog has published a chart, above, that compares what you an do with a hacked iPhone vs. a stock version. Gizmodo has revisited its iPhone review and now says don’t buy one. Machinist says “If you care about your rights, don’t buy an iPhone.”

While the blogosphere backlash against the iPhone may not have the same impact as Apple’s carefully crafted publicity campaign, Apple’s lack of engagement is effectively telling hackers and tech bloggers that they don’t matter.

In doing so, the company may be giving a competitor a blueprint for creating a competitor to the iPhone, one that comes with some degree of openness and vendor independence, that hackers and the blogosphere will embrace.