For something different, I have recorded an audio review of the iRiver iFP 899 from a Mac-using podcaster’s perspective. Not that I am a podcaster, but I am a beginner. The review is interwoven with a sound-seeing tour of me going to the supermarket, since using these iRivers for podcasting is all about mobile recording.

Audio: iRiver Review MP3

It’s a worrying 50 minutes long, of which the review is mostly the first 15 minutes. The rest is me ranting / smoking / umming and scuttling furtively down the tinned food aisle. Although I don’t know why I bothered trying to hide the white Griffin Lapel Mic; it does tend to stand out against my dark navy jacket (see photo, right).

I got some facts wrong during the review, so read them here and don’t sue me:

• 1GB flash memory
• 40 hours of recording at 64kbps / 22.05Khz / Stereo
• Real-time Encoding
• 40 hours of playtime on a single AA battery
• Plays MP3, OGG, ASF and something called WMA
• FM tuner
• Record from Line In / External Mic, Internal Mic, FM Tuner

I forgot to mention the FM tuner in the review. Both the tuner and the recording feature work very well and the tuner has excellent reception (for me, anyway).

Also, I could hardly remember that in the box you get:

• Manuals (you’ll need ’em)
• CD
• Earphones
• Carrying Case
• Neck strap
• 1 AA Battery
• USB Cable (iRiver supports USB 2)
• Audio Cable (3.5mm jacks both ends)

Here is a screenshot of the iRiver Music Manager software (that doesn’t really manage anything):

Finally, I mention in the review that I tried to pause the recording and hit the wrong button, meaning I had to start another recording to continue. I stitched these together with Sound Studio then re-ripped the file into MP3 and tagged it using iTunes. I don’t think the quality suffered.

Enjoy!

Update: Click here see some notes on this review, and please accept my apologies for the singing.

I’ve got to say, this looks promising, not to mention fantastic.

I love what Dave Watanabe has done with NewsFire and can relate to the way he works. A month or so ago, he mentioned concerns about supporting podcasting in NewsFire on his blog. He didn’t want bloat, didn’t like the metaphor mix and perhaps didn’t see the point when there are plenty of podder clients out there, but he made himself open to feedback. Clearly a creative thought process ensued and the result looks great.

I commented on Dave’s blog about this. My post was so long I felt guilty and that served as the final nail in the coffin for my “reasons not to blog”. The trouble is that support for podcasting and enclosures is still in its infancy in most newsreaders and the dedicated podder clients seem lacking in so many areas. This has created an enormous amount of unnecessary support for Feeder, where I have been dealing with problems people think are to do with their RSS feed when in fact the podder client is to blame. Most Feeder users wanted to use their existing aggregators such as NewsFire, but the support has been lacking.

In essence, all a Mac podcasting client need do is:

• Subscribe to feed.
• Check for items with audio enclosures.
• Download the enclosure files automatically or manually and optionally add them to iTunes.

This probably sounds simpler than it is, but that’s the use case scenario.

Of what I consider to be the “big three”, NetNewsWire 2, which is soon to to go final after a very long public beta, has great podcasting support – and regardless of its beta status is a wonderfully comprehensive app that manages to do everything I can think of. PulpFiction offers a different angle (and one that is very useful for mailing list feeds and the like), supports enclosures but not automatic downloading / iTunes integration. NewsFire is a superb application that shows how less really can be more, it looks as good if not better than any iApp and is so tight and polished in its implementation. I hope the podcasting side works as well as the screenshot suggests.

From BBC News:

The BBC is making 20 more radio shows available for listeners to download onto their digital music players. […] The programmes which will be made available as podcasts are mainly talk-based to avoid problems over music rights issues.

Article on BBC News:

Nasa is doing it, 14-year-old boys in bedrooms are doing it, couples are doing it, gadget lovers – male and female – are definitely doing it.

It is podcasting – DIY radio in the form of downloadable MP3 audio files.

In Why Podcasting Will Fail Hadley Stern writes that he thinks podcasting is a passing phase. He may be right.

I don’t agree. While it might continue to be refined and evolve, go more commercial and may even level out in a way, in essence it’s just using the enclosure element of RSS as a delivery mechanism for audio.

So podcasting can deliver everything from an audio blog to radio on-demand, music, church sermons, news reports, or just someone screaming for five minutes. It has a multitude of uses and I believe it’s here for the foreseeable – until something better comes along.

Update: This has been followed up by Chris Seibold in Podcasts are Here to Stay (and that is a Scary Thought). I agree.