Friday, January 06, 2006

Mike's Manic Minute 05 Jan 06 Virtual Concerts. . . With virtual instruments no less!!   The Vienna Symphonic Library welcomes the New Year with a special concert recording. They’re not playing Johann Strauss at the Wiener Musikverein, but they’re presenting Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition on the virtual stage of the Great Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus, orchestrated by Maurice Ravel and realized with various sample libraries of the Vienna Symphonic Library.   The free "concert" is an excellent example of what the current state-of-the-art is in virtual orchestration. The Great Gate of Kiev gives a taste of the range and quality of sounds possible.   KYOU radio to start podcasting. . . The radio station KYOU, based in San Francisco, says that while it's been taking podcasts and making them "commercial" it hasn't actually delivered any of it's content via podcasting.  That, according to the company's website it about to change later this month.   http://kyouradio.com/     Podcast of the day. . . The MicroEnterprise Journal podcast   http://www.microenterprisejournal.com/podcast/   Having been the owner of a so-called "micro-enterprise" for most of the past 30 years, I'm still interested in how the that segment of the market perceives and makes it way in the world.   And that's your Manic Minute for January 5th, 2006! 9:46:53 AM    comment []

Mike's Manic Minute 04 Jan 06 Consumers driving business. . .what will they think of next! The Wise Marketer recently posted a story from Gartner talking about the growing integration of technology into every aspect of life, whether in the home, office, family, car or recreational arenas, andhow that will profoundly impacts business technology over the next decade   The report says that consumers are now exerting massive power over businesses and the technologies that they use. Companies must take this consumer power seriously, and must make multiple connections with consumers. technology can assist in this process, if you understand how to use it properly. They must also leverage new technologies to their advantage, especially when managing and motivating their talented staff.   How sounds get created for Windows. . . One of my co-workers, Charles Torre, who's one of the original Channel9 (http://channel9.msdn.com) crew, recently got to hang out and film a recording session with Robert Fripp (http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=151853) while Robert created sounds for the next generation of Microsoft Windows, code named Longhorn, now known as Windows Vista.  You gotta check this out!!!     Podcast of the day. . . Pirates. . .a serial sitcom I've always been a sucker for serial-format drama and this one looks to be well produced (sound effects. Great voices).   Listen to it!   And that's your Manic Minute for January 4th, 2006! 9:43:22 AM    comment []

Mike's Manic Minute 03 Jan 06   Podcasting. . .and money Libsyn, the hosting service I used to host the Manic Minute files, has announced that it is partnering with Kiptronic to provide a program to match up podcasts with paid sponsorships.   "Both publishers and sponsors [according to Libsyn] are able to set their own terms and negotiate deals that make sense for them. The program is, of course, 100% optional and won't cost you a dime unless you get paid!"   Service Description: How much you make, how the spots sound, when they are played, and how much you get paid are all up to you: an agreement must be reached by both parties regarding the terms of any sponsorship before it goes into effect. You can do spoken endorsements in your own voice, or the spots can be provided by the sponsor. You can opt for the audio to be inserted into the beginning or the end of each episode, and you can negotiate your own prices for each spot. Because the sponsor's promo is inserted dynamically upon file download, you can have multiple sponsors with rotating spots, and make money from your entire archived catalog of episodes. You can have ads in your own voice, or choose to use spots created by the sponsors. Best of all, You set the price, you set the terms, and you always have final say as to whether a sponsorship goes through.   Portable podcasting. . . I just discovered the MicroTrack2496 a Compact Flash (CF) based recorder from M-Audio.  At Microsoft I use a Marantz PMD660, which is also a CF recorder but much bigger and bulkier.  The Marantz does have XLR inputs for the microphones while the MicroTrack has balanced 1/4-inch connectors but the savings in weight and size are significant. http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html     Podcast of the day. . . Nolo Presents The Law in Plain English The folks at Nolo press make the best self-help legal books in the business.  I've used them to start new businesses, deal with landlords and manage copyrights.   This is a podcast not to miss!   And that's your Manic Minute for January 3rd, 2006! 9:40:43 AM    comment []

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