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Podcasting Hacks: Tips and Tools for Blogging Out Loud Review by Amy Neymeyr
A Remarkable Breadth of Topics
Introduction
From the title, my impression was that this book would provide several specific technically-advanced strategies to maximize efficiency and enjoyment of podcasts. The strategies covered wouldn't necessarily be comprehensive, but rather serve as additional specialized tools one could add to the toolkit. Contrary to my impression, I was pleasantly surprised at the range of topics covered. I assumed from the term "hacks" in the title that the book's focus was going to be on adapting software and hardware for easier podcasting creation and consumption. However, there was plenty of focus on soft-skills as well, like methods of hacking your voice to sound better in a recorded format, or how to hack an experience you've had into a well-told and interesting story for a podcast.
Things I Liked
The book's foreward, believe it or not, contains the most succinct and accurate description of what podcasting is -- and isn't -- that I've read anywhere. I am mistrustful when a technology is advertised as "the hot new thing that everyone is doing!" because it usually seems to be a solution in search of a problem. That the foreward took a realistic tone made me favorably anticipate what would come in the rest of the book. The other thing that set this book apart was its range of contributors. There are hacks supplied by professional newscasters, popular podcasters, technologists of all stripes, and developers of podcasting tools and applications. These wide-ranging perspectives allowed the author to cover everything from writing Perl scripts to understanding basic copyright law to setting up a home studio to marketing your podcast - all in all, having this book is like getting to pick the brains of the top people doing podcasting, and having concise written documentation upon which to refer.
Things I Liked Not So Much
A minor point, but as someone who does not use Macs, PCs AND Linux boxes on a daily basis, I really only care about stuff available for the platform I work on. But the format of the book didn't allow me to easily locate the information relevant to me. When the book discussed software and hardware options, it wasn't clear which platform a hack was for until late into the description. A small addition to the hack title, like "Mac Only", would have remedied this.
In addition, the organization of the hacks was surprising and a little frustrating at times. For example,
Hack #2 is writing a perl script to re-assemble feeds of your choosing from other sites as a customized rebroadcast. As I was reading the hack, I thought about several questions one might be expected to have, such as "What is perl?", "What do I need to utilize this script?", and "How can I tell if this script will work with my web server"? These issues weren't covered until Hack #7. In another example, chapter 3 explores how to get quality sound; , the author uses terms like "condenser microphones" and "phantom power" early on, which he doesn't really explain until later on in the chapter when he discusses the various types of microphones.