Blubrry Blog

Podcasting applications using Google Reader: We’re here to help

Todd — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:01:44 +0000

We didn’t see that one coming, so we want you to know we’re here for you. With the announcement of Google Reader shutting down July 1, we have received requests by both podcasters and app developers asking whether our MyCast subscription system and API will fill the void. The answer is yes.

In the following weeks, we will be making our podcast directory API public for app developers to use in their applications to manage podcast subscriptions. All the app developer needs to do is to agree to some very simple terms and conditions and register the application with us.

We’re encouraging podcasters or consumers using a podcasting app that now uses Google Reader to manage podcast subscriptions to reach out to application’s developers and let them know about our API. Yup, we’re shocked and a little dismayed by the announcement that Google is doing away with Reader, but lamenting the choice isn’t going to do us any good and it certainly isn’t going to help you, and that’s what we’re here to do.

If you are a software or device developer looking for an API for your podcasting application, please contact us for details. Include the name and website URL to your application in the contact form (http://www.blubrry.com/contact.php). The Blubrry API will ensure nobody is cut off or left out; that this doesn’t happen to you again.

We’d like to show you our support

cathy — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:59:47 +0000

In the past months, we at Blubrry have been working diligently to bolster our support services and educate our podcast family on the options we provide. Now, we have to say, we can’t help be brag a little because our hard work have paid off.

Charlotte Caruso of PuggleFM is a great example of what’s working in our support services. Charlotte recently emailed RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato after a consult, saying:

I just wanted to extend my sincere appreciation for your assistance over the past few days, with your email correspondence, which has always been very prompt and helpful, and then again tonight on the Skype call where you very patiently went through the entire process with me. Your help and assistance in getting the podcasts syncing to iTunes correctly is so invaluable to my company, it will literally save me hours and hundreds of dollars.

All your correspondence has been invaluable, you have been clear and practical in your recommendations for solutions for me, and I really appreciate such professionalism, especially in today’s world where I am constantly getting “help” from people who are more interested in a sale than actually helping someone in need.

I would absolutely recommend yourself and Blubrry to anyone thinking of buying a plugin for WordPress or who might be thinking about getting involved with podcasting! A truly refreshing experience, thank you.

It was a joy working with Charlotte and we hope you’ll check out her show, PuggleFM, child-friendly radio for parents that provides useful, entertaining audio featuring old school class with a new-age spin.

And to recap, here are the services we provide:

Premium Statistics or Blubrry Media Hosting Customer Support
If you’re having a problem with one of our paid services contact us with as much detail as possible and we’ll assist you within 24 hours.

Contact Blubrry

Paid Phone Support and Consulting
Looking for phone support? Confused on which media format to use? Trying to decide the best setup for your website and media hosting? Whether you need advice for podcasting or you want consulting on what video format is best for your audience, we have the staff and knowledge to assist you. Contact us today with your needs for a free quote.

Contact Blubrry

Custom Application, Web or WordPress Development
Looking for a developer to customize your theme specifically for podcasting? Want to extend a feature in PowerPress as your own custom plugin? Have a proprietary Internet media application and need assistance with development? We can help! We’ve been developing podcasting and new media solutions since 2005. Contact us today with details for a free quote.

Free Support Options
Don’t have the budget to pay for immediate support? No problem! Check out the following free resources and Blubrry forum:

Blubrry Help – Help documentation for Blubrry service.
Blubrry Forum – Post questions and search past threads discussing podcasting, PowerPress and the Blubrry community.
Blubrry PowerPress and Community Podcast – How-to videos and latest news covering the Blubrry community and PowerPress WordPress plugin.

DNS Issues

angelo — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:01:11 +0000

This weekend we made some minor changes to the DNS records that had been planned well in advance. For whatever reason, those changes resulted in a small number of ISPs to not update the name servers. When we use diagnostic tools, we are seeing a 99 percent success rate in resolving the sites.

We have received about six support tickets and most have been resolved in the past couple of hours. This morning we made some additional changes that we feel will speed things up in the remaining ISPs. If you’re are having ongoing issues, here are a few things you can do to mitigate the issue.

1. Reboot your PC
2. Flush your DNS
3. If that does not fix the issue remove the media re-direct for the next 24hours.

This is not something we ever want to happen, and in the eight years we have been doing this we have never seen an issue like this. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Todd..

1 Pixel Out player returns to PowerPress

angelo — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:34:31 +0000

The 1 Pixel Out Audio Player is back! Last month we removed the 1 Pixel out player due to concerns of possible security exploits. The author of this open source flash player has updated the player to address these concerns. Thank you Martin!

These open source players included in PowerPress are created by individuals who have a passion for our podcasting and music community. To show your support, please make a donation to the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player.

The future of podcast distribution and discovery at NMX

cathy — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:08:12 +0000

In December 2012, 50 percent of listening and viewing digital content was distributed through aggregators such as iTunes, Zune, etc. Sure, that’s a lot. But in a three-year comparison (2010-2012), that’s down more than 21 percent. What’s up is the number of Mobile Web Browsers (13.5 percent), Mobile Applications (3.2 percent), Tablet / Pad Web Browsers (8.3 percent) and TV / Set-Top Box (0.5 percent). Therein lies a glimpse into the future of podcasting.

At New Media Expo 2013, RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato presented on The Future of Podcast Distribution & Content

Discovery with Rob Walch, VP, Podcaster Relations, Libsyn.com, and Rob Greenlee, content manager, podcasts at Microsoft, Windows Phone and Zune. Gain more on these insights and other insights – such as who buys Android and who opts for the iPhone – in the slideshow! The Future of Podcast Distribution & Content Discovery

Questions? Email Angelo at cio [at] RawVoice.com.

1 Pixel Out player removed from PowerPress

angelo — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:23:27 +0000

Due to concerns of possible security exploits, the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player has been removed from PowerPress as of version 4.0.6. PowerPress users are strongly encouraged to update their copy of PowerPress immediately.

Update your copy of PowerPress to version 4.0.6 immediately

If you update your copy of PowerPress via the plugin update interface built into your WordPress wp-admin, no further action is required.

If you update your copy of PowerPress via FTP, it is imperative that you delete the following file in the wp-content/plugins/powerpress folder: audio-player.swf

The possible issue is with the 1 Pixel Out flash based audio player. The official 1 Pixel Out Audio Player was removed temporary from WordPress.org repository (link: http://wordpr

ess.org/extend/plugins/audio-player/) until the security issues have been addressed. Once a new version is available, we will review re-including the player in PowerPress.

If your site is currently configured to use the 1 Pixel Out audio player (pictured below), the Flow Player Classic player will be substituted in its place once your copy of PowerPress is updated.

UPDATE: The creator of the 1 Pixel Out player is working on a fix. Once updated, we will be re-including the popular player in PowerPress.

These open source players included in PowerPress are created by individuals who have a passion for our podcasting and music community. To give back, please make a donation to the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player to show your support for this very popular Audio Player.

Updated Podcast Statistics Service Interface Demo!

Todd — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:11:06 +0000

Once you see this demo of our new Podcast Statistics Interface and the add features, you are going to want to make sure you are using our podcast stats service if you are not already! Plus we encourage you to become a premium statistics s

ervice customer as well.

Make sure you go full screen with this Demo so you can see the HD version of this!

We're giving thanks for our growing family with a free hosting transfer

cathy — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:59:33 +0000

'Tis the season of love, family and appreciation and we're incredibly thankful for our more than 13,000 content creators and our growing family of online broadcasters. To help show our gratitude, we're offering all new media hosting customers free transfer of up to 10 gb of your media from your old host to Blubrry now through Dec. 31.

Blubrry Podcast Hosting is highly integrated for those of you who are using WordPress with the PowerPress plugin.

We combine premium stats, media hosting, advance tools and multiple avenues to grow and support your show. You focus on the media creation; we'll take care of the rest. And now, get your existing shows transferred to us . . . on us. Just make sure you have a valid RSS feed with links to the old episodes and contact us at https://secure.blubrry.com/order.php and we'll get you going!

Support the company that supports you!

Happy holidays! We're thankful for you!

Amazon Outage Affecting Blubrry.com

Todd — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:45:50 +0000

Oct 23 04:15 All Services Restored

Oct 23 04:15

Upon Amazon restoring our EBS we found that one of the drives was corrupt. Angelo restored the drive from backup and we where finally able to bring the remaining services back online. Our backup management plan proved effective. Over the next 24 hours we will review all of our server configurations and put in place new infrastructure to reduce the risk of having a pro-longed outage in the future.

Please note as indicated below Our Media Hosting and our Stats Service never went offline. Our fail over plan worked as expected and all media and data served/collected during the primary provider outage.

Oct 23: 00:44am EST

The Amazon Service outage affecting many sites across the country is effecting Blubrry.com and our Publishing platform. We are awaiting Amazon to allow us access to the two remaining drives that have not came online yet. Our entire suite of services is backed up daily so all data is safe regardless

Our Media Hosting and our Stats Service has not been offline, all media continues to be delivered and logs captured for statistics . What is currently affected is our publishing interface and of course the main website. We expect resolution of this in shortly and apologize for the outage. If your show publishing schedule has been affected by this outage be sure to submit a support ticket once we come back online.

Our media statistics service was designed to stay online with multiple data center failures and today that design proved itself. “No data has been lost” and all media continues to be served.

We need to improve the rest of our operations resilience to these types of outages. I will be working with the team as soon as we recover from the Amazon outage and talk about fail over contingencies for the rest of our services. Down time in any instance is not acceptable and we will put in provisions to reduce the chance of further outages.

Todd Cochrane
CEO RawVoice

Take action: Ask Microsoft to add a podcasting app to Windows 8!

cathy — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:39:02 +0000

We need all podcasters to send a strong, positive message to Microsoft that podcasting is important. Windows 8 is due to launch with no podcasting support. While many of us may use iOS devices, have an Apple computer, or even be an Android user, the thing we need to remember is that hundreds of millions of potential listeners and viewers use the Windows programs.

Microsoft's goal with Windows 8 is to create synergy between the desktop, tablet, windows phone, and ultimately Xbox. Very similar to what Apple has already accomplished. Microsoft recently posted a list of Windows 8 Apps that will launch with the platform. Absent is any mention of podcasting support. We encourage each of you to leave a positive comment on th

e Microsoft Blog post asking for podcasting support.

This will take less than 5 minutes; we need to let Microsoft know we want our Windows users to have the same ease of subscribing and listening to podcasts afforded users on other platforms. Follow this link and ask Microsoft politely to add a podcasting app to Windows 8! Ask your audience members to ask for this support as well.

Get word out on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.. Let’s create a ground swell of pro-podcast comments to send a clear message to Microsoft that we want a podcast app for Windows 8.

Let our Voices be heard.

Todd Cochrane
CEO RawVoice

New Media Expo University: Apply for a Scholarship

cathy — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:28:13 +0000

We’re going to be at New Media Expo (NMX) Jan. 6-8, and we’d love to see you there, too. So we’re letting our communities know that the NMX organizers are accepting applications for an expenses paid scholarship to New Media Expo, Jan. 6-8, at the Rio All-Suite Hotel in Las Vegas.

“The scholarship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to learn and network with the leading minds of online content creation. If you are an aspiring or budding content creator, but you're looking for that kick start in the right direction, this scholarship is for you,” writes Deb Ng dean of students at New Media Expo University and director of community. Organizers have formed New Media Expo Universi

ty (#NMXU) to help the careers of aspiring bloggers, podcasters and Web TV & video professionals. The scholarship will include:

Airfare to Las Vegas from any destination in the Continental U.S.
Hotel accommodations at The Rio All-Suite Hotel during the event.
A three-day pass to New Media Expo.

The winner and runners up will be announced Nov. 8 and will be selected by an esteemed panel of judges, including RawVoice founder and Geek News Central podcaster Todd Cochrane.

Visit New Media Expo University and apply now. Because we want to see you there!

Never fear, iOS6 users, MyCast is here!

cathy — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 03:22:26 +0000

The new Apple iOS6 has about 200 new features, such as more all-new Maps, more Siri (and we all need more Siri, right?) and Facebook integration for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. But it has changed some of the podcast functionality. Podcasts have been removed from the iTunes app. Yup. We've been hearing from our Blubrry community that they ain't too thrilled about having their podcast playlists wiped out! But, guess what, at Blubrry we've had the quick and easy solution to that all al

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ong.

Blubrry lets you create and manage a Podcast playlists with MyCast. All you have to do is log in, and subscribe to the crème de la crème and, viola, they're on your MyCast subscription list in just a click. As new episodes come in, they're instantly populated newest to oldest in your MyCast RSS feed which you can subscribe to, our access through the Blubrry Android app or just visit the website. Your playlist is no further than a click away.

So never fear, podcast community! With Blubrry's MyCast, you can have your iOS6 and enjoy it your podcast playlists, too.

Server Maintenance Friday the 13th

Todd — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:26:39 +0000

Yes we know Friday the 13th might not seem to be the best day to do maintenance, but demand for our statistic service has been so great that we need to do some minor tweaking on Friday.

Don't worry, your media delivery will not be affected and we will continue to collect your statistics data. However, you will not be able to log in to the “Statistic” site for approxi

mately two hours starting at 10 a.m. EST on Friday the 13th.

We want to emphasize that we will continue to be collect your media statistics and no data will be lost. We have a robust server infrastructure for data collection. The data processing services simply needs some minor TLC to stay well ahead of what you all are throwing at us.

Thanks for your patience!

Blubrry Team

PowerPress Wonder Why?

Todd — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 01:16:30 +0000

PowerPress did not just happen, it came to be because ofÂ a vision to give Podcasters better tools so they can focus on creating content letting PowerPress and our tools do the heavy lifting. Support the team that is supporting you! I show you the power of how we continue to power your podcast with hosting and podcast publishing as easy as 1,2,3.

Become a Customer Today and Support the PowerPress Team

Top shows to receive national exposure

cathy — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:32:51 +0000

RawVoice is working with a national media network that is seeking audio and video content. This is an amazing op

portunity to take your show to the next level. We have been asked to facilitate talent screenings and act as the intermediary to the network.

This is an opportunity for our best shows to step into national limelight through mainstream media network.

We are currently signing shows to represent to this and other networks. If you would like your show to be considered, please contact us today at talent@rawvoice.com.

RawVoice to present latest on podcast developments at BlogWorld NYC

Todd — Sat, 26 May 2012 18:55:04 +0000

Be a part of it, BlogWorld New York register today! RawVoice will be there and weâ€™re hoping to catch up with you June 5-7 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 West 34th St., on the West Side of Manhattan. Weâ€™ll have a kiosk in the Podcast Pavilion and will be talking about our latest developments in digital media hosting, advertising, statistics and, of course, the release of PowerPress 4.0.

To top things off in the Big Apple, RawVoice CEO Todd Cochrane will be taking part in two sessions:

The Future of Podcast Distribution & Content Strategies, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 6, Room 1A15

Clear understanding of all the core podcast distribution â€œMust Be Onâ€ pla
http://exbacksms.com/ how to get your ex back

tforms and tips to get featured
Understanding of the future direction and trends around podcast and web TV content distribution
How Audio and Video Podcast distribution and audience use is diverging based on screen size

The State of Podcasting for 2012, 3:45-4:45 p.m., Thursday, June 7, Room 1A16

Learn about where podcasting has been.
Learn some very interesting new stats for podcasting, here in 2012.
Gain a better understanding about the future of the podcasting industry.

BlogWorld is a social media event that hosts thousands of attendees from more than 50 countries and features more than 200 speakers. It is the only industry-wide event bringing the global community of content creators and publishers together all under one roof. Be there and be square or hip or whatever you want to be. Be a part of it, meet us at BlogWorld New York.

Blubrry PowerPress 4.0 Released

Todd — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:48:34 +0000

Blubrry PowerPress 4.0 brings the latest essential features for media creation to WordPress, including the hottest updates to the new iTunes specifications.

â€œI am proud of this release of PowerPress, in supporting the latest iTunes podcast specs, additionally this update introduces innovative features first to market for the 10â€™s of thousands of media creators that rely on PowerPress,â€ said Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice.

iTunes upgrades include:

An updated iTunes image requirement — RGB 1400×1400 — throughout the plugin for better cover image quality throughout.

â€œFeature Episodeâ€ that allow podcasters to designate a primary episode, which can be used to introduce the podcast or lead in to a new series.

An iTunes Order feature that allows a podcaster doing a series of episodes to have each listed in the desired
get your ex back read more

order.

Other PowerPress 4.0 offerings include:

A new video player option: VideoJS HTML5 JavaScript player — a player that has its own plugin. By adding this plugin, the new player will be available as an option in PowerPress video players list.

A Feed Episode Maximizer “option” for shows with episodes in excess of what can currently be included in a feed. This feature allows the podcaster to maintain the latest 10 episodes in iTunes with all of the extensive episode data. The rest of the episodes are listed in a way that maximizes the number of episodes that can be listed on iTunes / Zune etc. Perfect for the serial podcaster with an extensive episode library.

Blubrry.com is a media community and directory that gives content creators the power to make money through advertising, get detailed audience measurements and host their audio and video. Blubrry PowerPress 4.0 brings the essential features for media creation to WordPress, offering full podcasting support, web audio/video media players and more.

Blubrry takes it to 3.0!

Todd — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:35:06 +0000

PowerPress 3.0 is out, ladies and gents, and itâ€™s already slamminâ€™ the competition. Oh, wait, there is no competition. As always, Blubrry PowerPress brings the essential features for media creation to WordPress. PowerPress offers HTML5 audio/video player with flash fallback and multi-channel/multi-category podcasting support.

It also offers:

*Meta Marks a new feature thatâ€™s so fantastic that your going to want to learn more!

*Customizable HTML5 audio/video-play icons.
*Auto Media Length (Duration) Detection added for .m4a/.m4v/.mp4
*Podcast channels tied to custom post types.
*Six languages includes Chinese, Danish, English, French, Italian and Romanian.
*Optimized for WordPress 3.3+ (WordPress 3.0 is now the minimum required).

So, whatcha waiting for? Go to Blubrry.com/powerpress and get even more of what you want, need and expect from exceptional offerings at Blubrry.

VO Minute adds that air of professionalism to your Blubrry podcast plug

cathy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:53:41 +0000

Way to go Joe! Thanks a bunch to Joe McNeil of the VO Minute podcast andÂ Marktree Productions for donating three Blubrry promo spots to our community. If youâ€™re part of Blubrry family of podcasters, yâ€™all know we ask you to put in a plug for Blubrry on each of your episodes. You can do your own or, thanks to Joe, Marktree ProductionsÂ and some of our other folks, use a professionally prerecorded audio or video clip from our spots page. Check it out!

In addition to VO Minute, weâ€™ve got spots by Patsy Terrell, FogView Podcast, Jak Attack Podcast, Rich Palmer and more. Itâ€™s a great way to mix things up and add an even more professional air to your show, all while spreading the good word about Blubrry.com.

Get a taste of the Blubrry and TPN Channel App on Google TV

cathy — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:43:04 +0000

Not much more app-etizing than Blubrry and Tech Podcasts Network (TPN) on Google TV! Yes-sir, now your favorite shows are accessible on yet another platform. With Google TV, Blubrry and TPN provide content creators the ability to access new markets that reach a worldwide audience of all demographics. Audiences can see network shows and manage their playlist through MyCast, wheth

er they have a Blubrry or TPN user account or not.

The Google TV app is one more in our RawVoice cache that also includes:

Roku
Boxee
LookeeTV
Samsung Smart TV

So, itâ€™s official, Blubrry and TPN content creators can be ogled on Google TV in addition to just about every medium available. And audiences can subscribe to a show as easy as pressing a button.

GoDaddy Official TPN Media Sponsor for CES!

Todd — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:16:26 +0000

The Team from the Tech Podcast Network is proud to announce GoDaddy.com as the official media sponsor for our coverage of CES 2012. All of the recorded media from the show will be hosted via a GoDaddy 4th Generation Hosting account (4GH)

We will demonstrate under

absolutely extreme conditions how powerful GoDaddy 4GH hosting is.

We have an amazing product offer as well. Special CES offer 25% off 4GH hosting plans (12 months+) this code will work even if GoDaddy is having a sale! The promo code for this amazing offer is CES2 check it out today!

Introducing Cue Too

Todd — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:32:10 +0000

RawVoice raises the bar — and the curtain — for premium content

The RawVoice team has spent the past week getting its new Premium Content Service CueToo.com ready to launch. It is time to start letting those of you that have premium content to sell have a look behind the curtain.

If you would like to be part of our launch at BlogWorld and New Media Expo, and have premium audio and video content ready to sell, we are ready for you.

You can

sell your media on a monthly subscription basis,
or just charge a one time flat price.

Do you have an Ind

y film or a cool â€œHow To?â€ Cue Too will be the place to showcase and sell your premium content.

We will be demonstrating Cue Too to the Hollywood crowd at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Los Angeles Nov. 3-5. As a content creator, get your content seen by the attendees and have some bragging rights as being on an exclusive site launch!

Did I mention a few days after launch you will be able to buy and view premium content on the Cue Too Roku Channel? Excited? We sure are!

Contact me today to get your exclusive ticket to the Cue Too Premium Content Service Launch and start making money on launch day!

Todd Cochrane
CEO, RawVoice Inc.
ceo [at] rawvoice.com

Meet us in L.A. to further your digital media empire

cathy — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:25:38 +0000

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright once said if you tip the world over on its side, everything loose will land in Los Angeles. Is the world tipping? Must be because weâ€™re pretty excited about landing in L.A. and seeing you folks at BlogWorld & New Media Expo Nov. 3-5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Know why? Because, not only do we want to get caught up with yâ€™all, weâ€™ve got some amazing structures in place that are going to make your lives easier and build a more profitable and interactive digital media foundation for your shows.

Take our tour and explore:

Creating your own podcast. We will be running a podcast recording station, so you can come try it out and show the world what youâ€™ve got. Youâ€™ll need to sign up! Hereâ€™s how: Email us at contact@rawvoice.com to schedule your time.
The soon-to-be-launched CueToo and about how to make money with premium content.
Version 3.0 of PowerPress and a feast of new features.

We will be announcing, a brand-new way to help monetize your media. Shshshhhhh! Itâ€™s a secret. We will announce it in a big way a few days before the show. But we will say weâ€™re 100 percent certain that:

media buyers are gonna want to see it.
media companies/creators are immediately going to want to implement it.
the rest of ya are just gonna dig it.

Oh, did I mention we are speaking and you will want to hear what we have to say? We will be talking about â€œOptimizing a WordPress Website for Podcasting.” Youâ€™ll walk away with:

1. Next steps to raise engagement on your website.

2. Knowing what elements should be on your website to grow your audience.

3. A full list of podcasting dos and donâ€™ts.

Weâ€™ve had a lot of construction under way the past year and we know youâ€™ll want to check out all the new â€œroomsâ€ we have to offer. Have questions? Contact us at ceo [at] rawvoice.com.

The loss of a quiet revolutionary

cathy — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:11:46 +0000

We at RawVoice and Blubrry join the rest of the country and the globe in mourning the death of entrepreneur, inventor and visionary founder of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs. He was a quiet revolutionary, without whom we would not have seen the technological advances we enjoy today. At RawVoice and Blubrry, our business would not be what it is without Apple and the iPod, iPad, iPhone and other outstanding advances. Our thoughts and our condolences are with his family.

Our CEO, Todd Cochrane, weighs in on the loss on Geek News Central.

HTML5 – Audience Surveys – Blubrry Update

Todd — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:03:04 +0000

Todd talks HTML5 using PowerPress Podcast Plugin. Then goes into our new Audience Survey Feature and some Blubrry Updates.

Blubrry app for Android OS puts your favorite shows at your finger tips; on your TV

cathy — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:17:18 +0000

RawVoice is proud to announce the introduction of its first of many mobile applications. The Blubrry App allows audiences and content creators to watch and listen to shows on the go with their Android tablet or phone.

Audiences can manage their playlist through MyCast whether they have a BlubrryÂ user account or not. Subscribing to a show is as easy as pressing the subscribe button. We have taken care to make the app experience and navigation similar to our set-top box applications, which allow consumers to easily switch from device to device.

The Blubrry Community App lets you:

Navigate the menu system with ease using our MyCast feature to find new content while on the go or while managing your playlist in front of a computer.
Check out â€œEditors Picksâ€ for a new selection of great shows each week on the topics you care about, ranging from cooking to politics to survival.
Find guaranteed high quality shows. All shows featured on the Blubrry App have qualified their shows through their account manager at Blubrry.com.

With Android, Blubrry provides you the ability to access new markets via hundreds of available content channels that reach a worldwide audience of all demographics.

Whether you are a media creator, advertiser or consumer, the Blubrry App for Android is yet another outstanding tool in your digital media cache. Blubrry truly is your digital media interface. Find out more at blubrry.com.

Are you Advertiser Ready?

Todd — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 02:01:53 +0000

As Mindy our new Sales Manager ramps up to find your shows new advertisers, I want to make sure you are Advertiser Ready!

I have also posted some supporting articles for content creators hosting their media at the following sites. Mevio, Podbean, Libsyn, Podomatic, Blog Talk Radio.

Blubrry Teams with Media Distributor Lookee TV

cathy — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:26:32 +0000

The Blubrry digital media community is proud to announce itâ€™s partnership with the Lookee TV, a 4.3 LCD Wi-Fi enabled Internet TV and radio player. The Lookee TV players, coming to an electronics store near you, will allow audiences to directly gain access to Blubrry’s most popular media content.

Blubrry is home to more than 8,000 shows from across the universe and allows audiences to create a custom playlist of favorite shows via the MyCast(R) feature. With this partnership, viewers can enjoy great independently produced digital media shows from categories such as music, gaming and comedy to health, science and education.

Digital media content creators who wish to be viewed on LookieTV are encouraged to contact the Blubrry community parent company RawVoice.com for opportunities to be seen and heard on Lookee TV players across the globe.

Lookee TV features:

More than 1,400 channels on more than 30,000 radio stations and podcasts from all over the world.
A TV-out function to turn your home television into Internet TV.
The ability to partner and work with any online source of video and audio.
Built in media player, digital picture slideshow, FM radio, dual alarm clock and more.

Plus a great deal more.

Blubrry digital media community has led the way in fulfilling digital media distribution needs since 2004, enabling content creators to publish audio and video or blog content channels and manage users. To find out more about Blubrry, go to blubrry.com or call 1.877.729.8642.

RawVoice to unveil media on demand service at NAB Show

Todd — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:42:04 +0000

Life is demanding and, hey, we think thatâ€™s great! RawVoice has got precisely what it takes to help content creators meet their audiencesâ€™ demands. RawVoice, a pioneer and leader in the digital media industry, will introduce a media on demand service at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas April 9-14! We wanted to give you the heads up, like, now.

The media on demand (MOD/VOD) service will allow content creators, independent film artists, bands, educators and all others who create content to sell their premium content online and through over-the-top (OTT) television. This will give consumers a centralized location to find premium content that is not available through traditional video-on-demand channels. RawVoice MyCastÂ® system will allow consumers to organize and play back on demand all of their purchased media on almost any device at any time.

This service will be introduced through a new channel on the Roku initially, and on its own media portal. Clients will be able to sell their media on a subscription or single play basis. With Roku integration, single click purchases of media will offer the same convenience of standard video on demand service that consumers are accustomed to.

Weâ€™ll be demonstrating the media on demand service at NAB and will sign content creators on site. If you canâ€™t make it to NAB, thatâ€™s OK. Contact us today if you want to be part of the launch, and we will put you on the list. Weâ€™ll have full roll-out of the service in the weeks following the show.

Go ahead! Demand it! At RawVoice, weâ€™re consistently exploring and evolving to meet your ever-changing demands.

It’s out! PowerPress 2.0 provides a big, fat feast of new offerings to our digital media community

cathy — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:14:41 +0000

Weâ€™ve launched it! And we think youâ€™ll love it! For shoâ€™ the Blubrry PowerPress powerhouse plugin is even more phenomenal than before! Mardis Gras is a couple days away but we figured weâ€™d give you an excuse to start the party early with some outstanding new features to celebrate. The release includes the following features and changes (get comfortable, thereâ€˜s a bunch):

HTML5 video player

HTML5 audio player

Embed Episode feature

WebM video support

Ogg audio/video support improved

MP4+WebM (for mp4/m4v video, a new alternative WebM URL field has been added. This is ideal for supporting all browser based HTML5 video players)

Flow Player Classic can now play m4a audio and mp4/m4v video

New video player settings page added

Settings pages enhanced with new options such as location, frequency and TV options

Episode Entry box enhanced with new ‘isHD’ option when video entered into Media URL box

Episode Entry box now includes option to configure video player width/height on a per-episode basis

Upload image option added to supplement the video poster image field. Images are uploaded to the built-in image gallery in WordPress

Thereâ€™s a big fat feast-full of other improvements as well thatâ€™ll have you dancing in the streets. So toss the confetti, don the beads, rip off your shirts if you wanna and let the advanced digital media makinâ€™, disseminatinâ€™ and celebratinâ€™ begin. Oh, and as always, let us know what you think!

Note: PowerPress 2.0 requires WordPress version 2.8 or newer. Also, a big shout out to all the content creators who helped with the beta testing! Thanks a ton!!!

Breakinâ€™ down the stats policy to build our success

cathy — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:22:21 +0000

We know . . . no matter how eager you are to charge ahead technologically, â€œchangeâ€ itself is like that distant cousin youâ€™ve never met who your mom makes you take to a movie; the one youâ€™re pretty sure youâ€™re going to be stuck with entertaining the rest of the night if not the rest of your life! Weâ€™ve been there. So, when we announced that weâ€™ll be changing our business model a little bit we tried not to make it too scary. Here â€˜tis: We now require that shows that enjoyed our free statistics that have in show advertising from a competing network or on their own,Â and have no advertisingÂ with RawVoice/Blubrry upgrade to our premium stats package.

Not too scary, we hope. To Hammer-time it a little more (you know, â€˜break it downâ€™):

No advertising on your show = free stats
Advertising with Rawvoice/Blubrry = free stats
Advertising with Rawvoice/Blubrry + advertising on your own or other network = free stats
Advertising on your own or other network = upgrade to premium stats to help us advance the system
Shows that are part of another organized network = upgrade to premium stats to help us support the system

And, to top it off, and this oneâ€™s a beta blocker for your racing hearts: Premium stats packages start at a whole $5 a month. That gets you unsurpassed insights into audience consumption; it lets you find out who is linking to you and gives you listener-base demographics and geographical data with worldwide mapping. You also benefit from custom reports and daily email summaries.

That little bit oâ€™ dough will allow us to expand our awesome tools such asÂ PowerPress and hosting for your shows on a world class CDN, and continue to provide you the opportunity to be discovered on Roku and Boxee. In fact, look for a major update to our stats system shortly! But even before that launches, youâ€™ll get bunches of value when you update toÂ Â premium stats even if your show qualifies for the free stats.

So, yup, you might just find that this mysterious cousin is pretty awesome to hang out with and, like our premium stats package, is a dynamic, excitingÂ and welcome addition to the family.

Apple Drops iTunes Podcast Directory Update Listing/Ping (pingPodcast) Function

angelo — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:14:38 +0000

We need you to speak out! Apple quietly removed the iTunes Podcast Directory update listing/ping functionality (also known as pingPodcast) earlier this week. You, our content creators,Â are no longer able to update your listing directly and audiences will have to wait up to 24 hours to access your shows. This is NOT acceptable and is extremely disappointing news for our digital media creators.

The iTunes update directory listing ping service (pingPodcast) allowed podcasters to both verify their feed address that iTunes is pulling, as well as notify iTunes that a new episode has been published. The ping service could be called upon with either the URL to the feed or with the iTunes podcast FEEDID. See examples below:

https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast?feedURL=http://www.example.com/feed/

https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast?id=000000000

The URLS above now redirect to the Apple iTunes online store.

This has been an extremely important function for you, our digital media creators, and we need you to all work toward convincing Apple to restore this feature. Please make your thoughts and concernsÂ known to Apple here. It is imperative that we impress upon them the importance of this service!

We are unaware of why they have removed this feature, but we have reached out to Apple to see if there will be an alternative. According to Apple.com forums, podcast feeds will be pulled once every 24 hours. There’s no comment yet how podcast owners can verify their feed listed on iTunes, as the pingPodcast feature was the only way to verify iTunes was updating your listings with the correct feed address.

Apple has removed information on the ping service from the official iTunes podcast specifications document.Â Documentation of the previous iTunes podcast specifications can be found on WaybackMachine.org. Â Source

From a reply on the apple.com forums from Apple staff, the “link feature” (aka pingPodcast URL) “may no longer be available to podcast publishers.” The staff further explains “this isn’t anything to worry about, iTunes still handles podcast entries the same way, and you are correct in your understanding that by default, the iTunes Store directory reads every feed once per day”. Source

When used, the pingPodcast service returns both the unique iTunes FEEDID as well as the current FEED URL for a given podcast. The information is invaluableto anyone who wants to verify that iTunes is updating the specified podcast listing on iTunes with the correct feed address. With the removal of the pingPodcast function, podcasters can no longer verify their feed URL address used for iTunes podcast directory. Again, here is the link to make your thoughts and concernsÂ known to Apple.

Until Apple restores the pingPodcast service or replaces it with another API service for podcast listing verification, Blubrry.com will no longer be able to provide support to podcasters who have problems with their podcast listings onÂ iTunes. It is imperative that they return this function or replace it immediately with another service enabling digital media creaters to verify their feed list on iTunes!

Our digital media community has strength in numbers, and if we work together, we are confident we will resolve this troubling development.

The fantasy of error-free hard drives

Brian — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:44:56 +0000

Congratulations! Youâ€™ve just recorded your 100th episode. Thatâ€™s quite a milestone and itâ€™s appropriate to take some time to stroll down memory lane and check out some of your older shows. What? The first 30 shows were on a hard drive that crashed? That’s OK, you can restore your old shows from a back up… right? I hope so…

Unfortunately hard drives arenâ€™t as reliable as we would like them to be and every so often they crash. If the data isn’t backed up somewhere, it will take a lot of luck, plenty of money and a hard drive recovery service to possibly restore some of it. The last thing you want is lose all your podcasts, photos, financial data and whatever else you stored on that thing.

There are several ways to back up your important data. Your operating system (OS) has a built-in application and thatâ€™s a great start. You can set that up to back up to a completely different hard drive. There also are applications such as Synctoy that allow you to run backups and mirror data in two locations such as a second drive. Generally, a solution like this has both drives in the same location. This works out well if your primary hard drive decides to call it a day, but if you find yourself in an unfortunate situation where your house gets trampled upon by a stampede of laser-wielding unicorns, both the drives could be kaput.

I have a friend who on a regular basis backs up a third drive and stores it in a safe deposit box at his local bank. This is a great idea, but quite frankly thatâ€™s a lot of extra time that most of us don’t have. Fortunately for us, in the past few years several online â€œcloudâ€-based services have appeared, making digital archival quick, easy and inexpensive. Most of them are straightforward and function fairly similarly. You pay the service a few bucks a month, download and install its application and let it do the rest. The application locates all the important data such as profiles, media, photos, documents, etc. (You can control this if you desire.) It uploads and stores the data in the cloud on the secure redundant servers. On a predetermined, regular basis, the application will scan your computer for new or changed data and back them up. You can now rest assured.

Mozy, Live Sky Drive and Carbonite are only a few of the online backup options out there. Take a look at those and research some others to decide what is best for you. Personally, I use a combination of backing up to another hard drive as well as an online service. Iâ€™ve been very happy with it and feel a lot more comfortable knowing that when my house gets attacked by a pack of rabid gnomes, my digital data is safe.

~ Brian, creative director

Happiest of holidays to all our Blubrry family!

cathy — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 19:39:11 +0000

Whoa! What a year 2010 has been! Thanks so much for coming along for the ride! This year we have delighted in putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into your pockets through ad deals. Plus we started distributing your content right into the living room (bedroom, workroom, even bathroom for some) through Roku and Boxee with more distribution options to come. Audience numbers have skyrocketed!

Weâ€™re getting our hands on (and into) just about everything imaginable to help you folks in our communities grow and be successful. Your support and input throughout the year is precisely what has made that possible.

Speaking of progress, check out our sister network at CES on Jan. 6-9 in Vegas! If you canâ€™t be there, theyâ€™ll be streaming live on the TPN.tv site!

Have you made your New Yearâ€™s resolution yet? If not, well, weâ€™re here to give ya a couple of suggestions:

If youâ€™re only doing audio versions of your show, in 2011 you might want to consider adding video elements to your shows. To find out why, check out RawVoice CEO Todd Cochraneâ€™s BlogWorld and New Media Expo presentation from earlier this year. Itâ€™s called the Triple Play.
And donâ€™t you be takinâ€™ that free product! The next time a vendor asks you to review a product or service in return for getting a free product, please consider what you are trading for. Product is cool, but it does not make your house payment.

Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you for helping us make 2010 a wildly productive and successful year! We look forward to serving you in 2011 and far beyond!

Happy holidays from all of us on the team,

Todd, Barry, Brian, Angelo, Jeff, Cameron, Mike and Cathy

Audio? Video? Or both? Here are some thoughts

cathy — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:21:05 +0000

With the introduction of Blubrry and Tech Podcast Network shows on television sets across the country via Roku and Boxee, podcast audience numbers have exploded. With this enhanced video/audio consumption, media creators have some decisions to make: do you want to create audio, video or both? Here are some thoughts to help you decide:

Audio Advantages

Wide Distribution. Every portable media player, Internet connected phone, desktop media software and Internet connected TV devices can play MP3 audio.

Keeps it Simple. Audio is much easier to create than video, limiting your production time and the hardware needed to get started.

Minimal Investment Costs. You donâ€™t need a lot of equipment to get started. You only need a simple USB headset and freeware such as Audacity and youâ€™re all set.

Audio is easy to create, reaches the widest range of devices and, at minimum, requires you to purchase a headset. Audio does have a few formats you can pick from, so we recommend you read our Audio Formats page for recommendations on what format to use for your podcast.

Video Advantages

Focused Distribution. Video is more likely to be consumed on a computer and in front of a TV than audio. In face, among 200 shows seen on Roku during the introductory 90-day period, visual media growth was 23 percent. Audio was only 3 percent.

Video is not as easy to create as audio and requires additional steps in order to provide the appropriate formats to maximize your distribution to as many devices and applications as possible. We recommend you read our Video Formats page for more recommendations and more details on the different formats.

Audio and Video

If you have the time, well, hey creating both audio and video will maximize your contentâ€™s exposure among all mediums and your money making potential through sponsorships.

Get more of your questions answered at PodCastFAQ.com

Miss ya already! We got a lot out of BlogWorld and New Media Expo! Did you?

cathy — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:44:08 +0000

Average Betty, Angelo Mandato and Barry Kantz

Oh, man! We had such a great time and it was so good to see everyone at last weekâ€™s BlogWorld and New Media Expo at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas! The expanded BlubrryÂ team has never been busier or more excited to catch up with our old friends and learn from our new ones. Thanks for all your input. Weâ€™re always striving to make Blubrry and all our digital communities better. It was awesome, too, to hear from yâ€™all about how much you love our services!

We talked a lot about how digital media is not only on your mobile devices such as iPhone and Android, but also on over-the-top television boxes such as Roku and Boxee. And did you know that Vudu TV set technology is going to be in every television sold at Wal-Mart? Yup, our Vudu application is ready and waiting for the Vudu Apps’ launch. Just imagine walking into your neighborhood store and seeing your image smiling on dozens of television screens in the electronics isle. It could happen! Whatâ€™s up next? Well, Google TV is gonna be hot and weâ€™re gonna be right there, too.

Todd Cochrane shows over-the-top technology to Grammar Girl.

The best way to get your digital media on TV and noticed is by following our â€˜get featuredâ€™ guidelines and getting visual. Doesnâ€™t cost much — you can use Wirecast and VidBlaster to start out with — and you can be streaming your media on sets across the country and the globe. With 23 percent growth in our top video 200 shows in only 90 days, you can see why itâ€™s a must.

Big thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth! Great to see Grammar Girl, Average Betty, folks from Date Night in Vegas, Steven Lee of @wavesoftech, Julie, aka @RoadTripsFeedMe, our good friends Brett Bum and Joe Klein, Srinivas Rao, aka @skooloflife, and loads more.

Check out more pics from our trip on our facebook. And, oh yeah, if anyone got a shot of Mike Dell, could you send one my way? That way, if we missed you this time around, youâ€™ll know what we look like and can be sure we meet up next time. In the meantime, weâ€™re still taking suggestions and would really like to know what you thought of not only us but BlogWorld and New Media Expo in general.

And until next time, thank you, thank you, thank you again!

Join the adventure! Join the action! Join Team Rawvoice at BlogWorld and New Media Expo!

cathy — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:58:30 +0000

Yo! Weâ€™re coming for you. The whole entire RawVoice team is coming to BlogWorld and New Media Expo Oct. 15-16 in Vegas! We know that you, our community, is psyched to not only see us, but talk to us, touch us and share ideas at our booth in the exhibit hall at Mandalay Bay!!! . . . Oh, whatâ€™s that you say? Why should you be excited about hanginâ€™ with lilâ€™ olâ€™ us? Well lemme tell ya. Itâ€™s because weâ€™re totally bad @$$!

Thatâ€™s right, like, remember when Sly Stallone says, â€œWe are the shadows and the smoke in your eyes?â€ Oh, yeah. We identify! Cuz weâ€™re the nerdy men/women way below youâ€™re standards that walk up to you in a bar and ask you to dance anyway. Point is, ammunition such as our PowerPress Plugin, which seamlessly extends a WordPress blog to a podcasting engine, and our easy-to-use super stats system, are only a couple of the weapons weâ€™ve got out there for ya as your own personal digital media powerhouse!

â€œWe blow awayâ€ Â – or at least take a mean slap at — â€œanything in our wayâ€ . . . as in, your way. And when it comes to watching, branding, growing and monetizing digital media, be it our expansion to mobile devices such as iPhone and Android, or set-top boxes such as Roku or Boxee, yeah, things are blowing up!!! … um, quickly expanding in a healthy, productive way.

And, yeah, hereâ€™s where youâ€™ll find us:

CEO Todd Cochrane addresses the whole media package of today and seasons to come in his Oct. 16 session The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Showâ€™s Growth and Distribution. Be a winner! Get ready to reshape your strategy for the next 36 months!
RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Creative Director Brian Yuhnke will leave you fearless and breathless in their session Oct. 16 on Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree â€¦ Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast.
RawVoice team members will be buffed, poised and ready in Booth 516, sharing not only what we do but also the latest news about the new media distribution platforms.

Get your bad on come see us at BlogWorld and New Media Expo Oct. 15-16 in Las Vegas! Yo, weâ€™re pumping our fists and stoked and excited because we are indeed, ahem, The Dependables! Aka, Team RawVoice! And if this werenâ€™t bad @$$, adventurous and exciting enough for ya, well, weâ€™ll also have drawings for Roku digital media players.

RawVoice: Are you in this picture?

Frankly my dears . . . we canâ€™t wait to see you at BlogWorld and New Media Expo!

cathy — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:00:24 +0000

Tomorrow is another day, and the day after that is another day still, and the day after that and the day after that . . . until at long last weâ€™ll be together! It seems to be taking ever so long, yet in no time BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2010 will be upon us and we will share our triumphs, praise your accomplishments and celebrate the results of our toils Oct. 15-16 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas!

So glad you could join us in this revolution! A revolution that, with the introduction of RawVoice digital media to set top boxes such as Roku and Boxee, has swept the South . . . and the North, East and West. A revolution that has surged upon this great land — make that the globe — to reach mobile devices such as iPhone and Android.

Why, we are indeed an integral part of the land of cavaliers and crusaders ensuring that digital media shall never fail! A civilization, not â€œGone with the Wind,â€ but rather â€œEasily Accessible and Readily Available on the Airwaves!â€

Where shall you go?

You simply must explore expansionism with RawVoice CEO Todd Cochrane and his session, The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Showâ€™s Growth and Distribution.

And we can hardly hold our excitement at the proposal of Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree â€¦ Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast, a union to be officiated by RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Creative Manager Brian Yuhnke!

We have so much more to share with yâ€™all! Audience growth, digital media expansion, monetization, exploration, determination! Come find us on the floor in the exhibit hall and weâ€™ll share the wealth of what we know and . . . youâ€™ll never be hungry again!

We believe in you. Youâ€™re the only cause we know. If you donâ€™t join us at BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2010, what shall we do? Frankly my dears, it wouldnâ€™t be the same without you.

RawVoice: Are you in this picture?

If you want to view paradise . . . join us at BlogWorld and New Media Expo!

cathy — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 02:12:22 +0000

Weâ€™ve got our golden tickets! Weâ€™ve got a golden twinkle in our eyes! Weâ€™ve got our golden tickets toÂ BlogWorld and New Media Expo! Do you? OK, that didnâ€™t rhyme so well, but we know you don’t mind. After all, you are the media makers and you are the dreamer of dreams and we canâ€™t wait to see you at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Oct. 15-16!

Come with us! Weâ€™ll open the doors to a magical world swirling with delicious digital media production, promotion and distribution opportunities! Weâ€™ve got so much time and so little to show you! Wait, strike that, reverse it.

Truly, if you want to view paradise — and who doesnâ€™t — come with us, let loose your pure imagination and:

Indulge or overindulge your wildest digital media fantasies! Frappe 70 percent love of podcasting with 35 percent passion of blogging and 2 percent butterscotch to cook up a beautiful union with RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Creative Manager Brian Yuhnke at the session Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree â€¦ Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast!
We know you want it, you want it all and you want it NOW! And you can have it! Join RawVoice CEO Todd Cochrane in his session, The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Showâ€™s Growth and Distribution, to find out whatâ€™s in all this everlasting, ever evolving media for YOU!
Be transported on TV! With Roku and Boxee, you can be catapulted into the air in millions and millions of pieces and it takes NO time at all to put you back together on TV sets all over the globe AND on mobile devices such as iPhone and Android!
Hop onboard! Come find us on the floor in the exhibit hall and weâ€™ll share just where weâ€™re going . . . cuz our excitement keeps on growing and our community pride is showing and there is NO sign of slowing!

Weâ€™re clutching our golden tickets to BlogWorld and New Media Expo and counting the hours â€˜til we see you there! Thatâ€™s right, weâ€™re committed to turning you into a Blubrry! . . . er, fan, if you werenâ€™t one already.

Sure, candy is dandy but liquor is quicker and weâ€™ve got some fun plans in the mix. But sorry, no little people with bad hair this time around.;) This year weâ€™re focused on investing in you because, we know full well what happens to men and women who suddenly get the audience growth, monetization and mass media distribution they want . . . They live happily ever after!

RawVoice: Are you in this picture?

Podcamp Pittsburgh, here we come! Get the latest digital media/podcasting news first hand!

cathy — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:57:09 +0000

Weâ€™re going to Podcamp Pittsburgh! Yeah!!! Whoâ€™s with us? For the fifth consecutive year Blubrry is sponsoring Podcamp Pittsburgh — the weekend of Saturday, Sept. 18, at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, 420 Boulevard of the Allies — and will have some all-wise and all-knowing team members on hand to share the latest, most phenomenal advances in the world of podcasting and digital media.

Ask yourself:

Is your media being seen and heard on mobile devices such as iPhone and Android?
Are you an audio/visual force on set-top-boxes such as Roku and Boxee?

If youâ€™re part of the RawVoice/Blubrry community, thereâ€™s a good chance you are! And if not, you can and should be! Come check us out atÂ Podcamp PittsburghÂ and we’ll show you how!

RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Web Programmer Cameron Williams will be there to discuss all the latest RawVoice advances as well as:

Our PowerPress powerhouse podcasting plugin for WordPress.
Our media statistics to build your business on.
Our media hosting to advance your mass distribution needs.
Common podcasting pitfalls and how to avoid them.
Resources on how to start and refine your media and grow your audience.

We at RawVoice/Blubrry are at not only on the cutting edge of digital media technical advancement and promotion, weâ€™re leading the charge! Canâ€™t wait to see you there!

Boxee and Blubrry: Itâ€™s a Beautiful Thing!

cathy — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:52:14 +0000

Atteeeention! Without further ado, (drum roll goes here) â€œIntroducing Blubrry on Boxee!â€ Oh, heck yeah, weâ€™re a little â€œover the topâ€ and excited and hereâ€™s why: Blubrry has an application that runs on the Boxee platform, which downloads movies, television shows and your digital media from the Internet onto your TV. Thatâ€™s right! Weâ€™re providing our digital media creators, listeners and viewers yet another avenue to be seen and heard! And we all love a little — or even a lot more — attention.

Boxee will have hardware available in your favorite electronics stores in the coming months. But if you donâ€™t want to wait, all you have to do is install the free software on your computer and connect it to your TV with an HDMI or DVI cord (depending on the computer you use). You can use an Apple remote or one of several PC remotes available to navigate to Boxee. So, whatâ€™re you waiting for? Give Boxee a try, seek out your favorite shows, and let us know what you think!

Yup. As always, RawVoiceÂ and Blubrry are out there on the leading edge of media technology looking out for your best interests. This is just one more step in the evolution of alternative distribution capabilities for RawVoice and our family of media sites. Stay tuned. Thereâ€™s a lot more coming up!

How do I get listed on iTunes and other platforms?

cathy — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:31:54 +0000

One of the support questions that Iâ€™m asked most often is: â€œHow do I upload my podcast to the iTunes music store?â€ The off-the-cuff answer is, you don’t.

Let me explain. What you do is submit your podcast feed to iTunes. Apple reviews your podcast mostly to make sure your content can be played on Apple devices. Once they approve your show, you are listed in the store. Your files are downloaded from wherever you store them for your podcast. They don’t come from iTunesâ€™ or Apple’s servers.

Blubrry PowerPress, an easy-to-install podcasting plugin for WordPress, helps you get your iTunes listing â€“ along with other platform listings such as Roku, Boxee and Zune Marketplace â€“ looking good by giving you an easy way to make your feed compliant with those services.

Hereâ€™s what to do:

Go to your PowerPress settings and click the â€œiTunesâ€ tab.
Fill out all the boxes and your listing will be complete.

Make sure you have good cover art. You can even change your iTunes cover art right from PowerPress:

Check the box next to â€œUpload New Image.â€
Select your image on your computer and PowerPress will take it from there.

Just remember, iTunes can take awhile to update photos or other changes to your listing. They will get around to it.

Please remember, too, that iTunes isn’t the only game in town. There are an impressive number of podcast listeners and viewers that use other forms of podcatchers and set-top boxes. The good thing is, if you make your show look great on iTunes, it will look great on all the others. Also, don’t forget to list your show on Blubrry.com and go through the â€œGet Featuredâ€ setup there. It is well worth your time and effort.

If you are new to podcasting or the Blubrry / RawVoice services, feel free to contact us at support. Also check out the videos and other helpful resources at help.blubrry.com or our forum at forum.blubrry.com.

~ Michael Dell
Technical Support
RawVoice
Michael.dell@rawvoice.com

Preserve Your Freedoms: Look Closely Before Signing on the Dotted Line!

cathy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:09:51 +0000

Free enterprise is a beautiful thing! Dictionary.com describes it as: â€œAn economic and political doctrine holding that a capitalist economy can regulate itself in a freely competitive market with a minimum of intervention and regulation . . .â€ Thatâ€™s a whole lot of big words. We simply call it our business practice. See, we dig making you money and we dig the fact that you have all sorts of options to make money, and we applaud and encourage that! Thatâ€™s free enterprise.

We take pride in the fact that the Blubrry community offers podcasters great flexibility of participation in our community. No tricks, no gimmicks, no quiet rules that might slip past you that would in any way restrict your ability to practice your freedoms.

Take a look at some of our radically liberal policies that are all about choice for the podcaster:

You retain the rights to your show.
You can be a part of other networks.
You can negotiate outside advertising deals.
You can add multiple podcast shows to the community.

All we ask in return is that you keep Blubrry in mind and tell your listeners that there are other great shows to check out at Blubrry.com.

In fact, that reminds us of a whole other level of flexibility:

There are no auto insertions when you do participate in our ad deals.
You can mention the sponsor in your voice in each podcast if you wanna.
We can provide pre-recorded sponsor announcements if you don’t feel comfortable delivering the message yourself.
If you have existing relationships with advertisers you can still benefit from the Blubrry advertising program.
If you introduce us to an advertiser who ultimately goes forward with an ad deal on the community you will be paid a 10 percent finderâ€™s fee simply for making the introduction.

As podcasters ourselves, we are hearing of changes taking place in the podcasting space that make us wonder whoâ€™s really looking out for your showâ€™s best interest.

Weâ€™ve heard rumors that some free hosting services might be restricting you to only their platform and only their ad deals. Seriously gals and guys, whatâ€™s the real price of â€œfree hostingâ€ when youâ€™re not able to grow your audience, make money on your own and maintain control of your show?

And thereâ€™s something else weâ€™ve heard, too. Weâ€™ve heard that on one of the paid hosting platforms when your show gets X-amount of listeners and viewers, the host inserts a pre-roll and post-roll ad of its own service onto your content. Thatâ€™s just not right. Itâ€™s not free enterprise. Itâ€™s not the Blubrry way.

Keep your eyes peeled! Read the fine print! Look out for your own interests! Thatâ€™s the free enterprise way; thatâ€™s the Blubrry way . . . and we hope youâ€™ll go our way.

Huge 31% Jump in Revenue Means More Money in Our Podcasters’ Pockets

cathy — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:56:38 +0000

There is no â€˜Iâ€™ in â€˜teamâ€™ but there is â€˜weâ€™ in ‘RawVoice’ and collectively we have posted a 31 percent ad revenue increase for the second quarter! This gargantuan increase is further proof that weâ€™re kickinâ€™ butt and reflects new advertising buys on 27 percent more shows hosted on Blubrry, Tech Podcasts Network and other RawVoice subsidiaries.Â Simply put, this translates into more advertising opportunities and more money in podcasters’ pockets.

CEO Todd Cochrane says lots of things are coming together quite nicely to contribute to this increase: “Advertisers are confident in us delivering a healthy return on investment. Advertising with RawVoice enables them to expose their brand to audiences that are consuming media on a variety of devices in the home and on the go.”

Audience growth has been and will continue to be fueled by the increased quality and quantity of podcasts available at Blubrry and the RawVoice community as a whole. At Blubrry alone we have more than 5,500 shows available for advertising!

AND (note thatâ€™s a big â€˜andâ€™) our expanded media accessibility on multiple platforms such as Roku, Apple iOS and Google Android-based smart phones is also catapulting our growth.

“Our strategy of multi-platform distribution is exposing new audiences to our content creators on venues that accommodate their lifestyle needs,” says Cochrane. “We are the only advertising medium that can guarantee they are reaching their target audiences.”

Our ever-increasing viewers and listeners have the benefit of accessing our top-quality shows and get to check out great products and services that they want and need. The end result is that hosts are able to sustain and grow their shows “ultimately resulting in more ad deals for our content creators,” Cochrane says.

As Quarter 3 gets under way, weâ€™re all confident the advertising and audience growth will continue to benefit media creators. “We are continuing to focus on multi-platform distribution for the shows that are part of the network,” Cochrane says. “The show producers are reaching millions of people monthly we want to continue to take the lead in finding ways to help content creators maintain sustainable incomes for their shows.”

Update Your Surveys! There’s Money to be Made

cathy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:45:52 +0000

Your podcast is excellent and you want to make money. Good news! We are expecting our largest quarter in podcast advertising ever. EVER!!! We are significantly increasing our advertising quarter to quarter for 2010 and a lot of you already are the beneficiaries. BUT (and trust me that’s a big but) there could be more of you benefiting from this phenomenal growth. Truth is, we canâ€™t help but notice that some great podcasts that could be making mucho dinero havenâ€™t gotten on our stats system and/or updated their surveys. Your stats have to be up and running and the survey must be updated to be considered for our ad buys!

We’ve pondered, toiled and puzzled about some of the obstacles you might encounter in attempting to update your surveys and have come up with some possible solutions:

I cainâ€™t spell good. Thatâ€™s OK, neither can we. Weâ€™ve got spell check and you probably do to. Just do the best you can.
I donâ€™t want or need money. Cool. We get that and, hey, weâ€™d be happy to suggest some charities that could use it!
I donâ€™t have the time. Sure you do. 10 minutes? Really! You can do that while your intro song is playing, while you’re daydreaming at your day job, while you’re listening to your favorite podcast, while you’re . . . well, you get the picture.
Itâ€™s not fun. Make a game of it. Take two Tylenol PM and quickly try to finish the survey before you go to sleep.

Now that weâ€™ve eliminated those obstacles, here are a few reasons why youâ€™ve really gotta get in on this!

We are a strong, sustainable company that advertisers trust.
We are podcasters looking out for our fellow podcasters.
Unlike many (most? all?) other podcasting venues, you pocket 70 percent of your ad deal. Thatâ€™s seriously unheard of … well, except here obviously.

To those of you who are on our stats system and have your surveys updated, we humbly bow and thank you. To those who are up to date but are in genres that are a tougher sell, weâ€™re grateful for your patience and weâ€™ll keep on plugginâ€™ for you. For those of you who are out of date, here’s what to do for the survey:

Log into your Blubrry account.
Click the “Manage Account” link at the top.
Select the “Make Money.”
Click on “Advertising Survey.”

After you’ve completed the survey, you’ll be given the option of implementing the media redirect URL to get your stats under way (if you haven’t gotten them under way already). To learn more about our stats in general, go to our stats page.Â

Does that cover it? If not, we’d really, really like to know why you don’t want to or can’t take advantage of our stats system and/or fill out the survey. If it’s something we can fix, we’ll do it.

Like we said, we have always and will always have your best interest in mind. Oh, and if you have any problems contact us and, as always, weâ€™ll get right on it!

Come see us this Saturday at PodCamp Ohio

cathy — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:26:52 +0000

WordCamp / PodCamp Ohio is nearly upon us! You can bet weâ€™ll be there this Saturday, June 19, starting at 8:30 a.m. In fact CIO Angelo Mandato is one of the organizers. Look for Angelo and Michael Dell in our booth near the entrance of this fun and exciting daylong event at the Ohio State University Mendenhall Laboratory. And you know what else is great? Itâ€™s free! (Though parking at the OSU Union Garage is $3 per exit.)

In addition to the booth time, Angelo will be presenting a session on â€œPodcasting with WordPress.â€Â

RawVoice is proud to be a gold sponsor of this entertaining, engaging and enlightening event! Weâ€™ll have a few Blubrry T-shirts to give away along with our show notepads.

Chatting it up and sharing ideas with new and old friends are someÂ of our favorite things to do, so we definitely hope to see you there! Â Havenâ€™t registered yet? You can do it right now!

Read all about WordCamp / PodCamp Ohio here.

Site to Behold: New Design is True Blubrry

cathy — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:13:07 +0000

The new Blubrry.com websiteÂ is live, in action and the latest attraction. And it’s fully functional on all HTML 5 compliant browsers, such as the Apple iPad! We listened toÂ our digital media communityÂ and made this new site leaner, cleaner, even more comprehensive — all the while being even more multifaceted.

And remember,Â we’re maximizingÂ your podcast prominence by giving you the opportunity to be featured on the Blubrry home page. We’re placing our outstanding, polished podcasts front and center to be seen — and consumed — by the broader audience.

In addition, podcasts are available on set-top television units such as RokuÂ and on mobile devices such as iPhone, Android, etc. Â Get Featured on Blubrry Now!Â

Be Featured on the New Blubrry Home Page!

cathy — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:29:52 +0000

Be conspicuous! We invite you to maximize your podcast prominence by being featured on the Blubrry home page. Blubrry, your predominant podcasting resource, will place its most outstanding, polished podcasts front and center to be seen — and consumed — by the broader audience. In addition — and this is way cool — yourÂ podcast will be available on set-top television units such as Boxee and Roku and on mobile devices such as iPhone, Android, etc.Â

So what we’reÂ looking for is precision. Our featured shows will have fresh, updated content, a catchy title and art work, a parental rating and notes that are spell checked and grammatically correct. That’s not so much to ask, is it? I mean, you’re doing that already and if you’re not, this is a great time to spit and polish your podcast. The specific requirements we’re looking for are in link listed below so check them off as you go.

Be sure you closely read and agree to our terms and let us know you want your show featured. If any of this confuses you or you feel you need an exception give us a shout at Blubrry.com/contact.php. You get the picture? Cool. Now getÂ in the picture andÂ on the Blubrry home page!

Get Featured on Blubrry Now!

Get a Job! . . . With RawVoice!

cathy — Sat, 15 May 2010 21:11:50 +0000

Title	Programmer
Categories	Research and Development
Salary	Competitive full time salary
Location	Columbus, OH
Job Information	If youâ€™re a skilled, up-and-coming programmer read on! RawVoice, the premier force in the podcast industry, is seeking a full-time programmer to join its team of digital media professionals. If we like you and you like us, too, you will be active in developing back-end web applications and a bunch of the other cool, tech stuff listed below. Weâ€™re looking for someone with excellent organization, communication and documentation skills who will thrive in a small, friendly, fast-paced start-up environment. Youâ€™d be based in a semi-private office in Columbus, Ohio, with the development team and keep in close communication with other team members from afar. Thatâ€™s really not so tough. Weâ€™re a pretty cool group . . . at least thatâ€™s what everyone tells us. If youâ€™re a team player and an enthusiastic contributor, willing to speak your mind and make suggestions, weâ€™d dig hearing from ya. RawVoice, founded in 2005 by podcasters for podcasters, provides tools, resources and communities to make it easier for media producers to focus on content creation and to make money. Hereâ€™s the low-down on what this position is about. You would be responsible for: Statistical analysis of media downloads Working with our media network platform Management of our campaign system: acceptance and reporting Portable device and TV hardware applications Your primary job tasks include: Development of LAMP based web applications; back end with PHP/MySQL, front end with jQuery/CSS/HTML5 Developing API services; RESTful services supporting json/xml Developing scripted processes; scheduled tasks, system maintenance, data migrations, etcâ€¦ Work closely with and incorporate feedback from department supervisor and system designers Provide end user support for responsible systems Additional responsibilities: Mobile phone development (iPhone, Android, Blackberry) Development for TV hardwareÂ (Roku, Boxee, Yahoo TV Widgets, etcâ€¦) Develop LAMP based web applications with Python WordPress theme and/or plugin development Travel to conferences and interact with end users What we gotta have: B.S. or higher in Computer Science or equivalent Excellent programming skills in C/C++, Java, Python, or PHP Skilled in object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques Strong competence of web development (PHP/HTML/CSS/JavaScript) What we wanna have: Understanding of Internet/web technologies such as browsers, sockets and Internet protocols such as HTTP Working knowledge of source control software (CVS, Subversion, etc.) Strong command of web standards, CSS-based design, cross-browser compatibility Good understanding of web technologies (HTTP, Apache) and familiarity with Unix/Linux Solid grasp of new media and social networking (podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, etcâ€¦) Relational database design and good practices Understanding of Linux shell and common utilities (cron, logrotate, etcâ€¦) So, what do you think? If youâ€™re interested, let us know why you want to be a part of our team, upload your resume and fill out this quick and easy online app. And be sure to check us out further at RawVoice.com.
	Apply Now

Community Update on Roku and Boxee Announcement!

Todd — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:26:37 +0000

The response to the Roku / Boxee channel announcement has been off the chart. Here is more information on the announcement!