Vox Kajiai

Podcasting 2: I'm such a TWiT

So, even now my drive commute is fairly short, about 20-25 minutes. That doesn't give me too much time to listen to my Audible books, but I was usually able to get through a book a month. Now that I've become a fan of podcasts, my book subscriptions never get listened to.

What started it all? Leo Laporte's TWiT network of "netcasts" and Patrick Norton's DL.TV I was preparing for our annual sojourn back to Japan and decided to load up my Shuffle with some podcasts. I had been hearing so much about them but just had not made the time to listen. I had been a fan of Leo and the whole gang on TechTV, before G4 took over and killed most of the good stuff and, thanks to iTunes, I knew that their shows were available for subscription. So, in addition to my Audible book and a couple of CDs worth of music, I threw a couple of hours worth of podcasts onto my iPod.

On the flight over I listened to my book but finished it (it was a 12 hour flight afterall). Then on the train from Hiroshima to the ferry port to Miyajima I bypassed the music and tuned in to DL.TV (the audio version) and was hooked. I knew I was just listening, but it was very comfortable, like tuning in to the old TechTV. I listened to Leo's KFI The Tech Guy show, FLOSS Weekly, the Daily GizWiz (what a hoot! Go Dick!), This Week in Tech, and Security Now. And then I was bummed when I ran out. Thankfully the hotel had a connection and I could download more, which I did. That got me through the next week when I was without connectivity. Then, the day before heading back to the states I found a hotspot and downloaded enough for the flight back

I've been an avid listener ever since. I branched out to include almost all of the TWiT shows and the MacCast for my commutes. I also download a couple of video podcasts for on-screen consumption-Geek Brief, DL.TV, Ask A Ninja and PixelPerfect on Revision3.

And, it's because of Leo that I'm writing here on Vox. I'm such a TWiT.

Podcasting 1: Death of Audible

I've been a long-time fan of audible books. Well, for me long-time goes back about eight years. That's when I started borrowing books on tape from the school library and listening to them on my 15 minute commute to and from work. It takes a long time to get through an unabridged book with only 25-30 minutes per day, but I really enjoyed it. I've "read" more books this way than I've been able to get through with bedtime reading, not including all the books I read to my son up until he started 6th grade.

Nevertheless, when I moved back to the states one of the first things I did was sign up for an Audible.com subscription. It seemed like a great way to get an mp3 player as well as pick up at least a book a month. Things went well for three years and my Audible Otis continued to serve its purpose through several Audible updates (there was one update along the way that was problematic). Last year Audible wanted to forcibly change its subscription options, so I finally bowed to pressure in order to pick up a free iPod Shuffle and switched to their new terms. Now, I can't wait for my 1 year commitment to end.

The problem is not with Audible. The problem is that I finally discovered podcasting, and my books-on-tape "reading" has taken a nosedive.

Singing again

A couple of weeks ago I started singing again. Don't get me wrong, I'm always singing, but it is more of the "singing in the car" or "singing in the shower" variety. But, more recently I have started to sing with a small chorus under the direction of someone who teaches music. And, I'm having a blast with it. Coming up in December will be the annual Gakugeikai for the Amherst Japan Language School. This is the event at which the students present/perform something they've been practicing in class. Usually this is a reading from the text or maybe a script the students have prepared. There has even been a kanji quiz with the audience a couple of years ago. At this event also a group of parents will also perform. In the past we have avoided participating merely because we did not have the time to practice. This year, almost by accident, we agreed to participate. So, three Saturdays ago we headed out to the Morimoto family home for an informal farewell to the Shinya family. After eating and talking for a while, a number of us gathered around the piano to begin singing. The song is an acapella version of Sakura by Naotaro Moriyama. Things went very well and last week we met after Saturday school for another practice. The number of participants increased and the harmony is starting to come together. And, I'm having fun.