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Update: The test is concluded – thanks to all who participated! If you want the new free show, you can get it here.
Oh, my friends – you can’t imagine the journey of research, discovery and frustration I’ve been on with this podcast relaunch. But I’m happy to report that we may just have a viable solution at long last.
Wanna try it? I made a new show, in which I interviewed Tara Swiger about developing multiple income streams for a crafty business. I’m offering this one for free as a means of testing the new delivery method.
So… scroll to the bottom of my sidebar, see what you find there, and do what you will. And if you don’t mind, I’d love to hear your report of how it worked or didn’t work for you. (If you have problems, then I need to know what internet browser you’re using.)
If all goes well, I hope to formally launch next week! And I have killer interviews recorded with Jeff Rudell and Lisa Congdon to get us started. Woo!
It’s working great for me! I’m a firefox (on a PC) user.
Great job :)
Fab – thank you, Stacey! Really helpful to know the OS/browser combos that are working.
I’ve downloaded the mp3, but haven’t had a moment to listen to it just yet. The download went fine, getting to it was easy, but my only real comment is that the box where you click to download looked more like a pop up ad than where I was supposed to get the download from. It took me a minute staring at it to realize what I was looking at. This could just be me and being over-tired right now, but there you go.
You’re doing a fantastic job and I’m learning LOTS!
Thanks for that input, Sarah. I need to see whether I can change the appearance of that box. I do have the option for a static graphic, but I thought the ability to play previews from the sidebar might be useful.
Just listened to your snippet and thought it worked well. They only two things that bothered me were that Tara’s voice would buzz regularly throughout the interview which I found distracting. I thought your voice was nice and clear.
The other thing was the screen that displayed while the interview played was bothersome. The background shapes seemed to vibrate in a distracting manner. Since I listened on my laptop I just put up another screen but it did make me wonder if there was artwork or a slow moving slideshow that could run during the podcast for those of us who tend to look at our screens?
Looking forward to the return of the podcast. I’ve missed your friendly voice!
Thank you, Chppie. I hear you – sometimes, recording through a telephone has its vagaries, but I do a great deal of filtering and adjustments to make the sound as comfortable to listen to as possible. I’m researching whether I can change that screen – sounds like you were streaming the show from the iAmplify website. I’m not sure what my options are yet, but I’ll look into that.
Worked great for me (using Chrome on a PC)! and I really enjoyed the interview. Thanks!
Awesome – thanks, Cyn! Glad you enjoyed the interview. Tara is awesome.
Loved the podcast! Was so excited to see that you had produced another one. I have one question though. What will you be charging for this podcast. I originally saw it on iTunes for $9.99 then when I saw your free download I went to the iAmplify site and saw it would be $25. But still was able to get the Free download. Just wondered what you thought you would be charging. I don’t know if I would be able to buy the podcast as often if the prices were this high. I do realize you can’t do them for free. Just wondered if you considered any lower prices. Love your work! Thanks so much!
Hi, Lisa – I just emailed you some questions about that. I can’t imagine where that $25.00 price is coming from.
There is a listing on iTunes for $9.99 at the moment, but that should soon disappear. It’s a failed attempt to work with a digital music distributor. Unfortunately, it turns out that any audio file over ten minutes in length from this distributor ends up getting automatically priced as an “album” on iTunes. I can’t tell whether it’s the distributor’s problem or Apple’s problem, and for many other reasons, trying to sell through the iTunes store has proven unfeasible.
I do wish Apple would consider supporting audio podcasters by letting them sell downloads. They allow video podcasters to sell on the store, after all.
Oh my goodness. Now going back to the page I think I may have been looking at the wrong thing. I think I may have seen the time of the program and thought that was the price. I am so sorry about that! I’m surprised Apple doesn’t support podcast downloads as well. They should. That just doesn’t seem to help them in any way. Thank you again for starting your podcast again! Sorry about the confusion!
Whew! And yay – I was panicking a little there for a moment. Thanks so much for clarifying!
Hi Diane – welcome back!
I am listening on itunes with my Mac….used Firefox to download.
Oh, good – thanks Dale! I do love how Macs will give you the option to sync the mp3 with your iTunes.
I set up my account to send the podcast directly to iTunes, and everything worked flawlessly. At first, I wasn’t crazy about signing up for yet another online account just to get a podcast, but it was an extremely quick process. If their pay wall works as smoothly as the free content downloads, I don’t think it’ll scare too many people off. I didn’t have any problems at all with sound quality or downloading.
So excited about podcast 2.0!
Yeah, I hear you, Haley – I wish there were a way to do online sales without the need for account creation, but there’s no other way to take a form of payment. But since people only have to do it the one time, I hope that’ll be a small hurdle. This is all pretty uncharted territory. Thanks so much for testing!
Hi Diane,
I was able to listen to the sample on Firefox(for PC). I was also able to download it and listen to it on iTunes. I am super happy that you are back to podcasting.
Sounds like it all worked – Yippee! Thanks so much for the test, Tori!
Worked for me.
Using chrome. Downloaded in less than 30 seconds.
Fabulous – thanks, Jenn!
Hi Diane, :-)
Just like Haley, I wasn’t thrilled that I needed to sign up for another account. Maybe one day this service will offer to sign up with either Twitter/Facebook/Blog device? Eh, who knows! But it’s true that it went smootly without any troubles. I also have a Mac and it connected very quickly with my Itunes.
Looking forward to listen to some new Craftypod episodes! :-)
I understand, Fanie, and I wish there were another way. My understanding is that, in order to collect payments and send downloads, just about any service would need you to create an account. Using Facebook Connect or Twitter logins, I believe, could make people more vulnerable to their information being compromised. A separate account on a secure website is so much safer.
Sounds great to me. Used Firefox.
Awesome – thank you for the test, Kat!
Hi, Diane – works fine on a Mac with Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Explorer (through VMWarez)…
Excellent podcast! Nice distinction between profitability / enjoyability, and excellent points on the questions of time involved in the work, energy, size of income stream, and so forth when judging income streams.
Looking forward to more – and certainly worth paying for!
MC
Wow, you’re so sweet to test all those browsers, Mary! Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the show – I still have some evolution to do with the format, but I’m really excited to get things back into active production again!
I completely understand about having an account to connect. And, you’re right, it’s also much more secure, especially if there are some personnal information on it.
I really love how this is working and going to work. :) Only good can come out of this podcast!
I could listen to the sample, and then download via iAmplify fine using FF and a mac. :-)
I don’t have a problem paying for great content, but if I had to go to the site, and download it to my itunes from there every time, I would probably a) run out of time or b) forget to do that.
I haven’t looked into the options on iAmplify or anything, so if there was just a ‘subscribe’ button, and your paypal or CC got charged each week/month, and it automatically updated in iTunes, that would be best. :-) Like I say though, I haven’t actually looked at iAmplify to see if I could do this yet or not!
I do believe I can create a subscription option in iAmplify, Talia – I’ll look into that. Thanks for the input.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to sell directly through the iTunes store at this time, but a Mac should give you the option to sync your purchased MP3′s with iTunes automatically. You might check your iTunes preferences.
I downloaded it successfully!! In iTunes, on a Mac, with Safari. Looks like your project is working out great.
Great timing too as I’m just starting to find my way into web-world. I’ve been making stuff from the moment I could handle yarn, with a little help and love of my grandmother. Its only a year or two ago I realized that creating is part of who I am, not just something I do. I can get passionate about a lot of things but this is really number one…
Thanks, your blog is filled with inspiring information
Chris
Thank you so much for doing the test, Chris! I hope you enjoy the new shows – coming soon!
I downloaded via iAmplify into iTunes on my Mac using Firefox. Everything was fine but having to register was a slight pain…I personally just hate doing it.
I would definitely be willing to pay for the subscription. :)
Thanks for testing and for the feedback, Moxie. I totally understand about the registration, but keep in mind that if you choose to save your account password in your browser (like Firefox and Chrome offer), then you’d be able to leapfrog over the login step in future.
…And there’s a second vote for subscription! I’ll research that this week for sure.
I downloaded the podcast to my iTunes and it sounds great! I don’t mind signing up for the site, but when it is pulled into iTunes it is put in an “iAmplify Podcasts” folder, then CraftyPod is inside of that. Whereas other podcasts are in their own folder, if that makes sense. I doubt that’s something you can change, but it’s just an annoyance to me for filing purposes. LOL
Yes – a few others have reported this, too. I’m researching whether that can go away – I sure hope so! Thanks so much for testing, Tsoniki!
Question, though: is the folder name something you can double-click on and change once it’s in iTunes?
I just tested and you can change the name… but would have to see if another episode downloaded would automatically go in that same folder, or create the iAmplify labelled one again!
Argh… more than likely, it would create that iAmplify folder. I’m waiting to hear whether I can fix that one. Thanks for testing, Linda!
Thanks for the podcast. It was great! But since you are asking for feedback, I want to let you know that it took me about five minutes to locate it. Keep up the fantastic work!
Hmmm… Can you tell me about the web browser you’re using, and how you usually store MP3 files on your computer?
The iAmplify page also gives you the option to “stream” the show instead of downloading it, so if you prefer you can always just play it from the iAmplify page.
Thanks for this. I had no problem. I clicked ‘buy’ from the gadget in your sidebar, was taken to the iAmplify store, registered, it downloaded into iTunes and is now waiting for me on my iPod. : )
Awesome! Thanks for testing, Jo!
It was so nice to listen to another podcast! I’m on a mac, using firefox; I downloaded it to my itunes. It wall went well and sounded terrific. I do think that if I hadn’t known about it and read your specific instructions on where to find it, I may not have.
Thank you so much, Bobbi! I’m currently working out how I’m going to present the shows for sale in an organized, easy-to-find way. I just have the test buried in my sidebar so I can get a manageable sampling.
Easy process and loved the podcast. Really looking forward to your future releases.
Wondering, if you could come up with a subscription process as well? There are others who have membership programs, so you can just pay for the year and subscribe in iTunes to get downloads automatically. I don’t know the details but I know it’s possible. Just a thought if you hadn’t already thought of subscriptions :P
Thanks!
Yes, several have suggested that, and I’ll add subscription as an option!
My laptop is out, so I can’t use my iTunes or download to my ipod or anything until the end of the month. However, I’m so glad to hear that it’s back!!