Podcasts

We were planning to do some podcasts for book reviews by our adult services team and post them on our website. At the time, our techie advisor informed us that we didn't have the equipment for good quality sound broadcasts, and that what we had tried previously in our organization was not overwhelmingly well received. There was also a bandwidth problem. Podcasts sucked up a lot of it, but video could be parked on YouTube. After listening to some podcasts of book reviews and also watching some video book reviews, we decided that video was the way to go. It's just more interesting looking at someone talking, even if they aren't wearing a funny hat, but even better if they are. Or two people can have a conversation, or show you around the library.
For this assignment, I listened to quite a few more podcasts. Frequently, the sound quality was poor, echoing or tinny. The voices didn't always sound professional. This was disappointing, and generally I stopped listening before it was over. Strangely, I have more tolerance for grainy film, shaky cameras and real people who look a little nervous to be on camera. Is this the influence of YouTube? On the other hand, my experience with audio is NPR and audiobooks, with silky smooth voices and professional actors.
I did like a podcast from Australia. The accents were great, and hearing about issues from people so far away was interesting. My opinion is that there are specific applications or situations that would lend themselves to audio, but I am not inclined to subscribe to a lot of them. I would rather read the content online or watch a video.