Author Topic: A whiny complaint about Podiobooks  (Read 18099 times)

stePH

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on: March 27, 2008, 03:58:45 AM
In Hutchins' Seventh Son and Lafferty's Playing for Keeps I've noticed a trend that I find irritating:

I don't need a recap of The Story So Far.  Typically I won't start a story until I have the entire thing in my possession -- this goes for paper books as well (with rare exception, such as King's "Dark Tower" series.)  So when I listen to an episode of a "podiobook" it probably hasn't been very long since I heard the last one ... in fact, I probably just finished the last one moments ago.  So I don't want to hear some random character tell me about what I just got done listening to, and it's annoying to have to scroll forward to the end of it when all I want to do is just get right into the next part.


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goatkeeper

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Reply #1 on: March 27, 2008, 08:26:56 AM
agreed.  although, i'm sure you can understand why they do that. 

I've kind of given up on podiobooks for now, but many are effective without doing the recap.  In the future I think authors will make recaps different tracks.



Listener

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Reply #2 on: March 27, 2008, 11:51:01 AM
Is it not possible to shuttle past that part?

I'm just sayin'...

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stePH

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Reply #3 on: March 27, 2008, 01:05:00 PM
Is it not possible to shuttle past that part?

I'm just sayin'...

... and it's annoying to have to scroll forward to the end of it when all I want to do is just get right into the next part.

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
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Talia

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Reply #4 on: March 27, 2008, 02:19:44 PM
I think podiobooks are somewhat catered to folks who have them set up on an RSS feeder and get a chapter a week, or a chapter every couple of days or however they have their feed set up. Thus the recaps.



stePH

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Reply #5 on: March 27, 2008, 03:17:49 PM
Sigler's Ancestor didn't have them, nor did Lafferty's Heaven books to my recollection.  I think those did pretty well even so.

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Russell Nash

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Reply #6 on: March 27, 2008, 05:46:20 PM
Lafferty and Hutchison have this recap on their feeds.  Most authors recut their stuff before sending it to podiobooks.  In this case Lafferty and Hutchison didn't cut the recap off.  That's their fault not podiobooks.



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Reply #7 on: March 27, 2008, 06:50:11 PM
Is it not possible to shuttle past that part?

I'm just sayin'...

... and it's annoying to have to scroll forward to the end of it when all I want to do is just get right into the next part.

Oops.  The danger of skimming.  Sorry.

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DKT

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Reply #8 on: March 27, 2008, 08:51:32 PM
I'm not a fan of it either, but it seems like it's becoming common practice.  (Although with how Mur released Wasteland in one chunk, there aren't any recaps.)

I know why they do it but I agree -- if I'm into a story I want the next chapter, not a recap.

That said, I LOVED Tee Morris's recent recap for Sigler's Nocturnal -- the one where he's getting tortured by the Nocturnals and is trying to promote his book all at the same time.  That one had me cracking up for a while.


CammoBlammo

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Reply #9 on: March 27, 2008, 10:11:00 PM
Sigler's Ancestor didn't have them, nor did Lafferty's Heaven books to my recollection.  I think those did pretty well even so.

I listened to Ancestor via PodioBooks and it had the recap at the beginning of every episode. I would have preferred it not to be there, but it wasn't a showstopper.



stePH

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Reply #10 on: March 28, 2008, 12:26:45 AM
I listened to Ancestor via PodioBooks and it had the recap at the beginning of every episode. I would have preferred it not to be there, but it wasn't a showstopper.

Hmmm ... it's been a while; you're probably right and I've just forgotten.  I think I first took notice while listening to Seventh Son and the recaps started happening around the fourth or fifth episode rather than the second.

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Thaurismunths

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Reply #11 on: March 28, 2008, 01:33:49 AM
I've had similar thoughts when I listen to podiobooks of any kind.
Is there a reason you can't put 'chapters' in?

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goatkeeper

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Reply #12 on: March 28, 2008, 02:29:21 AM
I've had similar thoughts when I listen to podiobooks of any kind.
Is there a reason you can't put 'chapters' in?

I'm looking into it- I want to start putting chapters in Drabblecast for intro/story/outro



StankGunner

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Reply #13 on: April 01, 2008, 02:56:51 AM
I've had similar thoughts when I listen to podiobooks of any kind.
Is there a reason you can't put 'chapters' in?

I'm looking into it- I want to start putting chapters in Drabblecast for intro/story/outro

The Quackcast has chapters.  He has it released as .m4a rather than .mp3

http://quackcast.com/epodcasts/page1.html

They are called "enhanced" podcasts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_podcast

It really is a great deal more convenient, but I believe that this set up will only work with Itunes and the Ipod.  I love the Quackcast, but damn his intro is long.



stePH

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Reply #14 on: April 01, 2008, 04:42:55 AM
I've heard that one can put chapters into .m4a / .m4b files, but I'm completely unclear as to how to do it.  Currently I just rip each chapter as a separate file when converting CD audiobooks.

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goatkeeper

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Reply #15 on: April 01, 2008, 05:10:09 AM
Yeah there is a way- Drabblecast uses mp4.  Unfortunately enough people still use noncompatible readers to make it an issue.  And I still haven't figured out chapters.



StankGunner

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Reply #16 on: April 02, 2008, 01:02:57 AM
Yeah there is a way- Drabblecast uses mp4.  Unfortunately enough people still use noncompatible readers to make it an issue.  And I still haven't figured out chapters.

I don't know if you use a mac or pc, but I looked for a little bit and have stumbled upon some ways to do this.

Apparently Garage Band for the mac can do this really easily.

On the PC there aren't really many easy solutions.  One way I have found to do it is with a program called Slide Show Assembler (http://www.slideshowassembler.com/blog/).  There isn't a GUI for it, but from the small amount I have looked at it, it isn't terrible.  When you download it there is a PDF that can explain what you need to do to make your own.  If it is something you want to offer your listeners, it is probably worth doing.  If you can afford to set up 2 feeds, once you understand the process it shouldn't be to difficult.

If anyone knows of an easier (GUI) way to make enhanced podcasts on a PC then let us know.



goatkeeper

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Reply #17 on: April 02, 2008, 03:31:40 AM
I'll be lookin into it- I'll let you know what I find.



stePH

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Reply #18 on: April 02, 2008, 01:05:13 PM
Another thought just occurred to me:  I'm sure very few of us read an entire book in one sitting (I know that I don't).  When you pick up a book you're in the middle of, do you get a recap of the story so far?  Ditto with books on tape or CD.  So I really can't see much justification for synopses in the Podiobooks episodes, other than that they are "episodic" in nature.

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DKT

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Reply #19 on: April 02, 2008, 04:23:36 PM
Most serial TV shows (Lost, 24, BSG, Heroes, Veronica Mars) use a similar ploy before every new episode.  I don't mind it then, but it grates on me a bit more for podiobooks.


StankGunner

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Reply #20 on: April 02, 2008, 04:49:08 PM
These intros certainly can be helpful when listening to the story in a serialized form, but I completely agree that when you are listening to them one after the other, it gets old fast.  Like if you watch 24 on DVD, every episode starts with "Previously, on 24" to sum up what you just watched.

Since the book has been released in its entirety, perhaps Mur could be persuaded to re-release it without the intros.  I honestly wasn't terribly fond of the recaps done by the characters.



stePH

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Reply #21 on: April 02, 2008, 05:10:45 PM
Most serial TV shows (Lost, 24, BSG, Heroes, Veronica Mars) use a similar ploy before every new episode.  I don't mind it then, but it grates on me a bit more for podiobooks.
TV recaps are typically a minute or less.  Some of these podiobook recaps are a few minutes long.

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wintermute

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Reply #22 on: April 03, 2008, 03:56:05 PM
If you're going to record something in .m3a, make sure you have a version available in .mp3, too. I used to listen to QuackCast, but I got so fed-up of having to re-rip every episode into a format my non-iPod could use that I eventually just gave up.

And if you are going to make versions in fancy formats that not everyone can use, can I put in a vote for Speex?

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StankGunner

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Reply #23 on: April 03, 2008, 05:09:08 PM
If you're going to record something in .m3a, make sure you have a version available in .mp3, too. I used to listen to QuackCast, but I got so fed-up of having to re-rip every episode into a format my non-iPod could use that I eventually just gave up.

Just an FYI, but Quack Cast is (at least currently) released in an MP3 feed as well. I don't know if that wasn't always the case, but you can get them from this rss feed.

http://quackcast.com/spodcasts/files/mp3rss.xml

They don't get released often, but check out any you may have missed.



wintermute

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Reply #24 on: April 03, 2008, 05:19:24 PM
Yeah, I might start listening to them again, now that they make it easier for me. But I'm already up to the stage of haing more podcasts to listen to than I have time...

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