Chip Griffin: Pardon the Disruption

Podcasting Software for Vista, Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my search for podcasting software for Vista.  I ended up trying a number of different pieces of software, including CastBlaster, Audacity, and Adobe Audition.  Each of these programs has advantages and disadvantages that I found through testing.

Ultimately, it came down to a decision between Audacity and Adobe Audition.  Why?  Because I decided that the podcast format I would use would rely on segments independently recorded rather than a single "live to tape" session.  CastBlaster seems like it would be great for that sort of scenario, but I decided I wanted something with a little bit more editing and polish, so I went with the separately produced segments.

First, let me say that Audacity is a great free tool.  It does far more than one would expect of a piece of software that costs nothing.  It offers a tremendous amount of control and features.  And I will likely continue to use it periodically for simple tasks, like producing audio comments for other podcasts, where Audition may be overkill.

But for my regular podcasts that I produce, I determined that Adobe Audition is the best fit.  It has a bit more control and I like the UI a little better than Audacity.  Yes, it costs money -- a fair amount of it ($349) -- but to me it is worth it for the tool set that it provides.  One of the things I like best so far is the ability to easily drag tracks into a different order so that I can view them more logically.  In Audacity I had to move tracks one at a time and couldn't just "drag and drop" them into place.

As I continue to evaluate hardware and software for my podcasts, I will share information here about my selections and what my podcasting rig ultimately looks like.  I'm still settling on hardware choices, so I'm not ready to declare winners yet.

Technorati tags: podcasting software, podcasts, Vista, CastBlaster, Audacity, Adobe Audition, podcast editing

Podcasting Software and Vista

In the past, I have done sporadic podcast interviews and posted them on this blog.  However, I am looking at beginning to do something on a more consistent basis.  So I have spent a fair amount of time over the past few weeks looking at the various software options available for recording on my laptop.  My challenge? I have Vista and this is an area in which most existing programs have problems.

Today, I tried CastBlaster.  And it's not a bad option.  Despite the fact that when you install it you receive a warning that says that it requires Windows XP, I got it to work fine on my system.  It has a simple interface with the ability to easily mix in sound effects, bumpers, and the like.  Unfortunately, it seems a little weak on editing tools (there's a simple one that allows you to listen to the podcast you've created and mark start and stop points to delete.  Ideally, I'd like something with greater editing capabilities. Nevertheless, this one remains a contender.

Another program that looks promising is ePodcast Producer.  It is available in several different flavors that include more or less features based upon what you need/want.  Unfortunately, this one doesn't work under Vista at all.  I tried the usual workarounds (like "Run as Administrator") that have worked with other products, but no luck.  I did check in a couple of weeks ago with their support team and was told it would be a matter of just a few weeks before their products are released in a Vista compatible format.  I look forward to trying it when it is.

I have also managed to get Adobe Audition to run on my Vista laptop.  The experience wasn't perfect because it too is not certified for Vista, but I managed to follow the advice offered by other Vista users in their support forums and was able to get it working.  This one is a contender because it offers very robust editing capabilities.  On the other hand, for a novice at sound recording and mixing, it does seem fairly intimidating.  I'll have to play with this one a little more to see how it plays out.

Of course, the old standby, Audacity, seems to work just fine.  It offers nice editing capabilities, though there are few bells and whistles available during recording.  The only thing I'd love to be able to figure out how to do it in is to easily add in effects, bumpers, etc.  I also like the "talk" button that CastBlaster has.  It would seem it could be used effectively as a "cough button" to mask throat-clearing, swallowing, or of course coughing in the middle of a podcast.  You could then edit out the pause in speaking or leave it in if it seems natural to do so.

I'm curious if any other readers have experience in using podcasting software on Vista. Obviously, since the OS is very new, there isn't a lot out there yet.

Technorati tags: podcast, podcast software, podcasting software, Audacity, CastBlaster, ePodcast Producer, Adobe Audition, Vista, Windows XP

I Got Vista Too Soon

I now remember why I don't get new operating systems right when they are released.  My gadget geekiness got the better of me, though, and since I was due for a new laptop anyway, I got a new Dell XPS M1210 with Vista Ultimate.  I got one that was fully tricked out since my last laptop, a Thinkpad Tablet, was great but a bit slow for as hard as I pushed it.

The good news is that the system is very fast.  When it works.  Unfortunately there are a litany of small and large problems with it.  It seems the blame can be spread around pretty evenly among Microsoft, Dell, and various software & hardware vendors.

The Bad

• The driver situation isn't very pretty.  I get repeated messages from my system at bootup that at least one driver has been disabled because of compatibility.  Which might be understandable had I installed it, but the offending driver belongs to the Roxio DVD software which came pre-installed by Dell.  Score one point in favor of Vista for finding the problem and disabling the driver so it doesn't cause more problems; subtract one each for Dell for shipping a product with a bad driver and the Roxio driver folks for not being ready for Vista.
• A big black mark for Cisco for failing to come up with an updated version of its VPN client that works with Vista.  But, hey, I didn't really want to access the company network from the road anyway, right?
• I have yet to figure out what caused it, but I got a couple of Blue Screens of Death yesterday.  I haven't installed much software yet -- just a handful of essentials.  The good news is that after several semi-automatic reboots, Vista had solved the problem and returned the system to a stable state.  The bad news is that it undid a number of changes I had made to the IE Toolbar and Outlook (using only Microsoft options).
• The system came with integrated Verizon Wireless EVDO.  Since I'm on the road almost every week, that's great news.  Unfortunately, I tried to activate the service and it took me to the Verizon Wireless web site, had me fill out a long form, and told me it could be up to 5 minutes before it finished processing.  Over 20 minutes later I bailed out and tried again -- being forced to fill out the long form from scratch again.  Same result.  Apparently I will be subjected to calling customer support on this one.
• It doesn't appear to be related to the EVDO problem, but I do get periodic warnings that some driver is causing problems.  It looks like it is either the EVDO or the WiFi driver, but in Googling it I haven't gotten a good answer yet. This one I'll let go since it hasn't blocked the use of anything as far as I can tell so far.
• The Windows sidebar with widgets frequently pops up a message saying it has to close because of some problem.  But then it seems to stay open.  And I haven't touched any of the setting for it.  Until last night when I figured out how to shut it off entirely so I didn't have to worry about it anymore.
• I keep getting messages from Windows that the Windows and Norton Firewall are both disabled.  The OS apparently doesn't recognize that Norton is running (or at least it says it is) or Norton isn't providing the right information to Windows.

The Good

• As noted above, Vista seems to do a pretty good job of finding and solving problems.  I wouldn't quite call it "self-healing" but it is the best I have seen from any version of Windows in graceful recovery.
• I really like Office 2007.  Outlook only has minor interface adjustments, but the creation of more of a true dashboard view around my Inbox is very welcome indeed.  Word has great features, including a minor but very useful word count feature that automatically adjusts if you select text.  For those of us who write columns and such with a specific word count requirement will find this much more friendly than previous versions.  The UI for Word and Excel does take a little getting used to -- certainly a learning curve there that will likely frighten the less technical among us -- but they become intuitive fairly quickly.  And features are much easier to access than before.

Bottom Line

I'm not ready to give up on Vista just yet, but I do wish that I hadn't rushed into it.  It's a reminder that those of us who live on the bleeding edge of technology will spill some of our own blood, sweat, and tears dealing with it.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Windows, Vista, sidebar, Norton, Office 2007, Word, Outlook, widgets, EVDO, WiFi, Verizon Wireless, firewall, Blue Screen of Death, Roxio, Dell, XPS M1210, Lenovo, Thinkpad, Vista Ultimate, Cisco

The Underlooked Browser: Maxthon

For the past few months I've been hooked on a new browser: Maxthon.  It's actually been around a while but has been underappreciated.  It used to be known as MyIE2 and from what I gather it has more popularity overseas than it does here in America.

I had been hooked on Firefox for the past year, but I became increasingly frustrated that Firefox didn't render pages the same as IE.  Now, the W3C purists will tell me that's because Microsoft doesn't stick to standards.  But a lot of what they offer is very appealing to consumers and developers, so why should they stick to standards that don't allow the innovation to continue at a rapid pace? 

In any event, that's a debate for another day. 

The nice thing about Maxthon is that it actually uses the IE engine to render pages, which means you'll have a pleasant user experience on most sites.  It handles tabs very nicely and even offers to restore the content of tabs when you re-open the browser (say when some silly HP printer software forces you to reboot). 

I have tried the IE7 beta and it just doesn't deal with tabs the way that Firefox and Maxthon do.  Specifically, when I open a link from Outlook (which I do constantly throughout the day), IE7 opens a new browser.  I want a new tab, just as Firefox and Maxthon do.  Unfortunately, I have found no way to do this.

So if you want IE quality rendering with efficient tab handling, check out Maxthon.