Today I subscribed to Princeton University's "University Channel" podcast through iTunes. (More info: University Channel Blog) On my lunch break I listened to about half of computer science prof Edward Felten's lecture, "Rip, Mix, Burn, Sue: Technology, Politics, and the Fight to Control Digital Media."
I am pretty pleased with the audio quality (though it is not great), but I think the length is a little on the long side for a podcast. After checking a few other run times, it appears that most of these lectures in Princeton's series run around an hour. I'm new to this type of thing, but it would be nice if podcasts had a "bookmarking" feature like audiobooks that allow you to keep your place even over several launches of iTunes on your computer. (I don't know: Maybe this is possible and I just don't know about it.) [Edit: Nevermind--iTunes does save your place.]
You can also view video versions of the University Channel lectures in several formats. About 20 minutes into the Felten lecture podcast, I actually switched over to video. Dr. Felten was giving a fascinating (and simple!) explanation of the conversion from analog to digital formats and was obviously using Powerpoint or some other visual aid. I absolutely could not follow just by listening. The video version did include these slides, and for this particular demonstration the quality was fine, even at the lower speed and small screen size I was viewing it with. However, another slide I wanted to read that contained (if the audience's reaction to it is any indication) a funny quote from Mister Rogers was pretty much impossible to decipher.
The web page for the lecture includes a full text transcript, which is a really nice feature. (Just of the talk; No Power Point slides.)
All in all, I was very pleased. I'll definitely listen to the rest of the lecture on my walk to the parking lot this afternoon.
Speaking of podcasting, I see Shane and his staff of blogging superheros have instituted podcasting functionality with the ongoing software upgrade. My first thought is that I would never have any need to develop and share my own podcast with the world. But then again, this time last year I never imagined I'd be blogging. So who knows? Check back here in another year or so and you just might be able to hear my dissertation defense!
Posted by perry032 at July 28, 2005 02:03 PM | TrackBack