Comedy Podcasts

Many podcasts are available to subscribe to and watch
in a variety of genres, and one of these is the comedy
podcast. Every small scale wannabe writer has a chance
to become a comedian through podcasting, since the
low entry cost allows people to start podcasting with
minimum effort and money. To find some of these
comedy podcasters, check a podcast directory. A
podcast directory is a listing of many, sometimes
several thousands, of podcasts submitted and divided
into categories. A podcast directory will probably have
a large number of comedy podcasts available to
subscribe to.


These comedy podcasts are usually created by a small
team of people who do the work in their free time, as a
hobby, not as a source of income. Because it is a hobby,
they're more willing to give the work away for free, for
nothing more than recognition, probably in the hopes
they can parlay that recognition into a more mainstream
job. Some more corporate groups also put together
comedy podcasts, however. The satirical comedy web
site TheOnion.com puts out a regular comedy podcast,
featuring readings from their fake news site.

Placing a comedy podcast on the Internet has several
advantages for the creators. They get to showcase their
work, easily distributing their art to many people. This
following is likely to be be unusually passionate,
following the artist with more enthusiasm than the
artist's average audience. The comedian has a chance to
be more open with the audience, engaging in a sort of
dialogue with them. The comedian broadcasts the files,
which enter the computer of the user, already a more
personal level than simply hearing the jokester on the
radio or on television. Compedy podcast subscribers
will often then write back to the podcaster, or leave
comments on the blog which often accompanies a
podcast site. This can give them a degree of input and
connection with the writers of the comedy podcast that
is far removed from other styles of comedy distribution.

The writers and producers of a comedy podcast thus
benefit from several advantages of the podcast form. It
is cheap and easy to set up, and uses a distribution
mechanism that is also easy to use. The way the podcast
form is designed, as well, creates greater connection
between the producer and the subscribers. The comedy
writer has a greater ability to interact with the
subscribers and to find out what they appreciate or do
not. Because podcasting is so simple to get involved in,
requiring only a small investment to get started, many
amateur comedy writers have begun starting their own
shows and distributing the feed. It is likely, because of
the unique connection podcasting offers between writer
and listener, that we will see at least some of these
amateur comedians make the leap to the professional
stage.

Downloading a Free Podcast

Its easy to find and download a free podcast. The best
way to find free podcasts is probably to check a podcast
directory. A podcast directory is a listing of many,
sometimes thousands of different podcasts. The podcast
directory will usually organize the podcasts by topic and
genre, making it easy to find the type of podcast that is
sought. In addition, podcast directories often allow the
visitors to comment on the podcasts listed, and provide
a list of the favorite podcasts on the site, making it easy
for users to find the best podcasts available. These
podcast directories can be used to browse through,
introducing users to many different podcasts they
otherwise would not have found.


Once a podcast has been found that interests the user, it
is necessary to download the free podcast. The vast
majority of podcasts will be free, but there will be a few
that may cost a small amount of money. The process to
subscribe to and download the podcasts is the same in
either case. First, a podcast client needs to be found and
installed. There are many free podast clients available,
all providing a slightly different user interface and range
of options. They come with many different names, such
as Podscape, or Nimiq, and searching for 'free podcast
client' or something like it will turn up many
possibilities. When the podcast client has been
installed, inputting the feed address will allow the
podcast to be downloaded. The podcast client will
check the address given for a small, machine readable
file called an RSS file. This file will contain
information about the podcasts, perhaps some text
about the individual episodes, as well as the location of
the episode file. Once the podcast client has been
located the file referred to in the RSS feed, it will be
downloaded and stored on the users computer until the
want to view it.

Sometimes, of course, access to a personal computer is
not available, but it is still necessary to check a certain
podcast. Fortunately, many podcast directories offer
built in podcast readers in the site. Not only do they
often show each recent episode that is available, they
may also offer a way to view or listen to those podcast
episodes from within the site. By using the viewer
contained within the site, it is no longer necessary to
even download the podcast episodes. However, the
ability to move and share the episodes after
downloading is one of the wonderful things about
podcasting. The files can be placed on almost and
media player, ranging from iPods to the new Play
Station Portable. This flexibility is one of the reasons
podcasts have succeeded, despite other technologies
like streaming music and video. The desire of
consumers to have control over technology cannot be
over estimated.

Why There Are Free Podcasts

Podcasting, unlike other media forms, almost never has
charges for services, and the vast majority of feed
producers distribute free podcasts. This puts at odds
with, say, online radio stations, news sites that offer
media to subscribers, or the online music industry
general. Even though podcasting has very direct
correlations with industries like news and music that
have strong business models, podcasting differs.
Podcasting does not really have a business model, and
hardly anyone is podcasting in order to profit from it.
There are some businesses and news sites that podcast,
but they do it as a way to supplement their companies
and to gain technological geek credibility, not to make
money. This is an odd thing, but explainable in light of
what podcasting is.

The free podcast problem is not difficult, and
podcasting differs in several key ways from other media
areas. First, podcasting involves the physical transfer of
a file from the host to the users computer. An online
radio station does not do this; all that they provide to
their listeners is a streaming sound file that cannot be
saved without difficulty and work. If someone did
manage to do so, the station would have strong grounds
for suing them since they were never given the rights to
keep and store the files. By podcasting the complete file
to the users computer, express permission is granted the
user to copy and use as they wish. Second, the podcasts
are, for the most part, made by individuals who have
low costs involved in creating and distributing the files,
as opposed to a news broadcast or song by a music
company. These individuals have little reason to charge
for their work since there is little cost to them to do so.
Because the files are distributed in a way allows their
copying and does not control the media, and since
podcasting is a very low cost media outlet, feed
producers have little reason or ability to charge for their
work.

Using a Directory of Podcast Videos

While some video feeds can be found by visiting the
site that hosts them, many more are easier found by
visiting a directory of podcast videos. These podcast
video directories maintain listings of podcasts that have
been submitted to them. They may sort the list
according to region, category, and popularity, helping
visitors find exactly the type of feed they are looking
for. Tech video podcasts can be found, with regular
episodes about technology news. Some video feeds are
experimental podcasts, created by designers interested
in showcasing their work and trying out new forms of
editing and storytelling. There are some feeds that
recreate talk and comedy shows, with interviews every
episode.

A directory of podcast videos can help anyone find new
and interesting podcasts to subscribe to, and it can also
help podcasters advertise their feeds. Rather than
relying on word of mouth advertising and people
stumbling onto the feed, a directory makes it easier for
listeners to find the feed. Directories play the role that
early search engines did, maintaining a list of a
relatively small group of net addresses that otherwise
would not be found.

After looking through a directory of podcast videos and
finding a feed that is appealing, it can be subscribed to
by using a podcast client. A podcast client is a computer
program that checks the RSS file that stores the
information about the feed and downloads the video
files that the video podcast links to. The file can then be
watched by the user on their computer whenever and as
many times as they wish.

Pros and Cons of Flash-based Sites

Flash-based sites have been a craze since the past few years, and as Macromedia compiles more and more great features into Flash, we can only predict there will be more and more flash sites around the Internet. However, Flash based sites have been disputed to be bloated and unnecessary. Where exactly do we draw the line? Here's a simple breakdown.

The good:

Interactivity

Flash's Actionscript opens up a vast field of possibilities. Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactve features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive Flash-based games. This whole new level of interactivity will always leave visitors coming back for more.

A standardized site

With Flash, you do not have to worry about cross-browser compatibility. No more woes over how a certain css code displays differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you position your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they are as long as the user has Flash Player installed.

Better expression through animation

In Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a message in a much more efficient and effective way. Flash is a lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster based and hence much larger in size.

The bad and the ugly:

The Flash player

People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can view Flash movies, so by using Flash your visitor range will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your site. You'll also have to put in additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn't have the player installed.

Site optimization

If your content was presented in Flash, most search engines wouldn't be able to index your content. Hence, you will not be able to rank well in search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your site.

Loading time

Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to regular text and images, and some visitors might just lose their patience and click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to load, the more you risk losing visitors.

The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, use a mixture of Flash and HTML or use pure text if your site is purely to present simple textual and graphical information.