Summary: Podcasters Roundtable When I had lunch with Ray Ortega at BlogWorld in NY, he had thrown out the idea of a Podcaster's Roundtable and this past Thursday he made it happen. We used a Google Hangout and once we got the technical issues behind us, it was pretty cool. It was myself, Ray, Daniel J Lewis, and Michael Bell from Blubrry (http://www.blubrry.com) (who will be launching a new podcast about podcasting soon). You can watch it at http://www.podcastersrountable.com (http://podcastersroundtable.com/) or on youtube (http://youtu.be/yyPsAxAyJS0) Appearance on Dan Lyons "How to Podcast Like a Pro" Show I recently appeared on the "How to Podcast Like a Pro" show with Dan Lyons (who I met at BlogWorld). We talked about the top podcasting questions. Listen to it here (http://www.howtomakepodcastslikeapro.com/the-top-faqs-of-podcasting-answered/). Pepsi Jumps Into the Podcast Sponsor Pool Its been reported (http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/07/25/pepsi-max-partners-jay-mohr-and-fake-moustache-studios-llc-1st-ever-podcast-promotion) that Jay Mohr (http://www.jaymohr.com/blog/mohr-stories-blog/)has a deal with Pepsi Max. Mohr provides Pepsi with a targeted audience of males 18-49 and even has a strong female following. Fans can go to http://www.JayMohr.com (http://www.JayMohr.com) or http://www.mlb.com/pepsimax (http://www.mlb.com/pepsimax) for more information. In addition to being a comedian/ actor he's kind of a renascence guy. The cool thing is that the Cola companies are now starting to sponsor podcast so that's a good thing. Why PodPress is a Bad Idea Back in 2005 we needed a way to input iTunes tags, we wanted a player on our websites, and PodPress delivered. It was supported y by Dan Kuykendall (who I interviewed back in April of 2006 (http://schoolofpodcasting.libsyn.com/webpage/28_interview_with_dan_kuykendall_of_pod_press)). The plugin took off, and its been downloaded over 800,000 times. Word press was releasing updates on a super regular basis. I made a video for version 4.1 to help Dan with some of support questions he was getting. Then when Wordpress 2.6 came out things went bad. Very bad. When I did some research (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-podpress-podcast-not-compatable-with-wp-26)I found a post where a user stated, "I upgraded my WP to 2.6 and now I cannot write a new post, new page or even edit a post/page without IE7 crashing." The worst part of it, was everyone's site broke at the same time. We all needed Dan to update PowerPress. Dan was gone. I don't hold this against him (OK, maybe a little). You see most people never donate to the plugin developers. We should, but we don't. Dan had other priorities (that helped him pay his bills). I understand why he abandoned this plugin, what I have a problem with is the way he did it. H just left. Finally Angelo Mandato answer the call that everyone was making and developed PowerPress. A plugin that is super easy to switch from PodPress to PowerPress. While some might argue that we are again are connecting with a plugin that is supported by one person I would point out a big difference. Angelo works for Blubrry.com a Podcasting community that provides media hosting, downloads stats, advertising deals, and exposure for podcasters. In the horrible event that Angelo would not be available to continue developing PowerPress, I'm sure Todd Cochrane (Ceo of Raw Voice) would find someone else to support the plugin and continue with its development. For a long time choosing to use PodPress would be like choosing to buy a Pontiac G6. Pontiac (the company) went out of business. If there is a problem with your G6, anyone who works on your car you hope has some experience with this model. In reality if it breaks the person fixing it will first have to spend time understanding how it works, so they can troubleshoot whatever is wrong. I say this because my wife drives a Pontiac G6. We will be looking to sell it soon.
