Tag: Internet media
0 Episode 63 – The gang’s all here!
First, sorry for the delay. With today’s weather-related traffic, and technical issues plaguing the studio this week, it took a few extra minutes to get everything up and running.
The good news? Now you get EVERYTHING from this week AT ONCE! All bonus tracks, and the episode have been posted simultaneously to give you hours of entertainment while you avoid the Minneapolis roads during the first legitimate snow of the year. (To all those in not-so-snowy areas, I wish I was there)
As I mentioned above, we had a few tech issues this week with John Egan joining via Skype. It was the run-of-the-mill “signal cut out a lot” stuff, so we’ve learned our lesson for the second time, and will put all of our energy toward FaceTime in the future, if we opt to phone guests in.
But that technical issue gave way to an additional bonus track this week, so go listen to that. And, of course, we have our Mic Check available on our site. We talk about beer. Preferred beers, to be specific.
AND, if you enjoy the “Buffering …” Podcast, go vote for us on Vita.MN’s “Best of 2012” list for Podcasts. You can check out the list, and vote, here. Vote! Vote! Vote! We don’t need first, but we’d love to hit top 10 in our second year! Voting ends on 12/9.
0 Disney’s exclusive deal with Netflix
Netflix has returned from another content hunt with massive bounty as the result of a huge bidding war. They have locked in an exclusive streaming contract with Disney for a large catalog of content, including movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Disneynature, according to CNN Money.
The catch? Netflix users won’t see a lot of this content until 2016, when Disney’s current agreement with Starz (a la Sony) expires.
This reads a lot like the deal between Netflix and Dreamworks to post their computer animated library by 2013. It’s also mirroring that deal, as Disney has already provided Netflix with some recognizable and notable content, including “Alice in Wonderland”, “Pocahontas” and “Dumbo”, to name a few.
The deal also includes many sequel-heavy series, like the “Air Bud” sequels, and the “Brave Little Toaster” sequels, but not their originals.
A big piece of this agreement is that it yanks a lot of future content out of the hands of premium cable TV channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz, as they lose access to new Disney/Marvel/Pixar content released after 2016 that would usually linger on their channels between each film’s exit from the theater, but before they hit DVD/Blu-ray. It also blocks streaming sites like Amazon Prime and Crackle from access to the content as well.
It’s nice to see Netflix experiencing success through this agreement (including a recent rise in the company’s stock), but there will still be the gaggles of nay-sayers uninterested in waiting four years for the overall payoff.
At the same time, there are speculators wondering how this will affect Disney’s recently acquired gold-mine of the Star Wars universe. Although LucasFilm was not listed among the content providers (as far as I have seen), the release of Episode 7 in 2015 may lay the groundwork for future negotiations and deals to continue to feed us desired content.
I am, personally, among those excited now, as two of my childhood Disney favorites, “The Great Mouse Detective” and “The Rescuers Down Under” are among the titles already available on Netflix. The fact that the voice talents of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, John Candy, and Vincent Price are just a click away makes me wish I wasn’t at work so I could start a Disney binge right now.
Still, there are a number of additional Netflix releases to look forward to this month, as we’ve discussed on the show before, including “ParaNorman”, “Looper” and “The Campaign”. All three of these will be on Netflix around Christmas or New Years, according to movieinsider.com.
Looks like we have at least 1,121 days until we will reap the benefits of this deal, but we’ll keep an eye on things here in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio.
0 Soundtrack your life with Songza
Originally, the article was going to include a sub-title: “Why don’t you have Songza yet?”, because, really, why don’t you have Songza yet?
During a conversation in Episode 62, Matt Walstead mentioned that he was using Songza (www.songza.com) as one of his recent primary streaming services, and based on his description, I decided to investigate.
I had mentioned Songza on the show before, from a news story long past (most likely a launch story, or something of the like), but I had never played around with the iPhone app or the web site.
It’s AMAZING. It’s what a song discovery service SHOULD be. It’s the contextualizing of music into the rest of your life, based on “Playlists by Music Experts”, as the site claims, and, honestly, they are not giving the playlist generators enough credit.
For example, there are SEVEN different ways you access these playlists, including lists based on Genre, Activities, Moods, Decades, and Culture. After messing around with this app, I’ve determined my favorite playlist group is aptly named Record-Store Clerk, as its suggestions of playlist sub-groups include “Dance Music That’s Not Assaultive”, “Indie Music That’s Not Too Weird”, “Mustache Music (Or: Cool In The ’70s)”, and “This Will Piss Your Parents Off”. It really is that organization of music that you expect to find in the hipper realms of metropolitan areas, in the mostly deserted record shop where the staff knows exactly what you’re looking for, based on the two notes stuck in your head.
ON TOP OF THAT, there’s MORE. I know what you’re thinking: “But Dan, there are TOO many features already. This is too good to be true.” And you would be wrong, generic infomercial seeded audience member. For there’s the Concierge service. Based on time of day, with a dash of societal paradigms, the Concierge service will suggest genres FOR you. For example, I am writing this on a Friday night, and the Concierge is offering me the following options: “Bedtime”, “A Sweaty Dance Party”, “Pre-Gaming with Friends”, “Putting on Your Party Dress”, “Creating a Cool Atmosphere”, and “Unwinding”. Seeing as I already have my Party Dress on, in a manner of speaking, I went with the Cool Atmosphere one, and, as a result, it is narrowing down the tunes I should listen to into ANOTHER six categories, this time based on genre.
I spent the work day today bombing through the multitudes of dubstep available, to give it an honest chance, and I was really impressed by the volumes of music available in these playlists. But that’s the catch that I’ve mentioned a number of times: it’s a pre-set collection of playlists. You don’t experience the flexibility of Pandora’s lists, or the “control EXACTLY what you want to hear” of Spotify, but when used properly, it fits comfortably into most situations.
Like most streaming music sites these days, there is a social media aspect included, where everyone on Facebook knows you’re listening to the “Cry Yourself to Sleep” playlist, unless you disable the feature. It isn’t as invasive as Spotify’s “POST EVERY TRACK” setting, but it’s also not a feature I’d actively seek out.
There are also a few extra clock-related features, where you can set a specific playlist to start playing as an alarm at a certain time, and the ability to play music while displaying the app’s built in clock, but they aren’t anything to write home about. I imagine you could go through the Concierge service (which you can also set different days of the weeks, and times of day, kind of like looking at future traffic on Google Maps) and set certain appropriate playlists to pop up when you expect to be commuting to work, or doing housework, or what have you.
Right. So it’s great, right? Now let’s get down to brass tack. It’s available for iPhone, Android, Kindle, and computers for free (with clickable, but not audible, ads). So far, I’ve played with the iPhone app and the web site, and the user interface is nice. Not too complicated to navigate; not to noisy to sift through. “Nice” is really the most appropriate word for it. It also has the Pandora “You’ve Skipped Too Many Tracks For Now, But If You Switch Over To Another Playlist, You Can Keep Skipping” license restrictions, but with the number of playlists available, this shouldn’t hold you back.
I don’t think it’ll replace my iCloud use, or the occasional Spotify use, but I do think this may replace Pandora in my eyes, at least until I exhaust the playlists I am actually interested in hearing. I say it’s worth checking out to see how well the Concierge matches your moods, and to laugh at some of the playlists and categories. It’s not like it’ll cost you anything. I’m with the folks on the Apple App Store: 5 Stars for this one.
0 Episode 60 – Sexy Bond & Vampire Deer!
Happy Thursday, everyone!
Adam and I had a FANTASTIC time this week taping Episode 60 with Katie Best & Maianne Preble, where we discussed A LOT and NOTHING at the same time. Great banter, super funny, and somewhat saucy.
We can blame all of that on this week’s Mic Check, as we started on that foot, and never left it. We talk about “Skyfall”, sexy James Bonds, Bond pornos, car pornos, and so much more.
We did break away from the raunch with a few other conversations, but a lot of our mid-episode call-backs dealt with the fun and funny conversations. You can hear this week’s Mic Check by clicking here.
0 Episode 59 – We don’t discuss the election … mostly
Happy Thursday, folks! It’s time for this week’s Mic Check!
We had a fun time this week, especially since it was Election Day! Actually … we were all somewhat nervous, as many of the ballot initiatives and politicians we supported had reported “neck & neck” right up to election day. We knew it would be hard to stay away from it, so we do actually discuss the code we developed to convey results without bringing the election into it.
Otherwise, we’ve effectively (though not officially) done away with the Mic Check theme topic and/or question. We’ve worked our way to this nice even plane where we can just start riffing with our guests, and then we’re through the Mic Check without even thinking about it.
We bounce all over the place for this Mic Check, including, but not limited to, the following: “Avatar”, The Quadratic Equation, Star Wars, “Wreck it Ralph”, our Polling Places, Cheat Codes, and Family TV watching experiences (but not necessarily in that order).
Alright. You’ve read enough. Time to take a listen. CLICK HERE. ENJOY!
0 Episode 4 – The New Episode is Here!
Happy Friday, listeners!
We have a great episode this week! Rather than our usual focus on streaming video, we put a lot more focus on updates to the streaming music world, including Rhapsody’s battle to compete with the popular Spotify, MOG and Rdio, and MySpace’s plans to forge itself into the “Hulu of music”. We also discuss the return of “Arrested Development” as it moves into development, and where you might find it (after we recorded the episode, Hulu also threw its hat into the ring).
We also talk a lot about how we access streaming media, in terms of software, hardware, and preferred sites, which is usually dictated by our software and hardware.
This weekend, we’ll also release the statistics from each Leonard Maltin game, so you can see who reigns supreme in the world of movie trivia, and who needs to step up their game (You may be surprised). So keep an eye out for that.
We’re still working on getting some intro music for the show, but that will go hand-in-hand with our foray into the world of uploading our episodes to iTunes for your accessibility. We will still post bonus tracks on this site exclusively to keep you coming here, but regular episodes will be available for subscription soon!
Until then, check out the new episode!
0 Episode 4 – BONUS TRACKS & Stats
We warned you.
And even after this episode teaser, there’ll be a bonus Leonard Maltin game available on Saturday! ALL OF THE AUDIO FROM EP 4 TOTALS 2 HOURS! We are giving you a full extra hour of bonus material this week to keep you listening (and we still need to reschedule the RiffTrax of the new “Phineas & Ferb” movie (see Episode 3).
Plus, I’ve been doing some calculations, and I will have performance stats regarding everyone’s performance on the Leonard Maltin game since the show started, and I’ll be posting those on 10/9/11, so you have enough time to absorb the bonus game before I give away the ending. Once I post it, I’ll do a general call for statistic suggestions, to make sure I didn’t forget anything.
Until then, check out the Episode 4 Post Episode taping conversation! Click here!
0 Taping Episode 4
WAS AWESOME!
We had a great time with Matt Walstead and Katie Best on our show this week. Covered some news that’ll still be relevant on Friday, got into a big discussion about the availability of streaming media outside of the PC, and played an awesome round of the Leonard Maltin game!
To entice you to check out Friday’s episode, here is today’s bonus track:
Episode 4 Mic Checks
0 Episode 3 – Extra Leonard Maltin Game – Team Frank’s Return
Are you ready for an extra round of the Leonard Maltin game? This time, Frank’s girlfriend, Cara, decided to step up and represent the team. It’s a long bonus track, but totally worth the listen. (Also, I apologize ahead of time for not being as great of a mixer as Adam and not appropriately adjusting to Cara’s volume. Still a fantastic extra!)
0 TH-TH-TH-THREE GUESTS?!?
That’s right! It’s NEW EPISODE DAY and we have a new episode for you. Unfortunately, Adam was unable to attend the episode taping, as it was his dad’s birthday celebration evening (Happy Birthday again, Mr. E!) so I brought AJ back as guest number three in this weird attempt to rehash the original structure for the original episode. For some reason, any time Frank is involved, AJ subs in for someone. We’ll have to track this to see it we can get it to happen again.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I was busy at work this week, in late into the evening and unable to edit the audio too much beforehand, so you’ll get the Mic Check bonus track today at the same time as the new episode. Listen to it before the episode and it’ll be like you were there the whole time.
Check it out!
Click here to listen to our NEW EPISODE
(I’ll figure out what link worthy topics we hit during this week’s episode and will post actual links later!)
The Buffering Podcast 