Can You Hear Me Now?

New Ideas will flow through like the Rio Grande if we let them. Some are worth grabbing with a net and pulling out for a closer look, while others are better left to drift on down to Mexico. I guess the trick is in knowing which is which. What works best for me is to try just about everything that presents itself, and to be willing to let it go if it doesn't seem "right" after a pretty short time. Forcing things never works. Allowing them to unfold often works beautifully. Without too many expectations or limits, sometimes a New Idea can take on a life of its own, and surprise us with what it really is.

My idea today has been treading water for about a week, and I think it's time to see if it can really swim... or even fly. I've been thinking about "audio blogging", which is also known as "podcasting", "voice blogging", and even "vogging", although I think maybe vogging includes video too. I'm really not sure. There's so much to learn! 

But back to the Idea. It occurs to me that there might be a lot of people who for one reason or another, would prefer to listen to a blog rather than read it. Maybe they're a slow reader (like me--I read every word as if in conversation--I don't want to miss anything). Or maybe they like to catch up on favorite blogs while making dinner or knitting or something. And then there are people who are visually impaired and can't read what's on the screen. I think of someone like my Aunt Camy, who despite her poor eyesight, still has great "vision" in life, and is still quite interested in the world. I think she might enjoy my blog if she could listen to it easily.

So I'm thinking it might work to do simple audio recordings, in my own voice, reading my own blogs, and then posting them here so they could be listened to with the simple click of a button. I've searched quite a bit for the right tools to do this, and actually turned up very little that falls into the "simple" and "inexpensive" categories. I can do a lot of things, and can figure out a lot of tech-stuff that baffles most people, but the audio thing seems mostly geared toward musicians, with too many tracks and adjustments and gizmos to even be useful to me. 

I did find one website though, that seems practically perfect for my humble needs. It's called Hipcast.  And while I don't care for the name--it sounds like a broken hip to me--I do like what it has to offer an audio novice such as myself. It's clear and simple, and best of all, cheap! I can create audio by simply speaking into the mic on my laptop, and post it to my blog. I can also create podcasts, which differ in ways I don't understand yet, and videos, which would mean having to look presentable on a much too regular basis. For now I think I'll stick to the most basic audio storytelling, and see where it leads.

So for Aunt Camy, and anyone else out there who's interested, here we go. When you click the button, you should be able to hear me reading everything that's written here. If it still seems like a good idea tomorrow, I'll start recording other posts and building a nice little audio library. Wish me luck. And thanks for listening!


Comments

  1. Very cool idea :). You sound exactly how I thought you would lol.

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  2. I do? Wow... I promise to get better at this though. It's not really in my comfort zone yet. :o)

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  3. Kim- nice option! I think this is going to work for you... and Aunt Camy!

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  4. I agree with Penny -- it's good to hear your voice! Too bad we can't leave audio comments. You'd probably laugh at my "hillbilly" (oops, politically incorrect), I mean "Appalachian American" accent! LOL!

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  5. This is a good thing! Your voice comes across in the most pleasant and entertaining way. And I know about these things. More please:)

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  6. Fantastic! I think you have found the next best thing! Do you mind if other bloggers give it a try?

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