Hot on the heels of the first issue’s podcast release comes the start of MechMuse‘s second issue of their ad-supported podcast. You can also visit the website and subscribe to the ad free version for just $7.00 per issue. The ad-supported FREE podcast is accessible via this podcatching feed:
http://www.mechmuse.com/issues/fall-06/cover# an iTunes Music Store search for the phrase “MechMuse”.*
The truly cool tales thus far released this issue are:
Dracula
By Bram Stoker; Read by Ken Richman
1 MP3 AAC* File – 2 Hours 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
*chapters 1 – 4 only (later chapters are still to come)
Identity Crisis
By Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Bob Barnes
1 MP3 AAC* File – 2 Hours 2 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Rough Draft
By Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Rick Jelinek
1 MP3 AAC* File – 38 Minutes 50 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
The Storyteller’s Wife
By Eugie Foster; Read by Rick Jelinek
1 MP3 AAC* File – 54 Minutes 40 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Also, there are stories still to come for the Fall issue:
On My Way to Paradise by David Farland (Chapters 7-9)
Siren Song by David Farland
Reality, Interrupted by Jason Erik Lundberg
Dracula by Bram Stoker (Chapters 5-6)
Illusion by Mark Cole
Demon Pope by Richard Garnett
I got an early taste of these tales and managed to listen to both Kevin J Anderson stories – they rocked! When I met KJA at Worldcon I told him how much I was enjoying them and he said I was the second person that day to tell him that!
UPDATE:*Thanks to Nick for pointing out these details.
I really hope these guys succeed, but I fear that by not paying attention to the details, they’ll lose too many of their potential audience. I also hope they are open to feedback. I sent them an email explaining why I’d found their registration process difficult, and they didn’t seem to get it. After they didn’t like a comment I made in another emaik, I got a sarcastic response.
They had information on the site that the second edition would be out in July, and even in late August there was nothing to say what was happening. Any casual visitor would assume the site was dead, and maybe not come back to check.
After they’d sent out an email saying that the second edition was live, they still didn’t update the homepage for a while.
On their homepage they have an audio file, which plays by default, which is very annoying, especially if you happen to be listening to something else at the time.
They are clear trying very hard to find ways of attracting subscriptions for money, or people to download. Yet, on the homepage, there are links to an RSS feed for any podcatcher, and the link just doesn’t work. There’s nothing there. The download through itunes is in m4a format, which just isn’t going to work on lots of mp3 players.
For the first edition they used a bit rate for the mp3s of 160kbps, which is just not necessary, creating files that are far larger than they need to be.
If you’re after as many ears as possible, these are the sort of details that need to be fixed.
Nick, you’ve clearly thought this through and I think the points you make are all valid.
Upon closer inspection the files distributed through their free podcast are indeed as you said not MP3s (that surprised me), they are showing up as AAC files in my iTunes podcasts folder. As you say, they are probably enclosed AACs (M4As as you said). I will change the post to reflect that detail.
Though extremely pretty the MechMuse website IS harder to navigate than I’d like too. Also, the RSS link IS currently broken as well. All valid points.
Despite all these problems I’m extremely enthusiastic about MechMuse because of its astonishingly high quality of content. If MechMuse can get past these birthing difficulties I’d expect there to be nothing but praise headed MechMuse’s way in the months to come.