A few months back, Apple got into a bit of a hissy-fit and began to throw cease and desist orders at folks who used the term “podcast”. Apparently, they felt that it was their term (that they didn’t invent) so they had the right to defend it.

Fast forward to now, and Apple has done a 180′. Evidently, the bad publicity made them change their view, and they no longer will complain if people use the term to legitimately describe podcasting services.

Unfortunately, the letter that revealed this, written to podcaster Dave Gray at The Global Geek Podcast website, is very vague as to whether Apple will seek further litigation. Apple notes that they don’t license the term, and I’ve taken this to mean that they don’t license the term as in licensing of a song to a filmmaker - they do not charge people for use of it, however its vague as to whether this is only for uses that they consider proper (”accurately refer to podcasting services”).

Regardless of the details, the news is fantastic for podcasters. You can now describe your product correctly without fear of a shut-down order from Apple. As to others… well, why would you use the term in the first place?

In our last installment, we covered how to record audio easily, using a cheap microphone and a copy of the free program Audacity. Now we get to have some fun and hack it up into something that is usable.

Editing

Editing is a relatively laborious process (but don’t let it scare you). You’ll have to go through your audio, bit by bit, and remove each section of audio that is irrelevant or unnecessary. It’s slow, but worth it - I’ve chopped off as many as fifteen minutes doing this.

In PodDev (an Oratos podcast), we often jump off topic or simply pause while we speak. While fine in conversational speech, podcasts are different because we want them to be relatively fast-paced and easy to follow. As such, we edit this audio out. I use Sony’s Vegas Movie Studio for this (it’s an interface I’m more familiar with) but Audacity is free and therefore this tutorial is geared for it.

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Just a quick YMM update - we are now offering email subscriptions. These are only available for our full length posts (not the link blog) and are delivered to your inbox via the fantastic FeedBurner. It’s fast, free, and secure - so if you aren’t familiar with RSS news feeds you can use this method to get YMM quickly and painlessly.

If you are interested in getting into the feeds groove, there are a number of resources available that help make this complex sounding format very easy to understand (my favorite is the News Feeds page at the BBC).

YouMakeMedia Email Subscriptions

The folks behind Creative Commons will argue that it isn’t a new form of copyright, that it supplements and extends copyright, utilizing its provisions. While semantically true, modern copyright has reached a point where it is fully associated with the idea of control and the lack of freedoms. The point has come where content creators simply assume that work is copyrighted and can’t be licensed because the law has become so restrictive. Creative Commons is so contradictory to this, that it is a virtual 180′ from traditional copyright.

Creative Commons, for the uninitiated, is based around three primary ideas: attribution, commercial vs. noncommercial uses, and sharing alike the new work.

Creative Commons License Buttons

Take these three fundamentals, mix them up, and you have the ‘Commons. It’s a copyright replacement, with three incredibly simple and easily understood icons. Why would you go with this system though? What’s wrong with traditional copyright?

Find out after the jump…

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Everyone has a podcast. There are podcasts about movies, computers, fashion, art, and everything you can dream of. They’re a way that you can communicate with your users in a more personal way - through voice rather than text.

We’re going to help you create your first [solo] podcast in this new three part series. We’ll show you the software to download, the hardware to buy, and the accessories to make. It’s easy, I promise. Here at Oratos Media, we do a few podcasts ourselves using these methods. Pretty soon, you’ll be on your way to “podcast pleasure” as well.

Be warned though - this is a technical guide. I can’t give you an idea or write your script. I can show you tools that help, but ultimately, you need to imagine up an idea.

Get the details after the jump.

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Wired Magazine has a fantastic article giving an excellent update on the LonelyGirl15 tale.

Over the past few months, LonelyGirl15 has changed from a simple “stepping stone” into Hollywood to a full-fledged international serial thriller. The story has taken on a darker theme, and it’s exciting to see this new medium fall into place. The article offers a new look at the conception of the series and gives us a look at why things are going how they are.

It’s amazing to see how the internet has so drastically changed entertainment - things are so much more interactive than they used to be. Users can simply suggest where they think the plot is going, and amazingly, the writers accommodate it. Even the sheer number of page views that they experienced moved LonelyGirl15 from a future film to a permanent web institution.

I’m definitely following LonelyGirl and its creators. This is a new media experiment that’s doing quite well for itself.

Lifehacker have a post explaining eight things you can do to improve your video. While some of them might seem obvious, it’s worth remembering how important little (and big) things can be in determining whether your shoot looks awesomely pro, or just plain home movie.

By the way, it’s not your usual media guru Chris Van Patten bringing you this post today, it’s Peter Upfold, but I’ll save that stuff for the end of the post.

Out of the eight things the article mentioned, I’ve found in my (fairly limited) video shooting and editing experience (to be honest I focus more on the editing when I do video, and even then I haven’t got any decent projects to my name), I think the following are probably the most important (in no particular order) with some of my additions:

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Disney has sold over a half-million motion pictures (television and feature-length) on iTunes.

The company and its subsidiaries, ABC and Pixar, all sell content on iTunes. No surprise, as Steve Jobs is a crucial part of both corporations.

Not surprisingly the largest selling content is the oldest content. High School Musical, the Disney Channel’s breakthrough made-for-TV movie, is one of the biggest selling Disney items. It has an advantage though - it’s been selling longer than iTunes has been selling traditional movies. In fact, the sale of High School Musical brought substantial rumour-mongering geared at the launch of the iTunes Movie Store.

Another notable point worth mentioning is that Disney plans on sharing the wealth. Not surprisingly, television channels are feeling a bit left out in this rush to the net, and want their share. Disney is nearing a licensing deal (within the next few deals) that will share this new stream of revenue with the (decidedly few) cable operators who show Disney films.

Via AOL Money

Amanda Congdon has been a busy person lately. Since she’s left Rocketboom (which she still claims 49% ownership in), she’s founded Oxmour Entertainment, completed a videoblog (AmandaAcrossAmerica), and planned two more.

Now, plans have leaked that Amanda will be developing a comedy for HBO. She’ll be writing and starring in the series, and there are plans to make this show span across TV and the net.

Details are sparse, but it’s great to see Amanda flourishing after the Rocketboom disaster.

Via Backstage