I’ve been pretty media-shy up to now, preferring to write instead of recording audio or video messages. But after seeing how easy it is to listen to podcasts, and how easy it was for our 27 Things team to create the podcasts and videos for the exercises, I’ve decided to use the capabilities of software I already have to embed podcasts into my blog posts.
Last summer, a friend introduced me to Goldwave Audio, a free download that can take input from a record player (remember those?) and then edit out all the hisses and pops to create an amazingly clean digital recording you can burn to a CD. I transferred cuts from an album the Al Nobriga Trio made in the late ’70s that was never published on CD, and was so delighted to hear my brother’s voice again! (He played bass for the group.)
Long story short, this weekend I’m going to use the voice recording capabilities of Goldwave to create a podcast. If it works, I’m going to take my laptop to Hawaii and ask my mom to record some of her stories and memories. It will be interesting, to say the least!
As for using our digital catalog to find downloadable materials – I’ve been downloading audiobooks for about a year now, and listening to them when I walk. Last spring when I was practicing for the Avenue of the Vines half-marathon, I went through about 3 titles, the most memorable being “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.”
