Bidness

[ORIGINALLY POSTED 2013 JANUARY 25] It is [UPDATE: is no longer] sad-face time in il mondo Bumbastico. Currently we are up against our storage limits here at the Podbean site, and the problem will not go away by itself.  Our "archive" space grows a certain amount each month, with the "reset" happening on the first of the month.  So the Immediate bad news is that you won't be getting any new podcast content from us until Feb. 1 at the earliest.  Sorry. [UPDATE: old news; January 23 broadcast is up. More soon.] But wait!  There's more.  The Long-Term bad news is that the "certain amount" [350MB, if you'd like to follow along and do math--and who wouldn't?] will not be enough to accommodate the amount of "content" we generate on a monthly basis--especially if a given month contains five Wednesdays, as this month does. [UPDATE: all of this is true, but does not have to mean what I thought it did at the time of first writing.] A 2-hour episode of Bombast, in .mp3 format at 128kbps, occupies roughly 115MB of storage space.  Do you see where this is going?  115MB [per epidosde] goes into 350MB [per month] 3 times tidily.  So if I would like to upload 4 episodes per month, I would have to convert the episodes at a lower rate or increase storage space.  Or--here is a novel idea--you and I could just figure out how to be happy with three episodes per month. [UPDATE: again, the math is correct, but it does not mean that a given show will not post.] Let's review the pros and cons! Converting the recordings to .mp3 at a lower quality would decrease the size of each episode file, enabling all the shows to be uploaded without maxing out storage space.  Personally I feel the disadvantages are pretty overwhelming.  The episodes you already hear are 128kbps, which to my ear is only "acceptable."  96kbps [the rate at which 4 episodes-per-month becomes possible] is "marginal," and anything below that is "unlistenable." Increasing storage space would allow the uploading of every episode at the same "acceptable" .mp3 quality, but would cost money.  I won't bore you with the details, but I do pay a small amount of money for this site.  "Updating" my account [not "upgrading," apparently], to the tune of 3-4x the amount I already pay, would give me 1GB storage growth per month.  It's too much of an expenditure for a vanity project like this, and while "listener funding" would be perfectly in tune with the way WRFI operates, I am not excited about sticking my hand out and asking for PayPal donations, and god help me if I should have to initiate a Kickstarter campaign.  I have no "premiums" to offer except some unwanted toy instruments, a length of copper wire, and maybe a signed coaster.  Not even a Kid Catharsis or WRFI coaster, just, you know, a cardboard coaster from some place or other.  Clearly there are better places your money could go. Paring down the uploads to 3 per month would allow me, like a marginal student in a dreaded GenEd class, to "drop" my worst performances and provide you only with the "best."  Of course, what "best" means will differ from person to person, as I am reminded every week, and I will miss the full documentation of the ongoing slapstick, and the attendant confessionals. Of course this is the option I am choosing for the moment, mostly because it requires the least effort and sacrifice.  Think of it this way: I am freeing up 2 to 4 hours for you on a monthly basis.  YOU ARE MOST WELCOME.  DON'T MENTION IT. If anyone has a useful solution that I haven't considered--please don't say "webstreaming for the whole station," WE KNOW--feel free to drop me a line, which will do me the additional favor of knowing that somebody is paying attention.  Seriously--I have looked into other podcast sites, but there are only marginal differences that I can see in those that offer the same benefits that I receive here--easy conjunction with iTunes, no ads, no spam, etc.  But if you know of one, you know where to find me. In the meantime, look for new podcasts on or around the 1st, 11th, and 21st of every month, starting in a week or so. [UPDATE: no, no, and no. All shows will be posted--for a time. Some will be "archived" and stay here forever--in internet time--and some will be pulled down after a few weeks. I don't know what I was thinking. The BBC posts most of its programs for 7 days, and therefore you can only listen to the most recent episode of any given show. PERSPECTIVE. Once again--I will be posting every program, "shortly" after it happens. I try to get things uploaded by Friday, but that does not always work out. This week, I plan on a Monday upload in addition to the one that happened yesterday. So we should be all "caught up." And, a reminder--it's dead easy to subscribe to the RSS or iTunes, just by clicking the appropriate box on the right-hand side of your screen. Think of it--cathartic home delivery.] Oh, and yes I know it is really arrogant and sad to think anyone is bothered by this.  That's another thing you don't have to tell me!--kid catharsis [UPDATE: that last bit still holds.]