E-Reader Feeder

By Len Edgerly,   Host of The Kindle Chronicles and The Reading
Edge podcasts       

I have always loved to read, and I have always loved gadgets.  I first thought the eBook Revolution had arrived in 1998 when NuvoMedia introduced the Rocket eBook.  It was a homely, clunky device with a screen that makes the Kindle’s look brilliant.  But I loved my Rocket eBook and still have it somewhere down in our condo’s storage unit.  I gradually realized I had been premature in declaring the revolution had arrived, to the mirth of my friends.


That’s why I waited a whole month to buy an Amazon Kindle after it was launched on November 19, 2007.  When mine arrived in just before Christmas, I felt the old stirrings of revolution again, but I kept my enthusiasm under wraps.  By the next summer, though, I was convinced that the Kindle was going to be different.  I had been experimenting with my own audio and video podcasts.  In case you don’t know what a podcast is, I didn’t either until I attended a blogging workshop in Banff in December, 2005.  A podcast is a regularly distributed audio or video file which can be downloaded from the Internet to computers and then to portable devices such as iPods and smartphones.  In July, 2008,  during a vacation on the coast of Maine, I had the idea that as the Kindle attracted a larger and larger base of users, there might be an audience for a weekly audio podcast.  My first show appeared on July 26, 2008 and I have not missed an episode since. 

 

I’ve had more than 100,000 downloads of The Kindle Chronicles since I began that podcast, which each week includes news, tech tips, an interview with someone knowledgeable about the Kindle, content suggestions, and listener comments. Each show runs about 45 minutes to an hour.   Most of my listeners receive the podcast using the free Apple iTunes software on their Macs or PCs.  It’s a simple process to obtain podcasts with iTunes.  You can search with keywords or the name of the podcaster in the iTunes store.  In the case of my podcasts, they will show up in the podcasts section if you type in “Kindle Chronicles” or “Reading Edge.”  They are free, like most podcasts at the store.  Once you click on “subscribe” by the listing, your computer will begin downloading the most recent episode, and any future shows will automatically be downloaded to the iTunes directory on your computer.

I launched a new podcast, The Reading Edge, in January in time for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The first episodes comprised interviews with representatives of eReader makers other than the Kindle, such as Plastic Logic’s QUE and Interead from the U.K.  The Reading Edge shows are shorter, about 20 minutes each, and they each contain an interview, without the additional category sections of the original podcast, which continues in tandem with the show.

 

You can’t receive podcast episodes via the Kindle’s Whispernet wireless network, but you can load the MP3 files from your computer to the Kindle with a USB cable.  Be sure to load them into the Audible folder on your Kindle when it’s connected to your computer.  Then the episodes will show up on the home screen, easy to listen to through the Kindle’s speakers or attached headphones.


There are other podcast catchers, such as Stitcher, that you can use to subscribe to podcasts over the air to your iPhone or other smartphone.  This is an alternative to syncing your podcast episodes on a portable device using a cable attached to your computer.  What I do each morning is refresh the podcasts on my MacBook Air in iTunes, then sync my iPhone, so it has the latest podcast episodes of the approximately 50 shows to which I subscribe.  Thus when I’m working out on the cross-trainer on the 32nd floor of our building, I have a great view of the Rockies and a terrific lineup of audio and video to accompany me.  In my car, I use a tape cassette adapter which has a connection I can plug into the headphones port of the iPhone, so I can listen to podcasts through my car’s stereo system.

If you haven’t tried listening to podcasts yet, you’re in for a treat.  In addition to amateurs like myself who use this medium to learn about and share their passions, you will find plenty of podcasts available for free from professional media outlets.  Among my favorites are Americana, a wry and wise look at the U.S. from the BBC; Book Review, hosted by the editor of The New York Times Book Review; the snappy and smart Engadget podcast; any of the several podcasts produced by the staff of The New Yorker; Radio Berkman, which presents “stories from the Deep Internet” from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard;  Spark from CBC Radio, a show about technology and modern life, and Walt Mossberg’s video podcast about personal technology, produced by The Wall Street Journal.

 
And of course, if you are thinking about buying an eReader, I hope you will check out my two podcasts.  If you just want to learn about eBooks as a general topic, you might want to try The Reading Edge.  If you have or are about to buy a Kindle, you’ll probably want to try The Kindle Chronicles.  I’ve also just started a Facebook page for listeners of my podcasts. You can find it by searching for “Reading Edge” on Facebook, and if you sign up as a fan by April 1, 2010, you will be eligible to win a drawing for a new Kindle and an accessory, in a contest sponsored by the accessory maker Octovo. I also keep my listeners updated on eBook developments via Twitter.



About the Author:


Len Edgerly, a graduate of Harvard College (1972) and the Harvard Business School (1977) has worked as a business journalist at The Providence (R.I.) Journal-Bulletin, editor of an energy magazine in Casper, Wyoming, and an executive at a natural gas company based in Denver.  After early retirement, he earned a Masters in Fine Arts in poetry from Bennington College in 2003 and has served on arts policy boards, including the Western States Arts Federation, the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.

He is the author of two titles at the Kindle Store, A Poet’s Progress at Bennington – Vol. 1 and Cold Turkey in Paradise: Twelve Days off the Internet at Maho Bay.  His blog, Len Edgerly: Random Reflections,  is also available for Kindle Subscription. Len and his wife divide their time between Denver and Cambridge, Mass.  He has been podcasting since December, 2006 at the Audio Pod Chronicles and Video Pod Chronicles. In Denver, he serves as board president at a downtown high-rise condominium.