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Dial-up Friendly geeknights

ninjarabbininjarabbi
edited February 2008 in Suggestions
Rym and Scott should make a dial-up friendly version of geeknights. I sadly have dial-up, and broadband is not available in my area. I normally have to download Geeknights at school but it would be much nicer to be able to do it at home. Anyone else agree?

Comments

  • RochelleRochelle
    Sorry can't agree with you there. Although, it would be convenient for those dial-up listeners, at least you can use your school to get it. I would think most schools would block that sort of thing.

    BTW, what god forsaken area do you dwell upon that doesn't offer broadband? I pray for you. ^_~
  • AprecheApreche
    edited February 2008
    I have pity for you in your dial-up situation. I also really like your username, but the answer is a resounding no.

    Asking for a dial-up version of GeekNights is like asking for an NES version of Portal because you don't have a powerful enough PC. It's also like asking for a version of Firefox for the original Apple computer. A broadband connection is part of the minimum requirements of podcasting, audio or video. If someone had dial-up, and couldn't change that, I would honestly say that they should not even bother with podcasts.

    Despite this being my opinion, it would be possible to provide some sort of dial-up version of the show. Here are the reasons why we do not do that. Many of these are also reasons we do not do an "enhanced" podcast.

    1) The demand for this is pretty low. We get an e-mail once or twice a year.
    2) It's extra work. Instead of making just one mp3, we have to make two. That means time and effort.
    3) It's extra money. Libsyn limits us not by how much is downloaded, but by how much we upload. Uploading two files every night will eat away the quota. We will have to pay money to increase the quota. That amount of money would be greater than the cost of a broadband connection.
    4) Encoding the mp3 at a low enough bitrate to make dial-up downloads reasonable would degrade the quality of the audio so much. What's the point of putting so much work into making a podcast sound good if we then make it sound like shit before sending it out? We would rather people not listen than subject them to something that sounded so bad.
    5) Libsyn doesn't handle download resuming very well. Even if we had a dial-up version, it would still be more than 10 megs. It would still take a long time for it to download, and if it failed along the way, you would have to start again from the beginning. Since broadband has taken over, resuming is a feature that is pretty much dead. Getting it to work is simply not feasible on our end.

    Sorry dude. It's just not going to happen. The only scenario I can see this happening in is if GeekNights becomes a full-time gig, and we have a production staff that put this together.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Would sticking the archives on DVD and sending it to you be alright? The news may sound a bit odd but the rest is still relevant.
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    Oh well, At least I can download at school. I would kind of like an NES version of Portal Though.
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    The DVD would be nice, but I can't see Rym and Scott doing that since it conflicts with reasons 1-3.
  • AprecheApreche
    edited February 2008
    The DVD would be nice, but I can't see Rym and Scott doing that since it conflicts with reasons 1-3.
    We were going to make DVD sets, but that turned out to be an infeasible idea as well. It would simply take too many DVDs per set. As a result, we are not going to be producing GeekNights DVDs in any quantity anytime soon. However, nothing prevents anyone else from making them. You just can't sell them.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Scott, how many DVDs for just the normal mp3s?
  • AprecheApreche
    Scott, how many DVDs for just the normal mp3s?
    You can probably get away with 2 for each full season, so maybe 5 at this point? I can do the math and figure it out exactly if you want.
  • AndrewAndrew
    The DVD would be nice, but I can't see Rym and Scott doing that since it conflicts with reasons 1-3.
    We were going to make DVD sets, but that turned out to be an infeasible idea as well. It would simply take too many DVDs per set. As a result, we are not going to be producing GeekNights DVDs in any quantity anytime soon. However, nothing prevents anyone else from making them. You just can't sell them.
    Is Blu-Ray a possibility in the future?
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    I think blue-ray would be possible but not economical, since blueray-R's or whatever you call them ar so expensive, and not many people have the players in their computers.
  • AndrewAndrew
    I think blue-ray would be possible but not economical, since blueray-R's or whatever you call them ar so expensive, and not many people have the players in their computers.
    I'm not thinking near future.
  • AprecheApreche
    I'm not thinking near future.
    If Blu-Ray does eventually replace DVD-R as the primary optical recording format, then maybe 5 years out. I'm still mulling buying the Mac Pro, and that doesn't even have a Blu-Ray drive.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Scott, how many DVDs for just the normal mp3s?
    Say, 3 Dual layer DVDs plus postage to the US. Should be possible.
  • PaulathonPaulathon
    I would kind of like an NES version of Portal Though.
    It'd probably be a lot like this.
  • thaneofcawdorthaneofcawdor
    I sympathise, ninjarabbi. I only had dial-up for the first few months of Geeknights, and it made podcast listening torturous. Thankfully, DSL came to my area in Feb '06, and it has been a golden age ever since.

    That said, I wouldn't expect any podcasters to sacrifice time and quality to create a low-bandwidth version. I limited myself to a couple of good podcasts, and I was happy with what I had. I suggest you do the same, and also lobby your local ISP(s) to bring some fast internets to your area. It (eventually) worked for me.
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    DSL is available in some areas and it is expanding so hopefully I will eventually get it. I guess living on a dirt road in northern michigan has some disadvantages.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    However, nothing prevents anyone else from making them. You just can't sell them.
    That's a good point, I could mail you a DVD of the last hundred or so if you want. Just pay shipping.
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    I live in rural Alabama, so I know how dial-up feels. A lot of my friends couldn't get DSL/Cable for a long time, and many still can't. I will say however that if you live in city limits, ask your city council to add a clause when they renew contracts with all the companies that says that they have to provide some form of high-speed to everyone in the city limits. Our city council is doing that this coming January.

    Also, if you have any cable at all, you may want to ask the cable company about high-speed.
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