New RØDECaster Pro firmware released

• RØDE have announced new firmware for the RØDECaster Pro, the company’s popular audio mixer. v2.1 beta, available at the bottom of this page, includes the ability to control individual processing parameters, enhanced metering, a new reverb effect, sound pad overdubbing and MP3 export. It also features an enhanced companion app. As a warning: it’s an unsupported public beta, so only install it if you’re cool with things going wrong occasionally.

  
  Aug 22 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• First look: US podcast downloads were down 4% last week, says Podtrac, which has posted a new weekly update: they are still 25% higher than the first week of January (when everyone was, admittedly, mostly on holiday). In terms of categories, audio fiction podcast downloads were up by 19% week-on-week; news podcasts saw a 6% decline, and sports down 10%. Podtrac measure over a billion podcast downloads per month.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 22 2023

• An educational audio platform, Lyceum, has launched in beta. “Lyceum aims to become a trusted source of high-quality educational podcasts and audio courses for its users. Lyceum will also empower content creators by providing a robust suite of monetization and learner engagement tools,” says the press release; it’s an initiative of Himalaya Media.

• Dubbed 'Tinder for podcasters’, a new service called Matchmaker·fm has launched: but don’t worry, you can still maintain your social distancing - this is for matching guests and podcasts. It’s currently free.

• Audio editor Hindenburg Journalist Pro is running a free training webinar on Apr 1, if you’re interested. Here’s the signup form.

  
  Aug 22 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
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• Podcast host Whooshkaa has announced a set of new hosting plans, which take effect on May 1 for existing customers. Its 'forever free’ plan, which used to offer 10,000 listens a month, now only covers 1,000: podcasters with more than that will need to upgrade to a new “semi-pro” plan for US $29 which offers a number of additional features.

• Gary Leland is planning a Bitcoin Podcasters Network, to go live in early May. If you’re doing a Bitcoin podcast, hit him up on Twitter. “Only Bitcoin podcasts,” he adds, “not blockchain, not crypto, and not sh*tcoins”. (Talking of the latter, our Editor wrote a personal piece on the geo-mining app COIN, which promises its own crypto-currency token.)

• SquadCast has an exciting announcement on April 8th, apparently.

Thank you to Audioburst for sponsoring Podnews this month. Want to get coverage for your brand? Kristy, at sales@podnews.net, can help.

Podcast News

A second “Tinder for podcasters” story today: LoveSick is a podcast matchmaking service, helping you find love in a time of coronavirus. They’re looking for people who want to go on an audio-recorded blind date via video chat. (If you’re into that, here’s a form).
Aug 22 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a new daily US podcast. Each episode takes one moment, big or small, from that day in the past and explores how it might inform our present - for example, President Wilson contracting the flu in 1918. It’s under ten minutes long.

Flight 008 is a brand new podcast from immersive science fiction audio website DUST. Stars include Dan Stevens, Calista Flockheart and Reid Scott. Eleven of the biggest writers in science fiction, through eleven unique stories, follow one single thread: a non-stop flight from Tokyo to San Francisco that passes through a wrinkle in spacetime and lands in the year 2040. Presumably there’s no stupid virus by then.

Checking In with Susan David is a new podcast from TED. Susan David is a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, and she’s here to help with how to deal with our emotions during the covid-19 pandemic.

Writ Large is a new podcast about the books that have changed the world, from educational audio platform Lyceum.