Up the Tree

  • “The New, New Podcast Review”:http://podcastreviews.net/archives/2004/10/_podcast_review_1.html has reviewed the podcast and let me just say that I am chuffed to have been reviewed!

    Podcast Review: Tracks Up The Tree

    Format: Radio show
    Content: Music and talk
    Rating: 4 Stars
    What I’m going to do: listen
    Typical Length: varies; 30 – 40 minutes

    Funtime Ben provides us with some really sweet music at Up The Tree. Out of all the music podcasts I’ve listened to, this is the first one that has played music that I universally liked, and that’s great! To top it all off, he’s trying to avoid a lawsuit, and he’s settled on a really interesting approach. He’s playing only music that can be downloaded form artists web-sites whole, with the logic that if the artists are making it available for download then it must be OK to repackage it. Seems logical to me, but then {I Am Not A Lawyer}. I hope he does well with it.

    One thing he does that might be a concern is that he posts links to the music on the site, which would probably be OK – I mean he’s trying to get people to go to the artists’ sites and to give them credit. However he also links directly to the mp3 files, allowing the user to download them directly. Very convenient for his podience, but it places all of the bandwidth cost on the artist’s web-site with none of the benefits, and I can see why some folks might not appreciate that.

    For the most part, Ben mixes up a good sound. He’s working out some details, but he’s got some decent intro and outro and has been playing with some underscoring, which is definitely good. His mix between music level and speech level could use a little work – I have to turn up his speech portions and then turn down the music when it comes on.

    Ben has a lot of good stuff to say, but often rambles on and is a little repetitive – I think that’ll improve as he continues.

    Many thanks to Kinrowan for spending his time and energy reviewing sites.

  • p=. !https://www.upthetree.com/images/podcast.gif!:http://tracks.upthetree.com/TUTT-2004-10-25.mp3

    Played on todays show:

    # “It’s Not Safe”:http://www.gentlemanreg.com/html/releases.html – “Gentleman Reg”:http://www.gentlemanreg.com/ – Darby & Joan (Released Oct 23 2004 [“Three Gut Records”:http://www.threegutrecords.com])
    # “Woman at the Well”:http://www.pastemusic.com/ – “Sufjan Stevens”:http://www.sufjan.com/ – “Paste Music”:http://www.pastemusic.com/
    # “Straight Street”:http://www.roughtradeamerica.com/template.asp?PageID=AV – “The Fiery Furnaces”:http://www.thefieryfurnaces.com/ – Blueberry Boat
    # “David Bowie I’ve loved you since I was six”:http://www.brianjonestownmassacre.com/mp3.php – “The Brian Jonestown Massacre”:http://www.brianjonestownmassacre.com/ – Take It from the Man!

    Mentioned:

    * “IKEA – Important Safety Information”:http://www.ikea-usa.com/
    * “Free Rant Music”:http://www.freeplaymusic.com/
    * “Upcoming.org”:http://upcoming.org/
    * “MT-enclosures”:http://brandon.fuller.name/archives/hacks/mtenclosures/
    * “Evil Genius Chronicles”:http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/
    * “Jeff Buckley”:http://www.jeffbuckley.com/
    * “Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan”:http://nusrat.com/

  • Many thanks to Dave Slusher at Evil Genius Chronicles for giving my podcast such glowing compliments. It means a hell of a lot considering the quality of his podcast. I urge you all to visit Dave’s site and dork out without being bored.

    Thanks again.

  • p=. !https://www.upthetree.com/images/podcast.gif!:http://tracks.upthetree.com/TUTT-2004-10-20.mp3

    *On the Show:*

    * “Logitech Premium USB Headset 300”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000095ISH/upthetree-20/
    * “Public Domain Music 4U”:http://www.mp34u.com/
    * “Cocaine”:http://www.mp34u.com/songCard.php?posting=1024&by=results
    * “Mistadobalina”:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=148964&selectedItemId=148962 – Del Tha Funkee Homosapien – I Wish My Brother George Was Here
    * “Tofu Hut”:http://tofuhut.blogspot.com/
    * “The Shins”:http://www.darkcoupon.com/ play a song inspired by “Goose Stepping”:http://slate.msn.com/id/2077384/

  • Alright! Well we are now full swing into the podcasting thing her at Up the Tree with my new radio show Tracks Up the Tree. Although I have run into a few problems along the way, I am committed to making this thing work out. I am planning on a new show tonight with a new USB headset I bought to make my life easier.

    However, there will be a few changes, namely the music. A few people, in a few circles, have commented about putting copywritten material in these Podcast. The consensus has been it is definitely not legal and does break copyright. This is a major blow to the show which strives to bring to your ears things you may not have heard before. I know you are probably saying “but Funtime Ben, aren’t you advertising for bands by playing their music?” or even “but Funtime Ben the quality of your recordings is below the quality file traders use, how could they lump you in with those people?”

    The answer is, unless you are a lawyer and would like to defend me for free, this technology is so new that nobody knows how to classify it yet. Neither do I. As I will go into greater detail tonight, the format for this show will change, but hopefully I can bypass the RIAA thing with a little poetic license on _tracks._ We shall have to see.

    The other good news is that my 2 Podcast episodes have been downloaded to the tune of 4 Gigs worth of bandwidth. which is very cool considering it’s only been up for a little over a week.