Comments

• kozmcrae

  2011-05-08 19:59:11

  I don't know if you guys hear the what we hear on the download. I suspect not. If you haven't done so yet you should listen to this last episode. The sound is really jarring in places. It will go from whisper quiet to really loud. Some of it sounds like microphone noise (being moved around). I had to stop listening about 15 minutes in. Your audiocast is the only one I listen to. There have been sound issues from the start but nothing as serious as this. Oddly enough the sound on the video cast was the best so far. I hope you get the sound problems worked out sooner rather than later. I will keep listening.
  
  Richard

• Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  2011-05-08 20:28:46

  Yes, we are aware of these problems. Thanks for reassuring us that these cracks are being noticed. There is something in the software which led to volume imbalances and I had to correct this manually in a hurry, under Audacity. It happens when 3+ people are on the line and this did not happen before a recent software update. Next time we'll debug. The serious noises came from Rusty's side. It was distracting also when the conversation took place (I lost my words and had to take the headset off) and he will need to to avoid it in the future. If you want something that's easier to listen to, move to the interview which is the second part of the show.
  
  Recently we had 3 episodes in which we screwed up and where the audio got botched for different reasons. We're back to the drawing board. Video and a 4-way conversation pose new challenges (connectivity- and volume-wise). Tim and I will test some new ideas that improve quality, reduce size, and add concision to content. This show as a while is only 6 months old and not several years old like shows we 'compete' with (learn from).
  
  How TechBytes is different from other shows is an important matter too.
  
  It is heartwarming to hear back from people who listen to all our shows at home, the car, or wherever. Some of them tell us. This is why people like you motivate us to carry on.
  
  At TechBytes nobody is accused of "stealing" so-called 'property' which exists only in the minds of people. Software patents are a terrible thing and it is already assumed rather than alleged (some would permit lawyer to put on a show about a fake "controversy").. At TechBytes we realise that Free platforms are wonderful and in many ways better than proprietary counterparts; they just need a lot more exposure and hardware distributors who are willing to preinstall BSD or GNU/Linux for example, even Android (this is already happening, much to our delight). At TechBytes the songs come with no draconian strings and they can be distributed to friends and family without qualm. The news is always quite timely owing to the recording-publication processing pipeline which is fast (we do not script or edit the speech at all). TechBytes offers real opinions from real people and it does not do advertising, let alone invites those who do. If we make an error we can immediately be contacted in IRC/comments and then issue a correction (usually on the following show). We're about people who listen, not companies that advertise. So every bit of feedback helps us, even when it is negative.