Top > ClickCaster

Welcome to the ClickCaster Blog!.

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Welcome to the official ClickCaster blog and podcast!

This blog and podcasting site is where you'll find the latest information on ClickCaster goings on. Things like news, information on new features and services, updates on partners and interesting podcast creators as well as insights and views from the folks here at ClickCaster.

We'll also be creating our own podcast that include interviews with the people that bring you ClickCaster as well as our users, people in the industry and anything we find particularly interesting and worth sharing with our users.

It's the read/write, or in our case, the speak/listen Web 2.0 world, and it's an exciting world indeed.

Feel free to write me directly at: scott@clickcaster.com or post a comment. We'd love to hear from you.

Scott Converse
Founder & CEO - ClickCaster

Some Cool Stuff coming coming from ClickCaster.

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Our development team has been creating away and we've got a lot of interesting things bubbling away on our development servers. We won't tease you anymore than that, but stay tuned. Lots of great stuff coming.

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We'd love to get your feedback and our CEO would like to hear from you personally. Send him your thoughts about ClickCaster, the good, the bad and the ugly. His email is scott@clickcaster.com

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Tell us what you think-we're listening.

New Features! Tagging, Blogging and more....

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We've updated ClickCaster!
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Our development team has been rockin and rolling and we've got alot of great new features on ClickCaster we think you're going to like.

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To start with, we've introduced Tags into ClickCaster. A little late, but we've been experimenting with how to really integrate tags in a way that it permeates the site (and some cool future capabilities we have planned).

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And, we're trying something a little different. We've taken out the standard categories view altogether and we're trying a representation of the Get section, (our directory) purely as a set of tags in two views. One is a listing of the most popular tags along the left side of the "Get" section. On the right side, a standard tag cloud with a visual representation of tags. The bigger the word, the more podcasts you'll find with that particular tag.

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We strongly believe tagging is going to be the direction of how you find content in the future so we're taking a risk here by making our directory a tag driven beastie.Â

Of course, we still have search and it's still an AJAX based search. Super fast and real time.


You'll notice that some podcasts have a small black and white ClickCaster logo in front of them and some have a color one. The color one's are podcasts (or ClickCasts as we like to call them) that are created and/or hosted here on ClickCaster.

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The black and white one's are hosted on other sites and servers. We've incorporated other directories into ClickCaster, and we have a powerful spider that crawls the internet looking for MP3 files wrapped in RSS (the technical definition of a podcast). Over time, ClickCasters directory will have the most extensive library of Podcasts on the internet. We'll have podcasts from many places that no one knows of and aren't published in the standard hangouts. We believe our directory will be the best place on the internet to find and subscribe to podcasts bar none.

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Video? Yes, and soon. Right now we support the upload of video podcasts to ClickCaster so if you want to use us as your hosting location, please, feel free. Weâll have a video previewing capability up soon, so stay tuned.

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And we now support blogging on ClickCaster! Youâll notice in the Create section, three buttons. One to record (just use our built in high quality web based recorder and a mic plugged into your computer), one to upload (use this to upload your audio or video podcast) and one to blog. Use this one to post a text entry. Our text editor supports rich text formatting and the insertion of pictures so you can create a very attractive integrated blog/podcast, all from one clean and simple interface.

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You can name it whatever you want with the âshort nameâ feature under your preferences section (Click on Create.. then Preferences.. use the Short Name field). Whatever you type there makes it simple to give out your shows web address. For instance, if you want to call your show HotTech, just put that in the short name field. The Web address you give out to your fans will then be www.clickcaster.com/hottech ÂSimple, clean, clear.

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Last, check out the sync section. We make it possible for you to synchronize the podcasts you're interested in with your computer all from your web page. Just click the Subscribe button whenever you find something you like, go to the Sync section under the Get tab and click Download. No need to download a separate application or launch iTunes to find, subscribe and sync your podcasts with your computer.

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Of course, if you want to use iTunes, no worries. Just drag the RSS button from any podcast you find on ClickCaster into iTunes and your subscribed. Simple and easy, like everything we do here at ClickCaster.

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Our goal is to make finding, subscribing, creating and publishing your podcast simple, easy and powerful. And we want to hear what you like (and donât like) about ClickCaster. Please, drop us a line at info@clickcaster.com or send our CEO a message (he loves email) at scott@clickcaster.com. ÂWe answer all our mail and weâre looking forward to hearing from you soon.

The ClickCaster Team

The 2am Podcast.

Well, here's the Development team winding up a 12 hour programming party at 2am on Sat. night.

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TONS of new stuff.. lots of new interface elements and great new features. Gob's-o-web 2.0 type things as well (because, well, what the hell eh?)

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We'd write it all down, but it's just too late. Check back after we've gotten some sleep.


Or, better yet, check out the site. Particularly the Get section. And please, give us your feedback (info@clickcaster.com) and if you find bugs, we'd really appreciate it if you'd report them (just click on the Report a Bug link down there at the bottom of the page.. little to the right).

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Enjoy!

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The Dev Team

ClickCasterÂ

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ClickCaster Studios opens in Denver, Colorado.

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ClickCaster Studios, Podcasting with Altitude!

Creates industryâs first Integrated PODCAST Net-Studio for the general public!

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Denver, Colorado, February 26, 2006 â ClickCaster opens podcasting centric recording studio in downtown Denver.
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Studio Location:
415 Lincoln Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: 720-227-0129
Altitude: 5280 feet above sea levelÂ

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ClickCaster announces the grand opening of ClickCaster Studios, a full featured podcasting and recording studio. The studio offers a full line of podcast and general audio services as well as custom site design and artwork.

âClickCaster wants to make podcasting easy for everyone, regardless of what equipment they happen to own. While our web based recorder will allow you to create a basic show, some podcast creators and many businesses interested in podcasting want to sound more polished and produced. Thatâs where ClickCaster Studios comes inâ, notes Scott Converse, ClickCaster CEO. âArmed with years of recording and broadcast experience as well as the necessary pro audio technology, ClickCaster Studios can make you a star, or at least sound like one.âÂ

Standard prices apply for sessions that can be booked for ½ hour or one hour shows and recording packages are priced as low as $25 per session. We also have a full multi-track recording studio for bands interested in low cost recording and promotion of their music using podcasting. In addition to podcast production and recording, ClickCaster Studios has integrated ClickCastersâ web-based publishing and distribution technology, allowing customers to publish their podcasts seamlessly onto the web.

âItâs a true professional level one stop shop for the creation, production, publishing and hosting of your podcast on the internetâ sayâs Bob Boyles, general manager of ClickCaster Studios.

The Denver studio is the first of many ClickCaster and ClickCaster affiliated studioâs that will be opening in major cities across the US, Asia and Europe.

The studio is located at the corner of 4th and Lincoln in downtown Denver (425 Lincoln St) and is open M-F 10am-6pm and Sat. noon to 5pm. Other times available by appointment. For more information please contact Bob Boyles at 720-227-0129 or e-mail studio@clickcaster.com.

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About ClickCaster

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Clickcaster is the premier provider of net-centric podcasting solutions on the web today. We make it easy for anyone to create audio podcasts and publish via the web both audio and video based podcasts as well as listen, watch and subscribe to 10's of thousands of podcasts from around the world. For more information about ClickCaster and podcasting, please visit our website at www.clickcaster.comÂor contact Pete Davis.

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PR Contact

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Peter Davis

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Clickcaster

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Phone:Â 407-733-9266

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Sad Mac.

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Sad Mac
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It seems that both FireFox and Safari, the most popular browsers in the Macintosh world, don't do a very good job of supporting Java Applets. So, for now, weâre not supporting the Macintosh for all functions on ClickCaster.Â

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It still works great for exploring podcasts, but if you want to create a podcast with our recorder, or subscribe to podcasts and have them delivered to you with our podcatcher, for now, itâs just not happening.

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ClickCaster made a decision some time ago to use Java to deliver our in browser services like being able to record directly inside your webpage, and synchronize your subscribed podcasts with your computer and MP3 players without having to download a separate application or use a third party application.

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We did this because 1) Java's cross platform. It's supposed to work in Mac, Windows and Linux worlds and 2) it gave us a MUCH higher quality level in our recorder (up to 320 Kbps). Well beyond standard studio recording levels, and orders of magnitude better than the Flash based recorders some of our competitors use.

And it works great for almost 95% of the people who visit ClickCaster.

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But that other 5%, you Macintosh users, not so much.

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It seems that the latest versions of Safari(2.0.3) Âand Firefox (1.5.0.1) have problems running Java applets. Safari, in particular, seems to be having a lot of problems dealing with standard Web 2.0 development practices using AJAX and various JavaScript implementations.

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Getting things to work on a Mac today would require some pretty ugly hacks. Weâre reasonably sure the FireFox folks will be fixing these issues in the next release, and we will be supporting Macintosh systems with the next release of FireFox. We donât have the same confidence in Appleâs efforts with Safari. Appleâs support of developers, in general, isnât what youâd call stellar. So our support on Macâs will be limited to FireFox only in future versions of ClickCaster.Â

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When? Well, thatâs something youâll need to ask the FireFox for Mac folks. You can bet weâll be on top of it though and the instant we can get everything copasetic on Macs again, we will.

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ClickCaster Radio now in Beta.

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Come and play! ClickCaster Radio now in test mode online
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One of the wonderful things about Podcasts is that you can shift how you listen to radio. What time, and what place. And you pick the content. Cool stuff.

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But, sometimes, it's fun to just browse. So we've added something new to ClickCaster. We call it, simply: ClickCaster Radio. Â

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http://radio.clickcaster.com:8100/listen.pls

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It's in beta right now, and we're not putting a link up anywhere on the site just yet (only you brave folks that read our blog know about it) but what it does is give you a taste of the podcasts that our users create, publish and host on ClickCaster. We decided to make it as random a taste as possible so our servers scan new podcasts as they are uploaded. Any podcast over 1 minute long that's been posted in the last 7 days then get's put into the mix. It updates daily. Even we don't know what's going to appear on ClickCaster radio. It's really created by you, our users, as you create podcasts and post them onto ClickCaster.

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Feel free to give out the above URL to friends, family, co-workers, anyone you like. Be aware that, from time to time, it won't be available as we continue to upgrade and work on the servers and this (and many other) new services.

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The ClickCaster Team Â

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A note from Scott.

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My name is Scott Converse and I'm one of the founders of ClickCaster. I think it's important you know that I'm here, my name and that you can find me if you need me. I think it's really important that our users know we really want to create the best podcasting solution on the internet and, to do that, we need you, and we want to hear from you.

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We need your ideas to improve things. We need your bug reports when things aren't going as well as they should. We want to hear when we did something right so we can expand on it. And I would like to personally hear it all.

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For instance, when you use the 'report a bug' button on ClickCaster, a copy of it is sent directly to me.

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And to make this even easier, I want to invite you to email me or call me directly. ÂÂ


My direct email is scott@clickcaster.com (this is my main email, read daily)

My direct phone line is 303.875.1243Â (this is my personal cellphone)

My Skype address is scottconverseÂ

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I live in Boulder, Colorado in the USA. We're in the US Moutain Time zone (1 hour ahead of the time in San Francisco, 2 hours behind the time in New York).

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I can't promise I'll always answer (I'm often on the phone with others) but if you leave a message, I promise I'll call you back.


The same thing goes for email. If you send me an email that should be responded to by me, or that asks for a response, I'm going to respond. That's a promise as well.

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I'm looking forward to getting to know more of you and I'm very much looking forward to hearing from you!


Scott Converse

Founder & CEO
ClickCaster

scott@clickcaster.com

direct: 303.875.1243

skype: scottconverse

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A Redesign.

Welcome to the New ClickCaster!

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We've added alot of new capabilities, and we've redesigned the layout of the site to make it easier to use and clearer how to do the things you need to do.

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In particular, check out the stats section.ÂÂIt's aÂcomplete set of analytics for your podcasts. You'll find it under the new Manage section: Stats

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In true Beta form, it's still a work in progress. And we implemented several weeks of work all at once, so there's bound to be some (maybe alot) of glitches.Â

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Please use the 'Report a Bug' button near the top right of every screen (right under the Home button). We really need your help in finding and stamping out these nasty little fellows. Tony, Matt, Dustin and Shaun are breaking their butts to code the best podcasting experience on the web. Your help in telling us both what's wrong and what you'd like to see added isn't just something we welcome, it's something we need.


So don't hesitate to tell us what you think.Â

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The ClickCaster Team.

Local Company makes good!.


Greetings from the Newspaper! The local newspapers just did stories on us and the picture above is one of the one's used for the papers (notice the lovely Moire patterns?).

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You can find these articles online from the Boulder County Business Report and the Boulder Daily Camera at:

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http://bcbr.datajoe.com/app/ecom/pub_article_details.php?id=79439

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http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/local_business/article/0,1713,BDC_2461_4551075,00.htmlÂ

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Authenticity vs. Quality?.

http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/03/does_authentici.html

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Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist out of New York City wrote an interesting blog entry today about what's more important. Authenticity or Quality. It's worth reading the entire blog entry (see link above) but the gist of it was that authentic recordings tend to have more heart and soul than much of the HD video/highly produced content he see's today. That the lousy 1975 video of The Stones, with it's crappy video and audio quality is still more engaging, for it's rawness and it's authenticity, than the canned superbowl productions of today.

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What does this have to do with Podcasting you might ask? Well, quite a bit really. Podcasting is all about anyone creating a show on any subject that anyone else can listen to (or view, if it happens to be video) anytime they want, usually anywhere they want.

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And it's real. It's often raw and it's almost always as authentic as they come. People who do podcasts generally know alot about their subject matter. Be it a specific genre of music, interviews with interesting people in business, an endurance running coach talking about how to overcome the hurdles of that 50 mile barrier, you name it, it's real. And it comes from the heart of the person creating the podcast. It has passion and, yes, authenticity.

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I've heard some say podcasting is like the CB radio fad of the 70's. I don't buy that. I think people love both having the chance to have a voice and the opportunity to listen to other voices. Voices with passion for what they're doing. People respond to that passion and to the sometimes amateur, but always authentic voice of podcasts. It's real, and it's here to stay.Â

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Scott Converse

Founder, ClickCasterÂ

New Stats Capability.

Stats are here!

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Everyone likes to know where things stand and we're no different here at ClickCaster. So, we put together a nice stats/analytics package for all of the folks using ClickCaster to create and host their podcasts.

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You'll find the new Stats engine that tracks your podcasts under the manage tab. Simply click on the 'Stat's submenu and you're there.

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The first thing you'll see are the lifetime totals for your account. This shows you the total number of downloads, total feed views (how many times someone's looked at your show notes/blog view) and the total number of subscribers to your podcast (including offsite subscribers).

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We also break it down the same way, by day, for the latest month.

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We also provide the same set of information in a monthly view that goes back for the last year.

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It's often useful to know what particular episodes of your show are being download and of course you'll find this in your stats page as well. You can use these numbers to gage how successful different formats are or to show potential advertisers or sponsors the reach of specific or individual shows.Â

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At the bottom of these pages, we provide you with the capability to export your stats into excel format where you can create reports, graphics and presentations on the breadth and reach of your show.

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We also show you where your downloads are going, how many are looking at your show and how many folks subscribe to your show broken down by country. In the near future we'll even have them broken down to the city level, but that's going to take a bit more development, so stay tuned.Â

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To top it off, we track all of the most popular browsers (such as FireFox, IE and Opera) as well as podcatchers (such as ClickCasters own built in podcatcher, iTunes and Juice) that hit your account. We show you the downloads, feed views and subscriptions sorted by podcatcher or browser.

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So there you have it. This is only the first round of stats and analytics though. You can bet we'll be adding more capabilities to this area as time goes on. And we'd love to hear from you, our users, what it is you'd like us to be working on so drop us a line at info@clickcaster.com and tell use what you think. We're all ears.

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The ClickCaster TeamÂ

Feedback.

feedback and report a bug

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ClickCaster is all about you and giving you a voice. And that includes a voice in how we're building ClickCaster and in getting any bugs you might find addressed quickly and completely.

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So, we've put a feedback button right on the top every page of ClickCaster and we'd love it if everyone used it whenever they have an idea, a comment, a suggestion or a complaint about how we're doing something on the site. It's on the top right side of the screen on every page.

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feedback pageÂ

This will send feedback to the right folks at ClickCaster, and our CEO get's a copy of every feedback message sent to us in real time. So, feedback away!Â

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And if you hit a bug, again, please, click that Report a bug button. You'll find our development team is very responsive to both your feedback and to any bugs you might find. We think lots of cool features are great, but only if they're working the way they should be, and the way you expect them to be.

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-The ClickCaster Team

Old Media vs. The New.

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http://blog.ericrice.com/blog/_archives/2006/4/1/1853921.html

Above is a link to an interesting blog entry by Eric Rice of Audioblog.com, one of our esteemed competitors (and a leading thinker in this space). He makes the point that one of the better know podcasting companies out there is acting disturbingly like Old Media. In particular, the major labels that make up todayâs customer and artist hostile recording industry.Â

We in the podcasting community have an opportunity that doesn't come along very often. A real shot at changing the nature of media, and doing it in a way that's, for a change, something better. But only if we bring new ideas and new ways of doing business alongside the new technology.

If you take, for instance, a contract that looks and sounds very much like a contract that an Old Media record company might write to sign a band, and apply it to the podcasters that partner with you, all you're really doing is mimicking the Old Media model that's slowly strangling itself in this user generated content age.

Keith and girl who do a popular podcast recently did a blow by blow review of a contract from a company that's taking this route. You can hear their thoughts on the subject at:

http://shitecom.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=73950

We, like our competitors, are a business. Finding workable and profitable business models for this new industry is a good thing. Â

Our concern is when old models that perpetuate business as usual are applied to new industries. These business approaches made Âsome sense in their day, but no more. The low cost of recording equipment, exceptionally talented musicians, mashups, creative commons licensing, the ease with which an individual or group can now create and distribute just about any kind of media digitally make this a world where the old way of doing things just donât work anymore.

What we would hope to see from our brethren in the podcasting world is new thinking. Approaches that leverage the unique nature of what podcasting can do, and new approaches to funding the passion many podcasters have for the shows they create.

Many people say that podcasting is just âa bunch of amateursâ spinning around in cyberspace. Maybe, but the computer industry, today, was started by a very similar group of inspired hobbyists who played in their garages and basements to make something âcoolâ for themselves and their friends. The big boys at the time laughed them off. Today? Not so much. Many of those hobbyists of yesteryear are the leaders and luminaries of the computer industry today.

Podcasting has that same feel to it. And we here at ClickCaster believe weâre seeing exactly the same thing happen with all you kick ass podcasters out there. Youâre the enthusiastic hobbyists that are creating an entirely new media world for yourselves, your friends and family and, eventually, for the entire world. More power to you! ClickCaster is here to work with you (not dictate to you) so that, together, we can help create that new user generated media world.

Scott Converse

Founder & CEO

ClickCaster

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How to quickly integrate your ClickCaster podcasts into your blog or website..

Would you like to integrate your ClickCaster hosted podcasts
into a frame on your blog or website? It's easy to do. Just
use ClickCaster to create your podcast and upload it to our site.Â
Then paste this code into the HTML of your blog or website:

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id="blockrandom"
name=
"iframe"
src="http://www.clickcaster.com/shortname"

width="100%"
height="8100"
scrolling=
"no"
align="top"
frameborder="0"

class="wrapper">
This option will not work correctly. Unfortunately, your browser does
not support Inline Frames
iframe>

In the line where it says:

src="http://www.clickcaster.com/shortname"

simply replace the 'shortname' with the one you set up when you created an account. If you don't remember what you used, or haven't picked a short name yet, simply go to the "Manage" tab, click on the submenu 'Show Info" and put in a short name.

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Quick, clean and simple integration.Â

Get Paid for your Podcast... and many other new features..

We've made some major enhancements to ClickCaster over the past few weeks and we invite you to check them out.Â

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We're still working out some of the bugs though and would really appreciate your bug reports when you stumble on anything (just click on the Report a bug button near the top right of the page).

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Pay Podcasts

First and foremost, you can now charge for your podcasts. Many of you have told us you'd like a way to monetize your hard work. So, we've added the ability to charge for a single podcast episode, or to charge for a subscription over a period of time (a week, a month, a year). You set the price, although we do have a minimum of $.99 (episode or subscription). Your listeners can pay with all the major credit cards (Visa/MC/Amex/Discover). And it even works with iTunes! Just go to the Manage section, and click on Sell My Podcast to set it up. Paypal? Nope. But we can add it easily, if you guys want it. Just let us know via the Feedback button (near the top right of the page).

Integrated Earnings Reports in Stats

You'll see more extensive statistics (tracking your podcast audience down to the city level) and we've integrated your earnings (for pay podcasts) into your stats so you can see exactly what you've earned, what's earned it for you and when you've earned it. All in a visually integrated, easy to read web based reporting section.

The Purchases section

This makes it easy for you to see what you've bought, and what you've got access to if you've purchased a podcast or subscribed to an episode. All laid out in it's own section with easy to access links to your paid for content.

Built In Podcatcher

We have the only web based podcatcher on the internet. No need to download any software or use someone else's software to subscribe to podcasts and sync with your iPod. It's now built directly into the ClickCaster website. And you can set your directory for saving your podcasts to be anything you like: Your hard disk, a server on your network or even a USB device (like an MP3 player, your phone or a USB drive).

Save as a Draft

We've also enabled the ability to put your podcast up as a draft. Something only you can view and, when you're ready to publish it, just click a checkbox and it's available on ClickCaster for the world to see.

You'll also see many minor changes such as no more email verification required. As soon as you sign up, you're good to go- start creating, subscribing and using all the services available to you on ClickCaster on your first visit. You'll also find a redesigned Explore section that allows you to more easily find, subscribe and buy podcasts with a few clicks of your mouse. You'll also find full support for uploading your QT formatted video podcasts (and the ability to view them in our enhanced player in the Explore section). Be sure to check our the expanded FAQ on the site as well for more info and a full list of the features, functions and how to's available to you on the site.

Use GarageBand to create your podcast? m4a and m4v Support now built in!.

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Are you a Garageband fan? If so, you're in luck. We now support the native file formats that Garageband saves audio (.m4a) podcasts and video (.m4v) podcasts in.

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So... Garageband away, and use ClickCaster as your host for all those wonderful creations.Â

Publish your podcast on your schedule.

Sometimes, it's the little things that matter. So, we pay attention to the details. By popular demand, we've added the ability to delay when your podcast is published, and we give you total control over exactly when that happens, down to the minute.

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In the Create section, once you've created or uploaded your podcast, just select a date and time that you want to podcast to publish and take off for that 2 week vacation in Bali.Â

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Who says you can't control what'll happen in the future?Â

Creative Commons Legal Guide to Podcasting.

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The folks over at Creative Commons have posted an excellent legal guide for podcasters. Worth checking out at:

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide

Purpose

The purpose of this Guide is to provide you with a general roadmap of some of the legal issues specific to podcasting. EFF has produced a very practical and helpful guide for issues related to blogging generally (http://www.eff.org/bloggers/). This Guide is not intended to duplicate efforts by EFF, and in many cases refers you to that guide for where crossover issues are addressed. Our goal is to complement EFF's Bloggers FAQ and address some of the standalone issues that are of primary relevance to podcasters, as opposed to bloggers.

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The pimped out skinable embedded player is here.

You keep telling us what you want, and we keep making it so.

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You can now embed an episode of any podcast hosted on ClickCaster into your blog, MySpace profile or web page. Just look for the "Add To Blog/MySpace" button and click it.

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You'll be taken to a page that contains all the necessary cut and paste code you need to embed that podcast directly into your blog, MySpace or website (remember.. it only works for podcasts that are hosted directly on ClickCaster).

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And, of course, we make it customizable to fit into the color scheme of your site. Simply click on the 'Pick Color' button and choose from the palet to match your site. If it's a color that exists you can enter the exact color code (right above the Pick Color button) and we'll use that to match your site exactly.

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So, embed away!

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The ClickCaster Team

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More ways for you to Create, Explore and Connect!.

You've heard a lot from us over the last several weeks about our latest enhancements and cool ways to share your podcasts with your friends and family.

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In case you haven't been keeping up with usÂor this is your first time reading our blog, here is the cliff notes version:

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  • A huge directory with something for everyone! ClickCaster has over 25,000 unique podcasts from all over the web and countless episodes on top of that. So if you're into new music, cooking or surfing, we give you more way to explore the latest in professional and user generated content from people like you!

  • ClickCaster now lets you create and publish audio and video podcasts and blogs.

  • You can delay the publishing of your podcasts to a future date if you need to, orÂsimply create a draft if you're just playing around and want to perfect your podcast before you post.Â

  • Want to charge a fee for your podcast or blog? ClickCaster now gives you the control to charge for a single podcast or charge a weekly or monthly subscription. We take care of all the credit card clearing and put the money in your account. No how's that for simple!

  • Have a myspace page or blog? You now have the tools to stick your podcast on your space for which episode you choose. You even can add your favorite podcast from someone else as well!

  • Do you ever Digg, Reddit or Furl?ÂÂClickCaster now provides you with direct links to your favoriteÂtagging sites, giving you more ways to share.

  • We love Apples. So much so, that we support uploads of m4a and m4v formats!ÂÂ

  • Ever wonder who's listening to your podcast? Now you have stats reporting all the intimate details of your listening audience. You can view by day, week, month or lifetime and see where your audience lives, what browser/podcatcher they use and how they access your feed. We even let you export the data to excel so you can crunch the numbers any way you want!

  • And my personal favorite, direct iPod syncronization! Now you don't have to have iTunes to sync your podcasts to your iPod. Just click "sync to iPod" on the web-based podcatcher, and watch it go. Now you can access your podcasts from the library, dorm room or your mom's house!

We really appreciate you as a subscriber and we're just getting started! Over the next few weeks and months, we'll be rolling out new features, many of which, areÂa result of feedback from you. So keep coming back often and tell your friends!

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We want to know what you like most about ClickCaster and will be sharing those on our blog in the coming week. You can send us your feedback to feedback@clickcaster.com

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Thanks again for being a ClickCaster subscriber...you guys rock!

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The ClickCaster Team

New Features! A personal home page, private messages and reworked most favorites.

We've got some new features for you. Things that make it easier to connect with other folks on ClickCaster. Check it out:

- New Personalized Home Page

Now when you log into ClickCaster, you're taken to your own personalized homepage, which is a one stop shop for accessing all the features on our site. No more hunting through tabs for what you're looking for: everything is right there. Edit your profile, edit your podcasts, read and sent private messages to other users and get a quick view of all your stats, all at a glance.

- Private Messages

We've added the ability to send a private message to anyone on our system. Want to send suggestions and feedback to any Podcast producer on our system? Now you have another way to do it which you know they'll read as soon as they log into our system.

- New Most Popular Rankings

We changed Most Popular so it looks at how many people have viewed your show in the past two months, rather than a lifetime total. This will make it easier to get up there in our popularity rankings if you're starting a new Podcast, since you don't have to compete with the total viewers someone has had who's been doing their show for months. So start your podcast or do a new episode for your current podcast today!

The ClickCaster Team

Press Release: ClickCaster partners with GameZnFlix..

GameZnFlix and ClickCaster to Deliver Next Generation of Video on Demand

Alliance will enable user driven social networks with exclusive access
to video and audio content via ClickCasterâs podcasting platform.

Boulder, Colorado, and Franklin, Kentucky, July 14, 2006 â GameZnFlix and ClickCaster today announce a cooperative agreement to provide access to video and audio content via podcasts, web streaming and direct downloads.ÂÂÂÂ

By leveraging ClickCasterâs media distribution platform, GameZnFlix plans to offer customers the option to view content on their terms, when they want, where ever they want, including iPods, MP3 players, PCs or via direct mail. With thousands of premier video and audio book titles to choose from, consumers are only a click away from accessing GNF content on demand.Â

âWeâre excited about our partnership with ClickCaster and the opportunity to not only extend the reach of our recently launched GnF Entertainment channel via podcasts, but also deliver on our goal of providing movies and games through on-demand and other media, â notes John Fleming, GaneZnFlix CEO.

In addition to managing content via ClickCasterâs integrated web-based podcatcher, ClickCaster will also provide podcast advertising and social networking capabilities to GameZnFlixâs growing gaming community.

ÂâOn-demand access to exclusive content is just the beginning of whatâs possible as podcasting and social network technologies and collaboration between communities collide,â says Scott Converse, CEO of ClickCaster. âOur agreement will provide more ways for extreme gamers and movie buffs to connect with other users and create new video and audio podcastsâ.Â

Both companies expect to have the new service options available within the next few months. Content will be made available via ClickCasterâs podcast directory at www.clickcaster.com as well as via the GnF Network page at www.gameznflix.com.

About ClickCaster

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Clickcaster is a provider of podcasting solutions for both businesses and consumers alike. We make it easy for anyone to create and publish audio podcasts as well as listen and subscribe to other podcasts from around the web. For more information about ClickCaster and PodCasting, please visit our website at:www.clickcaster.com.

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About GameZnFlix

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GameZnFlix is a company that offers video games/DVD movies for rental or purchase on the Internet with access to over 40,000 game and movie titles. With different membership levels beginning at $8.99 a month subscribers can rent a combination of both video games and/or DVD movies with no late fees or due dates or members can purchase video games, DVD movie titles, books and audio books at a membership discount.Â

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Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Technical complications that may arise could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The company cautions that these forward looking statements are further qualified by other factors including, but not limited to those set forth in the company's Form 10-KSB filing and other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (available at http://www.sec.gov/). The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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PR Contact

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Pete Davis

Clickcaster

Phone:Â 407-733-9266

Email:Â peter@clickcaster.com

OpenOPML for all. Let's open up our directories to everyone.

A couple of weeks ago sent an email out to about 100 or so podcast directories proposing that we all post our podcast directories as OMPL lists that any other directory (or anyone else) can simply pull whenever they like.

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Our openly available OPML list is here:

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www.clickcaster.com/clickcast/opmlÂ

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This is a list of all podcasts on ClickCaster, updated in real time. It's available to anyone who wants it.

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The reason we proposed this was all of us pull RSS feeds from wherever we can find them on the internet to make our directories as complete as possible for our users.Â

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The way this works is through the use of spiders (from many different directory providers) that go to each site (we've seen at least a dozen that regularly spider our directory) and pull RSS feeds. This is similar to what GoogleBot does; it crawls the entire internet and indexes every page it finds. That's why your search is so fast.

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Some of these spiders are a bit more aggressive, downloading the actual podcasts. We don't think this is a good idea.. witness the uproar that Adam Curry created by doing this with his new Podshow + service.Â


We believe podcasters own their RSS feed. But the very nature of creating an RSS feed means you want people to subscribe your podcast. It's a form of open distribution. Once you've put your RSS feed up on the net, it's fair game for anyone who wants to use it to subscribe. And for anyone to aggregate into a larger list in their personal RSS aggregator.Â

Directories, like ClickCaster, are a sort of 'super' aggregator we create for our users. Same thing, larger scale.

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If all the podcast directories and hosting services out there were to put up their list of podcasts as an easy to pull OPML file, this would make it much easier for ClickCaster (and others) to share ALL the podcast RSS feeds on the net. We'd just go to the OPML lists (like the one we created above) once every day or so and pull all the newest podcast RSS feeds.

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This does one thing above all else: It improves ALL the directories of podcasts on the internet. And that improves the user experience of consuming podcasts for all of our users. It shares RSS feeds in the way we believe RSS should be shared: Openly and freely, with any and all comers.

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We invite all of our fellow podcast directory sites, hosting sites and everything in-between to take our OPML feed. And we ask that you think of doing the same thing for the rest of us.Â

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Scott Converse

Founder & CEO
ClickCaster

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ClickCaster Software Enhancements Mean New Life for Long Tail Audio and Video.

Tired of the hassle of converting your audio and video files just to make a podcast?

Want to host a video podcast and easily embed it into your MySpace profile, blog or website?

We've got you covered!

We've added an entire set of new features that support video and audio. From handling all the encoding of most popular formats into podcast form, to easy ebedding of podcasts, audio OR video, anywhere you can paste in a simple code snippet. Let's dig into some of the details:

ClickCaster now supports the following formats for uploading to our site:

Audio Formats = mp3, mp2, ogg, aac, m4a, m4b, ac3, mp2, flac, aif, aiff, asf, wav, pcm
Video Formats = mp4, m4v, flv, mov, mpeg, mpg, vob, mjpeg, snow, dv, avi, avs, divx

So pull out those old movies you made and saved in snow, spg or vob, or those recordings of your band saved in aiff, flac or ac3 and just upload away.

ClickCaster will convert your audio to standard MP3 format (the most used audio podcast format on the planet) and then wrap it in RSS so anyone, anywhere, can subscribe to your wonderful audio creations.

If you have a format that's not listed, let us know. We'll do our best to support as many formats as possible for our users. Send your request to: support@clickaster.com and we'll get right on it.

Got Video? Your video now gets converted to both Flash Video and MP4 (what's used on iPods). That means people can watch your videos right from your ClickCaster feed:

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Or, you can load your feed into a video Podcatcher like iTunes and sync all of your clips to an iPod. Virtually all computers now ship with Flash, so it's just there. The Flash file is used to stream your video file, instantly, from our website to anyone wanting to view it from within your ClickCaster hosted podcast, and the MP4 file is available for download so your audience can quickly load it onto their iPods or other video capable players and take it with them. Of course, they can just save it on their computers and watch it there as well.

You can also embed not only your audio podcasts, but your video podcasts into MySpace, your blog or your webpage, and make the player any color you like to match the look and feel of the page your embedding it into. Just click the "Add to MySpace/Blog" button, then choose the episode you want to embed and the color you'd like the player to be:Â

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A simple copy and past of the Video Player Code into your MySpace profile or Blog and the video is right where you want it.

Encode, upload and embed away!

The ClickCaster Team
www.clickcaster.com

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Customize your feed and link it to your blog, website or MySpace/social networking site profile.

Customize Your Feedview!

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We've added the ability to do basic customize of your feedview with custom art for your header, and custom colors for all the components of the page.

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The feedview is what everyone see's when they put in your ClickCaster URL address. It's the www.clickcaster.com/nameyoupicked address (also known as the 'short name').Â

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You can modifiy:

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The gutter (the left and right sides of the main window)

The background (The color of the center column containing your episodes)

The text (The color of all text on the page)

The border (The color of borders on the page)

The episode header (The background color of the titlebar above each episode)

The sidebar header (The color of the section labels in the right sidebar)

The artwork in the header area (the top of the page)Â

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Here's your normal feed view:

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Here's how it can look after you modify it (we're hoping you have better artistic skills and color sense then our CEO does):

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To begin customizing the feedview click on the Manage page. Then click on the Customize link.

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This takes you to the new Customize Page.

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Just click inside the box under each component, and the color picker appears. You can choose from an almost infinite number of colors across the spectrum. Â

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Click the Browse button in the Custom Banner box to pick your banner artwork and click upload banner. If you'd like your banner to take someone to a different location, like back to your blog, MySpace profile or website, just enter the URL in the Banner Link field.

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Then, just click the Submit Customization button along the bottom left, and you're new custom feed's ready to go!

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This allows you to create a podcast, customize your page on ClickCaster to match the colors and basic artwork on your personal blog, company website, MySpace Profile or other social networking service site, and add some text like 'take me back - just click here' into the graphic in the header artwork.Â

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Anyone interested in your podcast can simply click on a link you place on your site. Use can use your ClickCaster feed URL:

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www.clickcaster.com/shortname

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or you can put up nice clean ClickCaster link button like this one:

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The code snippet to insert this is available on the same page you use to insert an audio or video player. Just find your podcast in the explore section (search on your user name, or your podcast's show name) and then click on the "Add to Blog/MySpace" button.

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Now people can visit your site and easily switch back and forth between, say, your text based blog and your podcast page (made to look like your blog via customization) with ease. Who knows, they may not even notice they're using two different websites.

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We've got alot more customization capabilities coming soon. Stay tuned!Â

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The ClickCaster Team

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Fredricks Multi-media and ClickCaster Launch iClipx.com.

Fredricks Multi-media and ClickCaster Launch iClipx.com


A Global Video Podcasting Network Dedicated to Extreme Sports, Music and Fashion. Introduces the first ever widescreen video podcast.


[ClickPress, Tue Aug 08 2006] Skip Fredricks, Emmy-nominated producer of eXtreme Sport television and ClickCaster have launched iClipx.com. The video podcast network dedicated to bringing viewers the latest in extreme sports programming.

With the launch of iClipx, x-gamers and extreme sports fans can get up-close and personal with the hottest names in professional extreme sports today as well as access to live event coverage and internationally syndicated programming.

Whether you are in to BMX racing, motorcross, jet skiing, skate boarding, power boat racing or snow boarding, iClipx has a video podcast channel for you.

âThrough iClipx we are able to bring more exclusive content, interviews and behind the scenes footage to the extreme sports community, notes Skip Fredricks, President of Fredricks Multi-Media. ClickCaster is the only company that can provide a true web-based video podcasting solution that can support my current and future needs. Now anyone can view my current and past programs on-demand, anytime, anywhere they wantâ.

Some of the shows accessible from iClipx include Beach Extreme, XX Sports, and Live on Sunset. In addition, iClipx is filming and producing video podcasts from each of their sponsored extreme sporting events including the JetSki Arena Cross Championships in Pahrump, Nevada on August 19th and 20th, and The GameZnFlix Jet Ski Nationals in Nashville Sept 1st through the 3rd. The complete Pro Finals will be available as a video podcast right after the event. Every event is recorded in High Definition and is published in wide screen format for the best extreme video experience.

All syndicated TV and event podcasts can be accessed daily via direct download, synced directly to a video iPod or played right from the iClipx.com website as well as clickcaster.com.

âWe are very excited about the opportunity to create a platform for the extreme sporting community, says Scott Converse, ClickCaster CEO. Our video podcasting and social networking solution supports multiple video formats, providing quick and easy publishing and management of user generated content, as well as a simple way of sharing their favorite extreme sporting moments on their Myspace, blog or personal web pages via our embeddable video player.â

iClipx also is looking for amateur producers of extreme sports videos to showcase on the iClipx XG (eXtreme Generation) channel. Submission guidelines can be found on iClipx.com.

About ClickCaster

Clickcaster is a premier provider of podcasting solutions for both businesses and consumers alike. We make it easy for anyone to create and publish audio podcasts as well as listen and subscribe to other podcasts from around the web. For more information about ClickCaster and PodCasting, please visit our website at:www.clickcaster.com.

About Fredricks Multi-Media

Skip Fredricks is one of the most accomplished Producer/Directors working in broadcast TV today. Skip has two Emmy nominations; and has received dozens of Telly's, Prova's, Aurora's and Communicator Crystal awards for editing, videography and sports and music video productions. Skip has been active in a wide array of media, including live concert broadcasting, video Podcasting, webcasts, commercials, and music videos. He's also written for a news magazine and penned the cabled series âLifeâs A Beachâ.


PR Contact

Pete Davis
Clickcaster
Phone: 407-733-9266
Email: peter@clickcaster.com

The ClickCaster PC.

Everyone's always talking about the Google PC. Well, we decided it was time to one up google and make our our ClickCaster PC.

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Mar, our Art and Interface lead, whipped it up in a day.Â

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This is going on a tour of the USA with our friends at GameZnFlix. They are setting up a Podcasting station in their RV. They'll be visiting college town's and Circuit City stores all over the country starting Sept. 2nd. Watch for the GameZnFlix RV in a town near you! Stop in and try out ClickCaster on the ONE and ONLY ClickCaster PC!

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The ClickCaster TeamÂ

More customization features.

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Well another week and the guys have done it again! Weâve added more customization features for your personal podcast pages. Now your page can go from drabâ¦.

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To Fab!

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In addition to changing your feed background, you can also upload custom images for your header background and banner image too.

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And in case youâve forgotten, our embeddable player now has episode listings. So not only can you change the color of your podcast player to fit your mood, you can let your friends view all your audio and video podcast episodes right from your Myspace page.Â

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Stay tuned for more features coming out over the next few weeks. Have an idea on features youâd like to see on ClickCaster? Send us your comments and suggestions to feedback@clickcaster.com

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Manage Multiple Podcasts with a Click!. We know that managing multiple podcasts feeds can be a challenge. So this month the team at ClickCaster has delivered a new set of feed management tools to allow you to create and manage as many podcasts and episodes as you want, under one profile.Â

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Maybe youâve thought about creating a new podcast for your family, one for your friends and one for your business. Now with ClickCaster you can manage all three podcasts from just one account!

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You can create a new feed by going to the Create Tab, select New Podcast and publish your podcast as normal.Â

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If you have multiple accounts and want them merged under a single account, contact us at info@clickcaster.com

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Want to simplify your podcast list?


With this new release, you can now limit the number of episodes displayed in your feed. This new feature will make it simple for viewers to see your latest podcasts, as well as past episodes. You can change your settings by going to the Manage tab, then the Settings tab. The episode check box is located at the bottom of the page.Â

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ÂConnect with other Podcasters with Private Messaging!

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Send messages direct from any ClickCaster podcast feed. Submit comments and messages to your friends and family with ClickCaster acconts. There is no limit on the number of messages

you can send and you'll even be notified when people review their posts.ÂÂ
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Don't have the right equipment to create a professional sounding podcast? We've got the right gear to get you started! Check out the Clickcaster store at www.clickcaster.com/store.
So try out these great new features and tell us what you think about them. Send your comments to feedback@clickcaster.com.

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Stay tuned for more great features coming soon!

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The ClickCaster Team.

Google & YouTube = GooTube.

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As everyone now knows, Google purchased YouTube today for $1.65B.
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A podcast of the conference call is attached to this posting.

What does this mean to a company like ClickCaster?

Quite a bit. And it's all good. This brings to the forefront the importance of audio and video, often called ârich mediaâ, distribution on the internet and the place it's taking in the everyday life of hundreds of millions of people.
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ClickCaster embraced the video side of Podcasting several months ago, and our services ability to enable any person, or any business to create a rich media podcast is in line with this trend.
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We expect thousands of businesses to begin leveraging this distribution to expand their reach, and ClickCaster is there to help them.
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The site you're on now is a public/consumer facing site. However, our primary business is to help other businesses create distribution systems for text, audio and media, not unlike YouTube, with the kicker of making everything subscribable through RSS (Real Simple Syndication). Itâs not unlike subscribing to a magazine or newspaper, or a TV series via your TIVO of Media Center DVR (Digital Video Recorder). Once people subscribe, everything you place into that channel is automatically delivered to your customers computer, iPod or other media playing device.
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Unlike GooTube, who have very specific sets of rules, terms of service and controls to ensure you do things your way, ClickCaster will create a site for you that fits your needs and works the way you want. Most importantly, YOU control your content, your marketing and your branding.
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ClickCaster puts YOU in control of your business.
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If youâre a business thatâs interested in exploring how youâd do this, weâre here to help you figure it all out. We'll create a site for you that fits your look and feel, and we can include (or exclude) any feature that you find on this site (www.clickcaster.com). ÂWe can even custom develop capabilities if thatâs what youâre looking for.
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For more information, click on the Pro Services tab at the top of the page, or on this link: http://www.clickcaster.com/pro_services .
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And we actually talk directly to our customers. So feel free to email Pete Davis at: Peter@clickcaster.com if you'd like to get more in-depth information.
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The ClickCaster Team
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Using YouTube to embed video's in your MySpace Profile? Consider... (wait... wait.. YES!) ClickCaster!.

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OK.. this is blatant and we're not trying to hide the obvious benefit to us (and to you!) by suggesting this but:

You should move your video's to ClickCaster, today. Especially if you do any embedding into your MySpace profile.

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This is an exerpt from todays Wall Street Journal:

Over the weekend, News Corp. executives expressed their displeasure with the deal to Google and threatened to remove any links to YouTube videos placed by users on their MySpace blog pages, according to a person close to the situation.

Will it happen? Who knows. Frankly, it's unlikely and it's just News Corp (owners of MySpace) unhappy that they didn't get a shot at buying YouTube first. They've got make SOME noise, ya know?


But just in case.. why not try us out? Create an account and try out uploading some of your video's to ClickCaster. We not only convert them into nice easy to stream FLASH video, we also convert them into iPod, Mac and PC compatible files (MPG4) your viewers can easily download and take with them.


And, of course, every thing is a podcast, audio AND video. People subscribe to your wonderful work just once, then it's delivered to them everytime you add something new.

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We also have some great embeddable video and audio players that are a snap to use (just click on the 'Add to Blog/Myspace' button on any podcast hosted here at ClickCaster).Â


Give it a try today. http://www.clickcaster.com/user/signup

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The ClickCaster Team
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Fall is a time for new features.

Hello again from beautiful Boulder Colorado. We have some updated features we think your going to really enjoy.

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With our latest update, you can preview each episode with a slimed down media player.

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We've changed the podcast store to include an interactive shopping cart. Now you'll see exactly what's in your cart while you shop for more podcasts.

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For those of you looking for the latest video podcasts,Âyou'll be happy toÂhear that we'veÂadded a new filtering feature. Now you canÂsort and view the latest updatedÂvideo or audio podcasts quicker than ever!

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If your personal message inbox is filling up like mine is, you'll be happy to know that you can now delete your messages from your inbox anytime.Â

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For those of you who like to watch your videos at full screen, you'll be happy to know that we've modified the player buttons to include a full screen option for your viewing pleasure.

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We also now require age verification on all explicit material. This feature was created to make sure that only subscribers over 18 can view any content tagged as explicit.

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And the best news of all with this release....drum roll please....we have launched a new Podcatcher . We're still working out the kinks but wanted to get it rolled out to you ASAP! With this new podcatcher, you can now better manage your podcast files on your mp3 device, iPod and PC. Change your subscriptions, preview new episodes and even sync directly to your iPod without the need for iTunes. All of this straight from the web, with no 3rd party software to download or having to download the content first to your PC, then syncing to your iPod.

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We hope that you'll find these features beneficial and make it easier to create, find and subscribe to audio and video podcasts!

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Stay tuned for even more great features rolling out of the next few weeks.

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Regards,

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The ClickCaster Team Â

I get by with a little help from My Friends :).

Well the Beatles had it right...All you need is Love and a little help from your Friends!

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That's the latest feature we've added to ClickCaster over the weekend. Â

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With our new Friends features, you can add any friend you want on the ClickCaster Network.

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We even have you confirm your friend request before we send it. You can't be too careful.Â

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Once you've sent your friend request, you get to track it via your ClickCaster home page. You can even see how many friends you have and send them private messages.

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Depending on how popular you are, you can even add new friends and delete old ones. Although one can never have enough friends!

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We have a lot more in store over the next month. Just in time for Christmas! So stay tuned for our next set of features. As always, we love getting your feedback so send us your comments to feedback@clickcaster.com.

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Thanks again for being a ClickCaster subscribe.

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The ClickCaster Team!Â

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A new year.. and new features!. Itâs been too long since we blogged and one of our resolutions for 2007 is youâll be hearing more from us in the coming weeks and months. So, to kick off the new year, here are three cool new features we've been working on for awhile now.

Shiny new embeddable audio and video players

An in-browser multi-track recorder

ClickCaster TV!


Let's start with the players. There's 6 sleek, newly designed players that you can embed in your blog, MySpace profile or website. Just cut and paste a tiny bit-o-code and Viola! It's there.Â

All the players let you choose from a rich palate of colors (16 million). They also let you choose what episode you want them to play and they let you 'fire off' your podcast (start playing as soon as a user hits your page), or not. You're choice.Â

Here's a quick rundown on the types and features of each:

Multimedia Player: Enables multiple episodes of both audio and video podcasts to be viewed, selected and played.

Video Player: Video only with single episode play.

Audio Player: Audio only but allows you to display and play multiple episodes.

Single Audio Player: Audio only with single episode play.

Micro Audio Player: Audio only with single episode play, and, like, small.

Nano Audio Player: Audio only with single episode play and really really small.

Embed away!




Next up, our Beta Multi Track recorder. Why's it cool? First, it rocks out high quality MP3 podcasts at 128 kbps (near CD quality), something none of the other guys out there using Flash based recorders can do. You can even save it directly to your hard disk (something else you can't do with a flash based recorder).Â

And, of course, the multi-track part really stands up tall... this feature lets you record directly into it using just a plug into your computer mic, and then allows you to import any MP3 formatted file (music, audio drops, sound effects, whatever you have on your hard disk) to it's own individual track. How many you ask? Unlimited! Well, in theory. We quit testing at a few dozen.Â

You can slide the music or sounds back and forth to get everything lined up to play when you want and then just hit upload. The Multi-Track recorder will mix it all down, encode it and upload it to ClickCaster's servers with no additional work on your part.Â




We'll be adding several additional capabilities to it in the near future (like cut and paste between tracks and anypoint recording) so stay tuned, this puppy's going to get better and better every week.

Last on our list is ClickCaster TV. It's a page of all the various video podcasts on ClickCaster in one big honkin interface that lets you easily browse everything on the site. We're not 100% sure why we did this other than, man.. that's cool. It's worth checking out.



To check they out, just go to our front page on at www.clickcaster.com and along the left side you'll see a graphic show the new features, each with a button that takes you where you want to go.

As always, we love hearing from you, and we love your input, suggestions and rants, whatever you want to tell us about... we want to hear about it. Just email us at:

feedback@clickcaster.com. We promise you, we're listening.

The ClickCaster Team


ClickCaster and NewsGator partner on Video.

We're pleased to announce a technology partnership with NewsGator! Check out the press release below:

Newspapers Use NewsGatorâs VideoBuzz⢠Service to Bring a New Dimension to Online Customized Content

January 29 2007 9:45 AM | Link

The Denver Post, East Valley Tribune and The Ledger Offer Dynamic
Relevant Video Content to Readers


Las Vegas, NV â January 29, 2007 â NewsGator Technologies, the industryâs most innovative RSS company, today announced the release of VideoBuzzâ¢. This new RSS solution enables newspapers and other online content companies to create compelling user experiences by pulling in context-sensitive, syndicated and editorialized video content to any page within their Web sites.


NewsGatorâs VideoBuzz solution is the fastest and least expensive way for brands to immediately enrich their sites with video. NewsGator VideoBuzz helps newspapers and other content publishers to do more than simply display video within a site, but empowers content publishers to choose the most relevant video from all possible video sources and add those on to their site quickly and in exactly the right context. VideoBuzz carries the content publisherâs brand, and in addition to the relevancy of the videos, encourages user participation by enabling sharing (via email and instant messaging), ratings, and comments on the video content.


Created through a technology partnership with ClickCaster Inc., VideoBuzz gives newspapers a one-click solution to presenting video within a Web page that is tightly integrated into the look and feel of the newspaperâs Web site. The latest in NewsGatorâs Private Label offering of RSS syndication services, VideoBuzz is already in use by a number of newspapers, including The Denver Post, The Ledger and the East Valley Tribune.


âAs a strategic partner, NewsGator helps us implement innovative solutions to engage our readers in new and dynamic ways,â said Mark Cardwell, Managing Editor, Digital Media, The Denver Post. âVideoBuzz is just another example of how NewsGator Private Label has helped us to deliver a vibrant experience to our audience, all while keeping them within our brand experience.â


âNewsGator VideoBuzz is helping to reshape the face of newspapers by integrating video into the look and feel of their online brand and enhancing existing sections with relevant dynamic content,â said Walker Fenton, General Manager, Private Label Solutions at NewsGator Technologies. âThrough video, newspapers are delivering a more engaging experience that encourages readers to return time and again.â


NewsGator Private Label helps companies that publish or manage online content increase revenues by combining rich syndicated content with social media and Web 2.0 technologies. These innovative private label technologies let users create, read and subscribe to the most relevant content all within the content publisherâs brand and experience. They include customized readers for the Web (see USA TODAY), âbuzz boxesâ (see Newsweek), desktop (FeedDemon) and mobile readers.


About NewsGator Technologies, Inc.

NewsGator Technologies is the worldâs leading RSS company. Headquartered in Denver, CO, NewsGator develops and markets RSS aggregation solutions for individual end users, enterprises and online content providers. Using NewsGator products and solutions, businesses and consumers can subscribe to news, information, podcasts and other relevant content more efficiently and effectively than with traditional channels. With NewsGator, users have access to RSS information via the Web, Microsoft Outlook, mobile devices and both Windows- and Mac-based desktop clients. All NewsGator products synchronize seamlessly, enabling users to read their RSS feeds anywhere, anytime, with any device. For more information, visit www.newsgator.com.


About ClickCaster Inc.

ClickCaster Inc., based in Boulder, CO., is a premier provider of podcasting platforms for publishers. We provide a broad range of web based creation tools, directories, embeddable media players, synchronization tools and custom interface design for private and white label audio and video podcasting solutions. For more information visit us at www.clickcaster.com.

Some big changes here at ClickCaster.

The Times They Are A-Changing
-Bob Dylan


And so they are here at ClickCaster. We've decided that it's time we cover our costs, and even make a little profit, so that we'll be around to serve you all for the long haul.

As of May 1st, we will no longer offer ClickCaster as free an unlimited storage and bandwidth service.

We're going to be revamping ClickCaster to support podcasting for businesses, institutional use and education.

We're getting focused, and we'll be pouring all of our efforts into creating a platform that you can use to simply and elegantly integrate the power of podcasting, user generated content, rich media and RSS into your day to day business.

If you already have an account on ClickCaster we'll continue to host your existing files for another 3 months at no charge (through July 31st 2007). During that time you'll have the opportunity to switch over to our premium services. We'll have more detail on the packages and feature sets available soon.

Last, we are currently in closed beta for the new ClickCaster site and during the next few days we're looking for a few folks that would be interested in trying it out and giving us your feedback through April. We can't take everyone, but if you're interested, let us know. Email us at: info@clickcaster.com with the words closed beta in the subject field of your message.

The ClickCaster Team


Just a little longer.

We planned on releasing a new version of ClickCaster today, one that's more focused and useful for those of you serious about your podcasting and media distribution. However, it's not quite finished and we have a little more work to do. Stay tuned, we'll have it up soon.

The ClickCaster Team.


The New ClickCaster.

As you all now know, we've changed ClickCaster fairly dramatically to better fit what we believe our customers need.Â

The old version of ClickCaster was a collection of features and functions that organically grew over time. Some of the features everyone used; some things, almost no one touched.

What we've done is cull out the rarely used stuff and beefed up the heavily used portions of the site into a more focused service aimed at serious audio, video and file distribution via RSS.

For a full description of the changes, check out the ClickCaster Wiki at:

http://faq.clickcaster.com/index.php/Legacy_Accounts

or view a walkthrough of the new system:


The biggest change for some of you will be paying for your accounts.Â


You can see the various level of service and their cost here:

http://www.clickcaster.com/about/more_info

In a nutshell, there are 4 plans from $4.99 to $29.99 a month. We also have educational/non-profit pricing. We're charging by the amount of storage space on our servers you need/use (with incremental storage added every month). Bandwidth is unlimited.

Simple, clean and easy. If you have a popular channel with lots of users accessing your content, unlike most services, we don't charge you extra for heavy bandwidth use. This lets you plan your monthly costs without having to worry about a huge bill one month just become something you did was popular.

Existing ClickCaster Users:

If you've already got an account on ClickCaster, you can try the new service out free for the next month (until around June 10th). Your existing files won't count toward your monthly storage limits (only new files you upload).Â

On or around the 10th, we'll ask that you choose a package that best fits your needs.

If you decide not to choose a package, we'll continue to host your existing files until at least July 31st at no cost to you. Keep in mind you won't be able to add any new files until you choose a package.

New ClickCaster Customers:


If you're new to ClickCaster, we'll ask that you choose a package and provide a credit card when you sign up. Although we'll charge the card, your first thirty days are a trial period to make sure you like the service. If you decide during that time it's not for you, simply drop us an email atÂcancel@clickcaster.com and we'll refund your money.

If you have questions, comments or would like to provide feedback, we're all ears. Just drop us a line at info@clickcaster.com or leave us comment sin the forums at: http://forums.clickcaster.com .

We're particularly interested in hearing about what you'd like added to ClickCaster. If enough users ask for a feature we removed, or a new feature we didn't have before, we'll very likely put it into a future upgrade to the site. Just let us know what you're looking for.

The ClickCaster Team.

Â

Embedding is back!.
For those of you wondering where our embeddable players went, good news!Â

You can find all the embedded players you've been asking us for under the "Embed" tab.

We've launched a new video player and will be updating the other players in the near future, so stay tuned.

Free accounts are back!.

Due to user outcry, we will continue to offer FREE accounts on ClickCaster!


Starting June 15th, sign in and get 125MB of Storage and 10GB of transfer a month with some features limited.

Thanks for helping us build such a great site and don't hesitate to let us know how we can best serve your business!

Spammers using a ClickCaster email address. On June 1st, someone found a minor security flaw in our mailing list.
They sent out about 84 thousand spam emails from a ClickCaster address.
Here's what the mail looked like:

"From: Regions Bank
To: Announce-dist
Sent: Friday, 1 June, 2007 1:05:52 PM
Subject: Secure confirmation!

Dear business client of *Regions Bank*:

The Regions Customer Service requests you to complete the Regions InterAct
Confirmation Form.

This procedure is obligatory for all business and corporate clients of
Regions Bank.

Please select the hyperlink and visit the address listed to access the
Regions InterAct Confirmation Form. "


The address that orginated this attack on us, and our customers is 20129250180.user.veloxzone.com.br. or 201.29.250.180 and the abuse contact for that ip address is abuse@telemar.net.br

We sincerely apologize that we had an email address that was vulnerable to this sort of abuse, but we also would like to reassure you that no data of yours was compromised.

The attacker sent an email to an address on our server, which then reprocessed the attack and sent it to our customers. Again, the attacker never saw a customer email address.

We have removed the email address in question to ensure that this will not happen again.


New remote channels service. ClickCaster now offers a new feature to paying customers which allows you to take any RSS feed on the Web and import it into your account. ClickCaster will then generate a new ClickCaster Channel with its own RSS feed.

What can you use a ClickCaster channel for? Here are some potential uses:

  • Create a web page for your existing media RSS feed. Make audio and videos easily browseable from a www.clickcaster.com/yourchannel address.
  • Automatically generate thumbnails for videos in your RSS feed. Thumbnails make your content easier to browse and more accessible.
  • Automatically insert audio players into your RSS feed. This means regardless of what RSS aggregator your listeners are using, they'll be able to play your episodes.
  • Track statistics for your RSS feed.
Check out an example of a customized remote feed.

New Features!. New Features!
Â
Want to find out where you're audience is? View them using google maps in our new and improved Geolocation.
Click on Stats and try it for free on your account today only!


Managing your media is now faster and easier. Add or upload straight from a new post. You can even sort by video, audio, images and miscellaneous files.



Atlantis, Quill, Techno... We've added 7 funky new templates. Click on Edit under Channel to check em out.

Free accounts start today!. New signups and existing free accounts receive 125MB of Storage and 10GB of transfer a month with some features limited.

More New Features. Watch, Listen, and Vote!

Our explore section got an overhaul. Find New and Popular channels on ClickCaster, watch, and vote for your favorites without ever leaving the page. Browse by tags, or use our enhanced search to find exactly what you're looking for.

Don't just promote on ClickCaster, Make some cash!

Selling is back. Set a price for your posts on our system and we'll do a revenue share of 50/50 with you. Even track who's buying in Stats > Seller Details.
Just fill out the form under Settings > Sell, or learn more here.

Banana, Kanji, Hotpants?

Our template directory just keeps growing. We're up to 33 funky templates to choose from. Try 'em out under the new and improved Customize.


On the 1st, we limited existing free users accounts. If you are running low on bandwidth or storage, please check out one of our modestly priced packages with unlimited bandwidth!

Also, for those of you who do not wish to receive email updates from us, you can opt out under settings here.

Publish, Sell and Customize. Check out how easy it is to publish media, sell your posts, and Customize your Channel. Watch this short screencast.

ClickCaster Inc. Gives Back to Colorado's Entrepreneurial Community. Boulder, Colorado - ClickCaster Inc., a provider of worldclass IPTV & Media Middleware Platforms announces its support in EFCO, the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado.

The company has pledged to donate one percent of its overall equity to EFCO, a program targeted at angel and VC backed companies based in Colorado. The organization is focused on creating an endowment that let's young companies, through the gift of their equity, give back to the communities we live and work in.

"We learned about EFCO several months ago and decided on the spot to participate as soon as it made sense" says ClicKCasters CEO, Scott Converse. "Being part of the local community and giving back to the different institutions, organizations and entities that make Colorado such a great place to start a company is something every young company should consider doing".

ClickCaster is joining a growing group of Colorado based early stage companies in helping to build a permanent endowment to provide community grants for arts, civic involvement, education, the environment, and health and human services. Upon a liquidity event, the cash or stock that has been given by participating companies will be distributed to the appropriate Community Foundations.

About ClickCaster Inc.
ClickCaster Inc. was incorporated in Sept. of 2006. ClickCaster's technology has matured into a premier media middleware platforms with the ability to handle virtually any media type available today. With an emphasis on IPTV, ClickCaster and its partners provide server and client device products and services to meet the most demanding needs of our customers. ClickCaster was founded by Scott Converse. He brings his expertise from companies such as Apple Computer, Paramount Pictures, Motorola and MCI to create the best media delivery platform products in our targeted markets available today.