Well since I was the one who brought this up, I guess I should chime in.
Firstly, I am a strong believer that a podcast needs to have one or two central "hosts." They are people who have to be willing to commit to be there and participate every time. This is because you need people who are there to move things along, and secondly, so that there's a consistant air of familiarity. Of course, it could be as many as say, three or four people who regularly participate, though not every week, but just cycle in and out. That's all stuff that has to come in the later planning. Plus, if it's an idea people don't like, then just disregard it. It's just a personal preference for me.
Secondly, there's the method. The most commom (and easiest) method I could find when it came to recording a podcast over long distance is to use a
Skype conference call, and then for each use to be recording their end of the conversation using the free program
Audacity (along with
an Mp3 encoder, which is also free). Then they all send their sound files to one person, who will use Audacity to edit it together. I am familiar with Audacity, so I am willing to edit it together.
In terms of hardware, this means anyone who wants to participate will need a headset, or a microphone (if you're using a mic, you'll need to use headphones as well, so the mic doesn't pick up an echo of everyone else's voice). This is the most common way I was able to find. If anyone else knows of a better way, then speak up.
Nextly, I think that it would be best if there was a specific recording time and date. Because this is obvoiusly going to take place across time zones, this is going to be pretty key. Also, a specific date for when each Podcast should be released.
And on the subject of releasing, I'm really unsure of how to get a podcast available through iTunes. I know it has something to do with RSS, but have no idea how to work anything like that. Also, hosting. While I have a little bit of space on my Google account, and there's those free hosting services, they aren't really reliable or consistant enough if people want to go back and get old "episodes." So that needs to be worked out.
mmm What else? OH! In terms of content, while I'm in agreement that I'd like for this to be mostly community oriented, this is a Zelda site, so a little bit of time set aside for any current news is a-ok by me. Also, I'm a big fan of just letting conversations happen, so I would say, for just a regular non-interview program, have a couple topics set aside, but don't go in with the aim to get to them all. At the same time, I think many will find ten minutes to be rather a short amount of time, so I would say that should be what we aim for, but if we go over by a handful of minutes, then it's no big deal. Let the conversations happen, don't cut them short unless they are getting way too long.
For theme music, is
this guy still around?
And finally (for now), the NAME. In my first post on the subject, I called it "ZUCast." Even if that turns out to be the name, this is speech, and people would pronounce it differently! I know me and Asia call it "zed-you," and most others call it "zee-you," while some just call it "zoo." So do we want some uniformity, or do we want to name it something completely different?
In any case, since this is "my" brain child (bah, don't like taking credit), I am, of course, only too willing to participate. By taking part in the actual 'cast, by editing, by pretty much anything.