Swtichpod, free hosting for podcasters

[TheBigFish]

Switchpod.com is a cool new podcast hosting feature I stumbled upon. You get free hosting for your podcast and it automaticly creates the feed for you. Its curently in beta and invite only. If you need an invite, send an email to dafish1@gmail.com

[Patrick]

Looks very unprofessional and sketchy.

I think I'll pass.

Any company pining for advertisers and using Google ads all over, with a generic web template like that doesn't command much respect.

Your site took forever to come up, too.

Oh, and it gets better:

We put small advertisments in along with your podcasts, that your listeners will download.

With all due respect, **** that.

[InformerandSnitch]

TheBigFish... It looks cool... it will be nuts to see what its like in production (non Beta).

[TheBigFish]

Looks very unprofessional and sketchy.

I think I'll pass.

Any company pining for advertisers and using Google ads all over, with a generic web template like that doesn't command much respect.

Your site took forever to come up, too.

Oh, and it gets better:

We put small advertisments in along with your podcasts, that your listeners will download.

With all due respect, **** that.

Well you have to face the facts that bandwidth isn't cheap and you have to pay for it some how.

[Patrick]

The only people who are going to use this are shitty podcasts. You will have a bunch of 8 year olds on your service.

I know you have to pay for the bandwidth somehow. Why not provide a good service for a fair price instead of a half-assed service that modifies it's customers content for free.

This is the most ridiculous model I've seen for podcast hosting.

[volwrath]

You need to open up some...

[Patrick]

I speak my mind.

I'd rather be honest than wrong.

:wink:

[TheBigFish]

Yes this is a service for begining podcasters that have no start up funds. We will also be featuring a paid service with no ads, this is only a beta version

[Hittman]

Well you have to face the facts that bandwidth isn't cheap and you have to pay for it some how.

The fact is bandwidth IS cheap, and the price is dropping every day.

I get 25 gigs for ten bucks, and there are services out there offering four times that amount for the same price.

There are already services that offer free podcasting via phone call, and they don't saddle listeners with ads.

But this is a new medium, and who knows what business models will work. Personally, I think this one will fail miserably, but what the hell, go for it.

But hire someone who can write copy at at least a fifth grade level, and run the **** thing through a spelling checker. Sheesh.

[Patrick]

And get a website that doesn't look like my drawings (http://www.podcastalley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2606&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0).

[TheBigFish]

This is BETA, we would like constructive criticism. Not **** that. Please any constructive critism is appreaceated.

[Patrick]

Constructive criticism:

Don't put ads that may or may not conflict with my show in my podcast.

Don't give away slow bandwidth (yes, your site drags - what's my MP3 transfer going to be like). Instead, charge for fast bandwidth.

Get a website that looks like a professional company might somehow be associated with what you're doing - not some generic template.

Get rid of all the ads. Charge. A business with tons of ads looks suspect.

Get a decent logo, not something that looks like a hacker made it back in 1996. Again, your site looks to have no corporate identity and looks completely bogus. Get someone who knows something about marketing on your team, and fast.

You also stole your entire "Acceptable Use Policy". I seriously doubt you are a real company. I don't think you have a clue what you're doing. The fact that you ripped that off another website proves you have no lawyers. You have no marketing team. I'd wager you have no tech team. You're just a guy with a font, a photoshop filter and a website.

My advice: stop.

How's that?

[TheBigFish]

Constructive criticism:

Don't put ads that may or may not conflict with my show in my podcast.

Don't give away slow bandwidth (yes, your site drags - what's my MP3 transfer going to be like). Instead, charge for fast bandwidth.

Get a website that looks like a professional company might somehow be associated with what you're doing - not some generic template.

Get rid of all the ads. Charge. A business with tons of ads looks suspect.

Get a decent logo, not something that looks like a hacker made it back in 1996. Again, your site looks to have no corporate identity and looks completely bogus. Get someone who knows something about marketing on your team, and fast.

You also stole your entire "Acceptable Use Policy". I seriously doubt you are a real company. I don't think you have a clue what you're doing.

My advice: stop.

How's that?

Ok I think you missed the whole fact that we are trying to provide free hosting. We are trying to provide something different. We were trying to have something simple. We arn't trying to look like every other hosting business out there.

[Patrick]

You got that right - you're not attempting to look like a business at all. You look like a joke.

Seriousy - stealing your acceptable usage policy? Why even have one? You aren't a company, obviously.

Get a clue.

[TheBigFish]

Alright, ive heard enough of patrick melon has to say, anyone else.

[Patrick]

No one is coming in here saying it's a good idea. That should be clue enough for you. They're mom's taught them if they have nothing nice to say, to say nothing at all.

Lucky for you, my mom died when I was little so I'm just prick enough to tell you honestly how your whole presentation there is coming across.

You're welcome.

[TheBigFish]

Alright, ive heard enough of patrick melon has to say, anyone else.

Patrick that means stop posting in this thread.............

[Patrick]

You said "patrick melon", and last time I checked, I can discuss topics on this board as freely as you.

[RWD]

I have to agree with "The Melon". The site is not professional at all.

Are you sure there's a market for this service? If you go out and spend all this dough on equipment, are you really worried about the ten bucks it costs each month for hosting?

It's one thing to make money by selling advertising on YOUR site, it's another to make money selling ads on someone's weblog.

RWD

[Patrick]

It's one thing to make money by selling advertising on YOUR site, it's another to make money selling ads on someone's weblog.

And they're both bad ideas.

Don't worry about him spending a lot of dough on equipment. Judging by his site and bitching about bandwidth costs, it's not more than a kid with a hosting account somewhere who found a web template and copies text from other sites.

[Hittman]

Alright, ive heard enough of patrick melon has to say, anyone else.

Sure. But I'll have to repeat myself.

Bandwidth is cheep. Really cheep. Typing "cheap bandwidth" in Google led me to this chart: http://webhosts-etc.com/

Check out the first one on the list. Fifty gigs, five bucks a month. That's the price of one good beer, or two cheap ones. (You are old enough to drink, aren’t you?) That's a lot of downloads, especially for someone with a show on the short side.

So the bottom line is you're not offering anyone anything of value!. Anyone who can afford a ten dollar mike can afford a five dollar web site.

In fact, you're offering a reduced value, because you're adding unwanted spam to a communications form that is almost entirely ad free.

I know that if I found an unsolicited ad sitting in my podcast directory, I'd immediately delete the show from my feed, and then head over here and encourage everyone else to do the same. Although I doubt they'd need much encouragement.

And what Pat said. Your site is fugly. The copy is pure fifth grade. And you've even got spelling errors on it.

Constructive enough for ya?

Alright, ive heard enough of patrick melon has to say, anyone else.

Patrick that means stop posting in this thread.............

Who the **** do you think you are, boy?

You want to shut someone up, run your own **** forum. But ordering someone else to stop posting – ****, that's just so over the line, so completely pathetic. . .

Yeah, I'm going to trust my podcast to you. Sure.

[kickasspodcast]

Spend the 15 dollars a month to get your own .com and your own server. You will thank yourself countless times. I will say it again, any hosting server or any 3rd party is just 1 more thing to get between you and your listeners. If you can directly host. You must.


This is totally IMHO


jack


gnite

[Patrick]

Careful - you guys don't want to get "banned" from the thread too, do ya?

[TheBigFish]

Melton, im not opposed to criticisim, I just don't like you spamming my thread.

[Patrick]

First of all, you don't own the thread, jerkoff.

Second of all, the only person spamming is you - with this ad for your site, and your practice of modifying podcasts with advertisements. And you have the nerve to tell me I'm spamming?

Riiiiight...that arguments holds water...

[TheBigFish]

Im not forcing anyone to use my service, Im just giving them another option for hosting. And no this service isn't for everyone, but I can guarantee not everyone has $10-30 a month for hosting, when their just starting their podcast. I mean there is a lot of college and younger kids that are getting into podcasting and I know that almost all college kids don't have money for hosting, unless their being pampered my mommy and daddy.

[jimk]

Anyone who is just starting out can host at archive.org and use blogger for free.

or, they can pay 5 bucks a month to libsyn. If someone tells me they can't afford 5 bucks a month, they're lying. It's two cups of coffee. Mostof us lose 5 bucks a month in loose change.

Your service simply isn't trustworthy, your business model is severely flawed, and your attitude STINKS.

[Patrick]

Oh snap!

I bet it feels like you just flossed - 'cause my boy JimK got all up in your grill!

Word!

Seriously, libsyn is $5 a month, and much better service than you can provide.

You're enabling every idiot who wants to slap crap up on the internet in audio form do it. We have enough crap already...I mean, look at your site.

Zing!