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GelflingWaldo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2004
- Messages
- 1,553
- Reaction score
- 9
Henson, I love your podcast but I hate your website
I love the podcast Grant, keep up the great work! The episodes just keep getting better and better. The interview with Bobby Vegan was great and I really enjoyed the coverage of the Dark Crystal Manga coverage. The audio from the recent panel discussions (Comic Con and Henson's Fantastic World) was fantastic too. The Q&A segment at the end of each episode is also a great addition (somewhat reminiscent of the old Ask Henson.com feature from long ago). Keep up the great work Grant!
I listen to a lot of podcasts; the quality of the Henson.com podcast is great but have a bone to pick with Henson's website -- despite the quality of the podcasts themselves, the presentation and accessibility of them stinks (thanks to the new Henson.com that was launched in September). I have several issues with the current online presentation of the podcast now (issues I didn’t have with the old site).
Basically I wish I could just download the MP3 file direct from Henson.com (and not have to go through iTunes to get a portable file). I wish I could link directly to a specific episode (not just the main podcast page). And I wish the on-site player was more reliable and functional.
That’s all. I’m done ranting now. Once again, keep up the great work on producing a quality audio experience. I can’t wait to hear the next episode (even if accessing it is a little inconvenient).
I love the podcast Grant, keep up the great work! The episodes just keep getting better and better. The interview with Bobby Vegan was great and I really enjoyed the coverage of the Dark Crystal Manga coverage. The audio from the recent panel discussions (Comic Con and Henson's Fantastic World) was fantastic too. The Q&A segment at the end of each episode is also a great addition (somewhat reminiscent of the old Ask Henson.com feature from long ago). Keep up the great work Grant!
I listen to a lot of podcasts; the quality of the Henson.com podcast is great but have a bone to pick with Henson's website -- despite the quality of the podcasts themselves, the presentation and accessibility of them stinks (thanks to the new Henson.com that was launched in September). I have several issues with the current online presentation of the podcast now (issues I didn’t have with the old site).
1) They really should provide a link so you can download the podcast directly. Most podcasts do this. Henson use to do this. But currently the only way to get the podcast is via iTunes (or if you’re at a computer you can theoretically stream it in an embedded player on that page). A direct link to the MP3 on the site would be nice. I have nothing against iTunes, but I’d rather get the episode without having to go through another other program. Why can’t I just download the file directly?
2) Each episode has its own episode page with some brief introductory text and then the embedded audio player where you can listen to the episode. But because of the site's structure you can't directly link to a specific episode – which is annoying. For example, if I want to share the Tinseltown episode with someone I can’t just send them a link to the episodes, I have to give them a link to http://www.henson.com/podcast.php and then tell them to find the link to show #17 and then open that page. I wish I could just send them a link directly to the specific episode page, but because of the way the site is designed this is impossible and annoying. As a blogger who would like to share and reference specific episodes, I find this is a bit of a roadblock and an nuisance.
3) Lastly, the little embedded audio player, to put it nicely, sucks. Ever since they updated Henson.com the on-site podcast has been presented in a little fancy embedded media player. I have no problem with is concept – I like the concept – many podcasts employ a similar concept for listening. However the player work less than 50% of the time for me - most of the time the player just never shows up. I have a pretty decent internet connection, I have the latest version of flash installed and have tried bringing the podcast up in the latest version of Internet Explorer, FireFox and Netscape - but the player just never loads and I’m left with blank white box where the player should be. I've tried on several different computers (even had friends try too) and get the same results – no streaming podcast. The only way I've gotten real regular success is on a Mac via Safari. I don’t know what’s up. I do however know that other fans have expressed problems with the player as well – it’s an annoying roadblock and has prevented many people from actually hearing the podcast. Plus in the rare instance I get the player to load it usually has to buffer and it lags and freezes and it becomes even more annoying. Again, a direct link to an mp3 would help give an alternative to people who can’t load the player and don’t want to (or simply can’t) go through iTunes.
2) Each episode has its own episode page with some brief introductory text and then the embedded audio player where you can listen to the episode. But because of the site's structure you can't directly link to a specific episode – which is annoying. For example, if I want to share the Tinseltown episode with someone I can’t just send them a link to the episodes, I have to give them a link to http://www.henson.com/podcast.php and then tell them to find the link to show #17 and then open that page. I wish I could just send them a link directly to the specific episode page, but because of the way the site is designed this is impossible and annoying. As a blogger who would like to share and reference specific episodes, I find this is a bit of a roadblock and an nuisance.
3) Lastly, the little embedded audio player, to put it nicely, sucks. Ever since they updated Henson.com the on-site podcast has been presented in a little fancy embedded media player. I have no problem with is concept – I like the concept – many podcasts employ a similar concept for listening. However the player work less than 50% of the time for me - most of the time the player just never shows up. I have a pretty decent internet connection, I have the latest version of flash installed and have tried bringing the podcast up in the latest version of Internet Explorer, FireFox and Netscape - but the player just never loads and I’m left with blank white box where the player should be. I've tried on several different computers (even had friends try too) and get the same results – no streaming podcast. The only way I've gotten real regular success is on a Mac via Safari. I don’t know what’s up. I do however know that other fans have expressed problems with the player as well – it’s an annoying roadblock and has prevented many people from actually hearing the podcast. Plus in the rare instance I get the player to load it usually has to buffer and it lags and freezes and it becomes even more annoying. Again, a direct link to an mp3 would help give an alternative to people who can’t load the player and don’t want to (or simply can’t) go through iTunes.
Basically I wish I could just download the MP3 file direct from Henson.com (and not have to go through iTunes to get a portable file). I wish I could link directly to a specific episode (not just the main podcast page). And I wish the on-site player was more reliable and functional.
That’s all. I’m done ranting now. Once again, keep up the great work on producing a quality audio experience. I can’t wait to hear the next episode (even if accessing it is a little inconvenient).
