Legal Practice Pro» Skype

Quick And Easy Podcasting Tools For Lawyers

Jay Fleischman — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:00:27 +0000

We’ve talked about how podcasting may fit into the strategies your law firm takes to market and promote the practice. But if you’re like most lawyers, you don’t want to get all techy and geeky about it. Plug in and go or, better yet, don’t bother plugging in at all.

When I started podcasting as a legal marketing strategy I got totally into the cool toys and gizmos. I read a bunch of books, listened to people talk about high-end audio equipment, and even got myself a spiffy microphone to make me feel like a DJ. Turns out I didn’t need most of it. In fact, you can get by with very little start with.

Microphone. Sure, you can go out and buy a Blue Snowball Microphone (in fact, if I were starting my podcasting career right now this is the one I’d get). You can also go super high-end and get something that looks like it was lifted from NPR. Why bother when you’re starting out and don’t even know if this is right for you?

For my money, the best bet is a Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB Headset. It sets you back under $40, you can use it for Skype and other computer-related audio, and it’s cheap enough that you can toss it if someone rolls over it with a desk chair. In fact, this is the microphone I use for most of the Debt Podcast shows.

Audio Recording Software. There’s a ton of expensive and inexpensive stuff out there, but the best audio recording software is Audacity. It’s free, well-supported, and pretty much everyone uses it. You will need to download something called a LAME encoder in order to save it to mp3 format, but that’s also free and available as a download from the same site.

Call Recording Software. You may want to invite others to your podcasting adventure, which would be a wise idea. Interview shows are more interesting for the listener, and way easier on the host. Trust me on this one – talking into a microphone without any audience participation can feel lonely for the uninitiated. It you’re looking to podcast with someone else, get Skype and buy one of the recording programs. The big players are Pamela (Windows) and Call Recorder (Mac). Both will set you back under $30 or so, and record your calls in crystal-clear digital audio quality. As a side bonus, using these programs also comes in handy if you’ve got an untethered practice and want to save your client consultation calls for later reference.

Podcast Hosting Platform. Remember that a podcast is nothing more than an audio blog. For that reason, you’ll need a blog set up where you can upload your audio files. If you’ve got a blog or want to get one, terrific. But if you want to quick and dirty version, grab a free blog at WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Word to the wise – if you choose a free platform and upload your audio files to their server, you run the risk of them shutting you down at any time. The platform limits your ability to fiddle with the knobs and dials, and owns your content. They pull the plug, you lose. Better bet is to buy a domain name and get a hosting account. It will set you back about $85 for the year, and it’s a good investment.

You can spend money or you can push out quality information that will keep people coming back time and time again for more. In the world of content marketing for lawyers it’s the quality of information that counts more than how crisp your voice sounds.

Image credit: Derek K. Miller (Flickr)

Untethered Video Conferencing Comes To iPhone

Jay Fleischman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:00:07 +0000

Fring is a essentially an instant messaging platform that allows you to use AOL, MSN, Yahoo and all the other popular instant messaging systems. It supports Skype calls as well, and works on the iPhone.

Big deal, you say. Skype has an iPhone app.

Ever make a video call on your iPhone with Skype? As of now, you can’t do it.

You can with Fring.

Rock on! Now you can make video calls with your iPhone using Fring. How cool is that?

Hat tip to the VOIP & Gadgets Blog for the information about this new functionality.

Tab Mix Plus For Firefox Does Not Play Well With Skype

Long Duong — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:45:52 +0000

The first extension/add-on that I always install for Firefox is Tab Mix Plus. This Firefox extension allows me to switch between my current tab and a recent tab without “scrolling” through every tab.

For example, if I have 6 tabs open and I’m currently viewing Tab 3, I can hold down Ctrl and hit the Tab key to go to the tab 5 (and release.) To go back to Tab 3, I simply need to quickly hit “ctrl+tab” in one swift move and I’m back on Tab 3.

Recently, it stopped working and would just cycle through each tab in chronological order. Furthermore, I could not view the options menu for Tab Mix Plus. After much googling, I found the culprit:

Tab Mix Plus does not play well with the recent Skype add-on for Firefox. Therefore, to continue using Tab Mix Plus you will need to discontinue use of the Skype For Firefox add-on.