Kiwi6 Problem
Just a quick update regarding the podcast/audio situation with regards to Kiwi6.
The tl;dr is this: As of next week, I will be moving the Member-only podcasts to a new, better, more-expensive-but-totally-worth-it hosting solution.
UPDATE 27-Nov-2018 – See this post for the latest information.
Thanks to those of you who have emailed me and left comments on this site to let me know that the Kiwi6 files were not working for you.
The truth is that Kiwi6 has been awesome value over the past 18 months, even if they have apparently lost the plot of late. At first I used their free hosting service, then when I reached the free limit, I became a paying customer, but even then, we are talking chump change: they charge USD $10 a month or something. That is practically nothing for the service they provide(d).
There are far more professional solutions out there, and outlets like THC and Occulture use one in particular: Libsyn.*
*Update 27-Nov-2018: I have since learned that THC in fact uses Blubrry. More on that in this post.
I have already contacted Libsyn to see if they can accommodate my intention to transfer the archive material to their service in short order. Libsyn have a relatively low monthly data allowance, which in theory will make it difficult to transfer the entire back-catalogue to them, but I’m confident that they will be able to work something out for me.
The beauty of Libsyn is that they have both an embedded player (the thing you click to stream from the website) AND a download option rolled into one. For the past few months I have been using Kiwi6 as the download option and MixCloud as the stream option (because MixCloud do not allow downloading, they only provide the player).
For a long time I held off on moving (upgrading) to Libsyn because of their higher cost, but thanks to the recent growth of the Membership of this site, I can now easily justify that cost increase.
The only reason why I am not taking care of the transfer before next week is that I am currently busy with both the Dinoskeptic film and the admin issues which arise with a new influx of Members. By next week I will be free to take care of the tedious work of transferring the archive material to Libsyn (or whichever hosting service I end up with).
I apologise once again to those of you who have been frustrated by the Kiwi6 problems, but don’t worry, by this time next week, it will be sorted.
You will be able to stream OR download all of the Member-only podcasts — and if Libsyn come to the party, you will be able to download AND/OR stream from the same player.
In the meantime, remember that there are a tonne of publicly-available podcasts available to download or stream via Podbean. See this page.
You might be wondering, if Podbean offer both streaming AND downloading, why not use them for the Member-only podcasts, too? Because they don’t offer private/unlisted upload options. Lol.
Kiwi6: Streaming AND downloading AND private/unlisted, but unreliable (recently unusable) — you get what you pay for
MixCloud: Excellent streaming AND private/unlisted BUT no downloading
Podbean: Excellent streaming AND downloading BUT no private/unlisted
Libsyn: Excellent streaming AND downloading AND private/unlisted (but relatively pricey)
I am sharing all of the above for those who might be interested. None of it necessarily affects you, but some Members seem to be interested in seeing how the broader JLB operation ‘works’, or why I do (or do not do) certain things with the site/operation. I am constantly learning about technical elements and topics I would not have had any reason to learn about, were it not for this site. Hopefully the information above gives readers of this post, especially the newer Members of the site, an insight into why the Kiwi6 problem has occurred in the first place.
Please note that this is not an appeal for more funds to cover the hosting. Far from it. The recent influx of new Members has meant that this site now generates more revenue than I need to cover ALL hosting costs (audio / video / website / domain / other) and allow me to live a decent life in SE Asia / Eastern Europe / South America and work on this site full-time (no normie job required).^
^I will be finishing up at my current normie job at the end of February. More on this in a later post.
In other words, simply by being a Member of this site, you have already covered the cost of moving the archive material to Libsyn.
So thank you! Libsyn (or alternative solution if Libsyn won’t accommodate us) here we come!
Post #34. 700 words. Available publicly. Updated 27-Nov-2018 in accordance with Post #35 ‘Update Regarding Audio Content’.
perhaps more germane to another post, but i’d be a most hospitable host to jlb and other ‘conspiracy’ cohorts in NYC for the grand finale. at this time though I cannot offer lodging – to anyone – in advance, as i no longer have residency – despite having a ‘permanent’ address (at a p.o) – and unsure if ill be there when you arrive.
high 80s by the beach – at half the per diem living costs per day – does not compel a flight back to the wretched winters in the northeast anytime soon. 😛
**re: South Am – do not come to Colombia if you need good internet service… well…at least not Medellin or Cartagena. if you need / want other things, they are plentiful, though corporeal pleasures – for some reason(s) – no longer appeal to the senses or spirit of this ‘would be de-programmer’.
though i could be mistaken, i’ll assume it’s the same for kindred souls. this aspect is part and parcel to a recent Member call … collateral ‘damage’ of the deprogramming process.
sex, drugs… even sports ball escape no longer rev the engine with high rpms. and without enough air in the tires… you just cant get where you (or fellow passengers) want to go
am I throwing out babies with the bathwater? maybe, but abstinence on fronts was noticeable to normies i was with last week. as though something wasn’t quite right with me – especially given the epic tales they apparently had heard of my former self.
more on that later…
congrats on the 100! Dunbar’s number beckons! (as a little bird had prognosticated some time ago ;0)
It is interesting that you mention this, because I have been thinking along similar lines recently, especially the last month or so.
For the past few months, probably since about July, I’ve been watching a lot of ‘digital nomad’ content on YouTube and listening to similar podcasts, originally to learn more about the places these people stay/live and the ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle/’movement’ in general, and then as a sort of inspiration to keep plugging away at what I am doing. Some of you might be able to imagine how hollow of a life it can be to sit at a local cafe on a computer as much as I do; the DM videos/podcasts keep me thinking about why I am doing this with my life, what I have planned next. Visualising the future I am working towards.
Anyway, lately it has occurred to me that although I am only 31, I don’t actually expect to do any of the partying or much of the socialising which is apparently central to the DM lifestyle. I am literally moving to Thailand/Mexico/Eastern Europe to live cheaply so I can spend more time on the JLB operation. That is all. The party thing seems to have passed me by, but I don’t remember when. And I don’t think it is simply a matter of age, heaps of people older than myself still get into that element of the ‘travel’ scene. I think it is more to do with how far removed the fellow socialisers/partygoers are from how I view myself. It just isn’t the same thing as even a few years ago.
I am not just talking about partying, I mean even mere socialising. One of the major drawcards of ‘digital nomad’ hubs like Chiang Mai is that they are full of fellow online entrepreneurs, there is a social atmosphere, people who know what each other is dealing with when trying to succeed on this path, a camaraderie of sorts. I am looking forward to this — it will be a refreshing change from living in a backward-ass suburb of a backward-ass city in a backward-ass country, in a house with friendly but hopeless normies who haven’t really challenged themselves for over a decade — but I can’t help but suspect that I will be disappointed even by the social aspect of the DM scene.
Now that the romanticism of it has worn off, I have come to realsie that the DM scene is full of the kinds of people I can;t stand: those who talk about what they are ‘going to’ do, those who claim to have done amazing things, but fail to demonstrate their success or abilities, fail to show themselves walking the walk.
Well shiiiiiet man, I have just given up a huge chunk of two of the best years of my life to build up an online business. Imagine me sitting there in a pub or cafe or coworking space listening to some twenty-something talking about how he is ‘going to’ do this or do that, how he is ‘going to’ build up an online revenue stream. Yeah, yeah, sure. Everybody is ‘going to’ do this or do that. Few of us will ever make the sacrifices necessary to actually succeed. And when I look at everything I have given up to have reached this point, I am not sure if I will be able to tolerate listening to people who haven’t sacrificed anything telling me about what they are ‘going to do’. Good luck to them, but I’d rather go for a nightwalk and listen to podcasts.
Which is what I already do. I am basically moving to a low COL country to do more of what I am already doing: working at a laptop by myself, exercising by myself, mixing with very few normies, living a solitary lifestyle. That last part, the solitary lifestyle, is kind of the opposite of the idea of DM hubs like Chiang Mai. And yet it is what I now realise is likely to be the outcome of my move overseas. And one of the main reasons for this seems to be that I have deprogrammed so far, the fun of talking shit with normies isn’t there any more. And when I am not talking shit with normies, what exactly am I doing with them? Most of them are capable of doing no more than talk utter shit.
I could be wrong, and hope that I am. Perhaps I will meet a bunch of truly insightful, inspirational, learned people on my travels to the DM hubs of the world. Perhaps they will remind me that the normies who do nothing with their lives are the reason why DM hubs have become the modern-day versions of San Fran, places where people with ideas do whatever they can to get to, to be part of something bigger than themselves, to get away from the morass of banal creatures who demotivate others by their mere presence in a setting.
Time will tell.
Worst case scenario is that I end up living a lonely life in Chiang Mai rather than a lonely life in Brisbane. Much of a muchness, really, but at least in Chiang Mai I won’t be working a normie job to help pay the bills. It can’t possibly get any more lonely than it already is, that’s for sure.