Higgaion Podcast 2: God and Someone Else
Episode 2 of the Higgaion Podcast released earlier today—if you have subscribed in iTunes, you may have already heard the episode. I stole the title “God and Someone Else” from a subheading in James Kugel’s book Traditions of the Bible. The podcast draws listeners’ attention to Genesis 1:26–28 and other passages where God unexpectedly uses first-person plural verbs and pronouns. This time around, I suggest that the explanation for this phenomenon lies neither in a “royal we” nor in a “plural of self-deliberation.”
Should you prefer to listen without going through iTunes U, you may download the file directly and copy it to your favorite MP3 player, or listen right now using the embedded player below.
8 comments Christopher Heard | Bible (specific texts), podcasting
Nice one, Chris. Love the speedy disclaimer at the end! If you have a moment to record a short trailer, 30 seconds or so, I’ll happily include it on the NT Pod.
Very good, Chris. Wicked British lady accent! I’m impressed.
I have my own response to understanding this issue, so I am curious what you will do with it. Looking forward to future installments.
Very cool. Thanks for highlighting some Hebrew grammar info! Will definitely pass this on to our students back home and Christo’s undergrads here in Stellenbosch.
One request – we (and others in countries not-as-developed as the US) pay for internet by data usage and while your podcast is only about 5mb, its only 5 minutes long. We can download an hour long episode of Democracy Now, for example, for 10mb. Could you make the MP3s smaller?
Thanks,
D&T
Daniel and Tonya ask, “Could you make the MP3s smaller?” Yes, but only by sacrificing sound quality. CD-quality sound must be “bought” at the rate of about 1.1 MB per minute. What do other listeners think? Would a lower-quality (sound quality) ’cast be okay, for the sake of overseas listeners?
Lower-quality sound would be fine with me. You could also kill about 20 seconds’ worth of the 25-second opening tune, or simply lower the volume & talk over it to save some time (the way you talk over the end with the disclaimer).
I think about 1Mb a minute, perhaps just a touch less, is fairly standard in podcasts, so I don’t think your unusual here, Chris. An hour for 10Mb is impressive, danielandtonya. I’ve just taken a glance at the ones I listen to, and they are all in the region of 1Mb or so a minute, and a bit less the longer it is. The BBC somehow manages to make them a bit smaller than that.
I saved a little bit on mine by converting them to mono. I decided that hearing the opening and closing theme in mono was not a big loss! Also, converting to mono improved the sound quality of the voice.
Thanks for the direct download link! It is good to be able to listen to your ‘casts :)
On the quality/file size issue, I decided for 5 Minute Bible (http://5minutebible.com) initially to use 40kbps (like the BBC World Service rather than 56kbps like the ABC) but in view of improving Internet connectivity in most places have recently begun to upgrade to 64kbps this makes files about half your size, but (I think) still of good quality. I would be interested in your or others comments on this issue – is the better sound quality of 128kbps worth reduced accessibility?
ICR’s 14-minute weekly radio program, “Science, Scripture, & Salvation” is only 24kbps, resulting in a mere 2Mb file, & sounds quite fine, including it’s epic bumper tune.
CMI’s 2-minute daily radio program, “Creation Moment”, is 32kps, making only a 0.5Mb file. Its narration & music also sound crystal clear.
Your 128kbps is simply excessive. If all the other scholarly podcasts you’re accustomed to are 128k, you should dare to be different. Consider cutting in half to 64k (per Tim’s suggestion) for a single episode, & see if you get any complaints about the quality since you’ve already gotten a complaint about the size.