Mac20Q Podcast 17 Don McAllister

Really pleased to get Don on the show. So many interviewees are recommending him and his Screencasts online and also I met him in the flesh as it were last September at Podcamp Barcelona. Don did a session at the Podcamp and I certainly found it interesting as he talked about the monetisation of his Podcast and how he was able to give up the day job. Now he has a job in which he works harder, probably but when you are doing something you want to do it is often not like work at all.

Don produces Screencasts showing how to use many of the Mac Applications and does a great job of it too. Steps by step guides to using an application in real world situations.

Don gets out and about as part of his Screencastsonline with MacMania tours, he is going to China later this year. He also gets to Macworld events in places like San Francisco. Obviously he is doing well with the service that he provides so that he can afford his Apple hardware and gadget addiction. As a member you get a brand new tutorial every week and extra member only shows. If you want to try it out then you can have a look at the free shows he makes available to the non members. Its a try before you buy thing, which is always good. The membership details you can find about about here. While you are on the Screencasts online site have a look at the free screencasts too. I was just watching one about how to geo tag your photos for iLife09. Excellent stuff !

Don has nearly 200 screencasts available and the good thing is that when you pay your six month membership you get access to all of the back issues too. That makes the deal to be great value.

Here is a list of the equipment that Don uses

Computer Equipment
ScreenCapture, Editing and Encoding – Apple MacPro (2 x 2.8 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 10GB RAM)
Sonnet Tempo SATA E4P Card
Shuttle Pro 2

Storage
Internal – 4 x 500GB (2 x RAID 1 Partitions)
External – 2 x Fusion D500P with Multiplier Support (each with 5 x 750GB in RAID 0 config)
Various Firewire external drives

Audio Equipment
Heil PR-30 Microphone
dbx-266XL – Limiter/Compressor


Mackie Onyx 1220 Mixer
Edirol UA-1ex USB Interface

Software
Capture and Assembly Edit – Vara ScreenFlow
Final Edit – Final Cut Studio
Titling and Effects – Motion 3
Encoding – Compressor

As you can see Don has some good kit there. Maybe I will be able to get a MacPro one of the days with a pile of memory and hard disk thrown inside. You can find out about his work flow for making the screencasts on the blog he runs My Own Reality

Don is on a few other podcasts as a guest, including Mac Break Weekly with Leo Laporte and Andy Inatko. Mac Round table

Don also mentioned Mercury Mover, iBank. Logitech MX Revolution Mouse, Drobo, Jungle Disk, Plex, Boxee, The Automated home Podcast and Delicious Monster Podcast

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