TuneTracker Systems recently launched a new site, LearnZeta.Com (and LearnBeOS.Com), that offers Zeta / BeOS training videos on CD. I was curious about the LearnZeta videos, so I asked the man himself, Dane Scott. Read on for my mini-interview with him.
Most members of the BeOS community are familiar with Dane Scott – in addition to being the webmaster of LeBuzz, one of the oldest surviving BeOS-related sites, he also runs TuneTracker Systems, which sells a suite of BeOS / Zeta-based radio automation software that is easily the biggest success story of commercial BeOS software. He was kind enough to answer a few questions by EMail about LearnZeta and the new series of training videos.
BeOSNews: What prompted the idea for making BeOS / Zeta training videos?
Dane Scott: As you might be aware, I have the company TuneTracker Systems, which sells radio automation software and supplemental tools all based around BeOS/ZETA. Our TuneTracker radio customers voiced a desire to have an easy way to train new staffers…Faster and less tediously than having them study manuals. So we started out doing training CDs for our three main accessory products: TunePrepper music preparation and ripping software, Lightning audio search engine and playlist builder/editor, and TT Anywhere remote administration software. We made the CDs available individually and as a cluster of three, and they were instantly a hit with our users.
When we surveyed our users, one of the most common requests was that we also do a training CD on the ins and outs of BeOS/ZETA itself. We started teaching and taping, and what we wound up with was a three-disk set.. Since this particular set of disks is so useful to the general public, we decided to sell them outright on their own learnzeta.Com and learnbeos.Com domains (both lead to the same site).
BN: That’s interesting, have you found that many TuneTracker users from outside the BeOS community have been “bitten by the BeOS / Zeta bug”
after using TuneTracker?
DS: Almost none of our customers were previously BeOS/ZETA users. We are able to attract them over because of their dire need for stability when broadcasting, combined with a set of features in our software that nobody else can touch in our price range.
BN: How long did it take to create the videos?
DS: The CDs were created over about four months.
BN: What software was used to make the training videos?
DS: We used Sony Vegas due to its offering probably the most powerful professional features for the money.
BN: How much of their creation was done in BeOS / Zeta?
DS: You could say that all of it and none of it was done in BeOS/ZETA. All of the demonstrating and teaching was done using BeOS/ZETA, while the filming was done using a Panasonic DVC-30 camcorder and the editing was done in Vegas, under Windows.
BN: Were the videos filmed by pointing the camera at a monitor, or did you directly record the video output?
DS: We looked at both approaches, and ultimately went with a flat panel LCD display and a high quality video camera.
BN: Can you give us some technical details on the videos, like the resolution and audio codec used?
DS: The resolution is at 720 x 480 at 30 fps, using DIVX format.
BN: Were there any bizarre bugs/problems you had to work around while creating them?
DS: The biggest hoop to jump through was the format hoop. There are so many different video formats to choose from, as well as different CD and DVD formats. Ultimately after quite a bit of experimentation, we chose DIVX as our encoding format for its compactness, and burned the videos to standard CDs. That gives us really good universal playability on all operating system platforms, including the three most likely; BeOS, ZETA, and Windows.
BN: Do the videos contain onscreen text instructions, or are they narrated?
DS: They are fully narrated, by me. In my other life, I’m a professional voice-over guy. They’re not stilted or overly-commercial sounding though. I kept everything friendly and casual and conversational.
BN: Are the videos aimed at self-teachers, or at being course material for instructors?
DS: Both. These will be equally appropriate for administrators/management, their staff, and of course, individual “end users” who just own BeOS or ZETA and want to get the most out of it.
BN: Do you have any plans to release the videos in other formats, E.G. DVD or video-embedded-in-Flash?
DS: Right now, our plans are to continue using the same format, keeping things as simple and standardized as possible so people don’t have trouble trying to view the contents.
BN: Are there plans to make downloadable versions available for purchase, or would the necessary bandwidth make that impractical?
DS: Right, it’d be pretty impractical due to the size of the files. The other nice thing about CDs is that in a company environment, you can pass them around easily for training purposes.
BN: And lastly, are there any screenshots/samples of the videos that you could share?
DS: Not yet, but very very soon! We’re planning on releasing some clips on the learnzeta.Com web site in the next few days.
You might also be interested to know we plan to do a multi-disk bundle of training CDs on using TuneTracker itself. We’ve held off on doing that one because we’re coming out with a huge upgrade/update to it soon and we want to release it at or around the time it comes out.
BN: Thanks again, Dane! We appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions.
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