...with step-by-step instructions for the hard of thinking about how to insert an RSS feed into an iPod.

Downloaded okay (about 20 mins), played fine with Quicktime on the iMac and added to iTunes okay, so should be able to sync with the iPod (although that's still in the car so not tried yet).

Is that the same blue shirt Mark Ellen's wearing as on the Mag of The Year bash the past two years.... does he ever wear anything else ?

So the shop needs a name .

.Considering how many of the massive were raised on concept albums and this must surely be a concept shop I suggest Honeytoned Hora's for the shop sign with a suitable Yes album cover background.

The link to the .mov file didn't appear in Firefox for some reason but did in IE 8. However, I'm still waiting after 10 minutes for the thing to finish downloading over a 1 meg wireless broadband connection.

Downloaded at a respectable 200KB/s. Used Podnova as my feed manager and Juice as my RSS aggregator. Played fine in QuickTime. You may want to consider a DivX version also as it’s a bit more portable. However, I'm not sure the 'two blokes chatting a shed' format was calling out for video enhancement.

It's a bit chunkier than a many other video podcasts, but it only took me about 10 minutes on an 8Mb connection (I get about 6Mb usable broadband normally). I imported into PC iTunes with no trouble (it might be useful to call the .mov file something a bit more sensible). It looks and sounds good on the PC. It looks and sounds very good on an iPhone. If you're going down the video podcast route the presenters need to smarten themselves up a bit.

An almost biblical level of waffle, fantastic work, more of these please.

Rax-o-Trax
Popalong Cassidy's
The Hit House
Pentonville Platters
H&E's Hairy Hideaway
Zavvier

However, the Shopcast doesn't make wonderful use of the fact that this is recorded in video (rather than just audio). With the exception of the album information, there's not much there that's warrants the video and is different from a standard Word podcast.

Could we see artists' video clips or music tracks (particularly if Universal Music are paying for it and are presumably keen to promote their 'product')? Anyway, I enjoyed it. As regards a name, 'Two Blokes Talking' springs to mind, but if you could change the till, how about 'Open All Hours'.

as a name for the shop?

...Buy Some Old?

David is Roy North to Mark's Basil. Boom Boom!

Anyway, downloaded in about 15 mins for me, works fine thanks - entertaining as ever, but when will you find time to do the mag?

I think the theme to Sounds Of The Seventies was a track by Rhinocerous. Otherwise I know nothing about them.

Listening to Mark Ellen gas on about The Pentangle is always a pleasure, never a chore.

More please... very enjoyable.

Downloaded quickly (3 mins) and played superbly in VLC media player. For a bit of added interest you could have Rob Fitzpatrick walking into the "shop" and asking for the new one by Slayer, or something. Suggested name: The Needle Travels

Listening to two blokes rambling amiably about folk rock is indeed my idea of a good time, but surely a Pentangle enthusiast like Mark should know "Lyke Wake Dirge".

The smokin' Swarbrick actions elevated it beyond being little more than a televised radio show.

I was sitting here in New York having saved up my Word podcast for the long drive upstate tomorrow when I came across the Shopcast. It's brilliant.
I was actually quite surprised that David and Mark stayed on course for so long rather than veering wildly onto the hard shoulder of tangent as is the charm of the podcast.
Any chance of announcing the theme of the next one in advance? It might be good to listen to a few of these tracks before the next Shopcast?

I am sure Mr Hepworth will be delighted to know that the Auty's that he mentions visiting as a youth is still alive and well in The Arcade in Dewsbury town centre. Can't guarantee that they still sell fridges as well though.

surely it has to be "Soundz of young Islington"

Afraid it's beyond me.
Tried at work, but closed it down when the IT police came near.
Tried at home - got a different looking page.
Cut and pasted what I though was the link - Windows Media appeared. Little hour glass thingy started. 20 minutes later, no progress.
Tried again, same result.
The following request may reveal my interweb lack of knowledge
'Couldn't you stick it on Youtube ?'

has a certain resonance in the name stakes for some sort of reason.

am going to bed. Will watch in the morning.

no problems playing it on Windows Media Player as Broken Britain hasn't given me enough cash to get a video i-pod.

Top wittertainment and finally a worth successor to this pair

A name for the shop - Slipped Discs

...if you precede them with "Right click on the link in the original post (at top, above) and select "Copy Link" or similar. Then:

Open iTunes
Click on "Subscribe to Podcast..." in the "Advanced" menu.
Paste the link into the "Subscribe to Podcast" box.
Click OK.

...but I know what I like. A thoroughly enjoyable addition to the Word canon.

Downloaded in 30 mins (via Firefox 3 and Beijing China Netcom 2meg connection).

The Talking Upper Extremities format is perfect for viewing on the small screen of a portable device.

Thank you, Daigoro. That seems to be working.

Do more of these. Always good to see Hepworth and Ellen sparring. Instructions to open on iTunes work fine. Plays lovely on the iPhone. 200M is a bit on the big size though.
I'd say this is just the right length too.
As I'm reading the rather excellent The Folk Handbook at the moment this was a good topic for me. Just been obsessing over the song, John Barleycorn and had been listening to the Cropredy 2007 live version of Liege and Lief just before watching this. Perfect timing chaps. Now I need to get my hands on that folk rock compilation, so your sponsorship kickback is working.
But can you predict what I shall be listening to before your next one?

Does David really think Leige and Lief is the greatest record ever made ? Or was he playing to the gallery ?
Had a kind of Infomercial feel. I just felt that trying to sell Folk Rock to the Word massive was a bit coals to Newcastle.
very enjoyable it must be said.

Well, there's already been a shop called Hepworths. I've done some brainstorming. Not sure of the merits of these but for what it's worth:

The Vinyl Word
Old Gits' Warped Tunes (a subtle reference to former lives)
Last Of The Summer Vinyl
Dave's Dirges

Very enjoyable new feature. Thanks.

Two things that aren't really a huge problem but might be considered valid feedback:

1. It took longer to download than it did to watch.

2. The reason I love the podcast so much is that I can listen to it whilst doing other things. Obviously that doesn't apply here. However, I shall endeavour to keep up with this and not let it go the way of the video version of Mayo and Kermode's podcasts.

A pleasure to be in your company chaps. When is the old codgers tour taking place?

I do think it would benefit from from an opening theme tune. How about the music from The Muppet Show?

More please. Am about to download Traffic's John Barleycorn as a direct result.

Worked fine on Mac OS/X Lepoard, but could not subscribe to it on Firefox on Ubuntu Linux. The XML is possibly wrong because it believes the source file is hosted at www.wordmagazine.co.uk.

Shop name: Statler & Waldorf

As a regular reader and contributor to The Word blog I was cheered to see that there was now a moving picture version of their most esteemed podcast.
Imagine my horror at Mr. E's handling of Mr. H's Traffic ellpee sleeve. Good grief man, he'd even taken time to sellotape the outer edges to keep it in good condition! I would like to assure Mr. E that should he ever wish to riffle through my record/cassette/8-track collection, behaviour like that would be met with a swift right hook to the jaw, glasses on or not.

yours
Disgusted, Glasgow

I won't discuss the download time, because my broadband connection is a joke. Worth the wait, though.

Exactly like a proper record shop - two blokes behind the counter discussing whatever musical matter comes to mind (with considerable authority) and bad luck to anyone wanting to actually buy anything. “Wait for our conversation to finish - we're not here to actually sell you anything.”

However, most of it can just be listened as if it were a normal podcast - I slipped my iPod into my pocket at one point and it took me five minutes to remember there were images I was missing out on. If Universal are sponsoring the event, might they be persuaded to contribute some visual content as well? And could we see Mr. Ellen playing his uke?

Possible shop name: We Mind The Bollocks
Although HORA would be the obvious choice...

Is much older than 1632. Its earliest manuscript is 13th century.

I have fond memories of a record shop in Finchley, when I lived there about ten years ago. It was called F.A.B. Music, which I gather stood for Fat And Balding.

Doubles as a reference to The Rocking Vicar and the fact our esteemed Mr Ellen is starting to look a tad like peak-period Derek Nimmo.
Or 'Album Tracks, rareties and B-sides' - kind of like the opposite of Smash Hits?

Clicked on the .mov file and Windows Media Player started up and then after a few seconds thinking about it said that it could not connect. All subsequent attempts have done absolutely nothing, not even starting the media player.

Why don't you release a sound only version as a conventional podcast?

... "The Waxing Lyrical".

Really enjoyed this. Only problem I can see is how much this is going to cost me over the year.

I copied the link into iTunes and it downloaded fairly quickly and plays fine in iTunes. But it won't play in Apple TV, though I think it did display one time only just one of the captions and not the shots of the shopowners.

If you do more, it would be great to see some short video clips of the groups you are talking about (maybe the sponsor could supply them) or that is not possible more close-up rostrum shots of the covers, the label and the actual records.

Also could other Word contributors pop into the shop with their favourite record? Or maybe, to continue a theme from the audio podcast, a record that is a favourite of their families. It would be fantastic to see some Charlie Kunz and James Last artwork again!

And in these tough times for retail how about inviting some of the great independent record store owners in to have a chat. You already know they have great stories to tell!

...took roughly 10 minutes to download and played flawlessly in VLC.

I spent the first couple of minutes staring at the counter, thinking to myself: ‘That looks like a set, but surely they can’t have made their own pretend record shop.’ In fact Universal seem to have built you one that understands slapstick and starts to deconstruct at the point of maximum comic potential, in this case the moment David Hepworth utters the words: “...We'll do that as long as you build us a shop.”

In choosing a name, I’ve been unsuccessfully attempting to dredge-up songs with ‘Word’ featuring somewhere prominently in the title or the lyrics.

‘More than Words’ would be alright, if it wasn’t also the name of an execrable acoustic ballad by preening, poodle-permed 90s rockers Extreme.

The Cameo-referencing - ‘Word Up’ would require Ellen and Hepworth to don bright red codpieces – the favoured apparel of the group’s frontman, Larry Blackmon. Of course there’s a possibility that they are both already wearing such things, concealed behind the counter, and that provocative crotch armour of this variety constitutes a uniform in the WORD offices.

When it comes to naming things such as shops, children and Royal yachts, I favour the approach used by The Butthole Surfers: Whenever the time came to christen one of their albums they would string together three random words to create a title. Utilising this technique I have already come up with:

- Subatomic hose boil

- Sperm toast excursion

- Spiral garage bladder

- Projectile fiction bidet

All of these would be fine names for a record shop. Would Zavvi have gone out of business if they had traded under the name ‘Sumo Confetti Injury’?

I think not.

Couldn't get it too work, I think it downloaded, but then vanished, who knows where the files gone. I heartily do not recommend Windows Vista to anyone. One day, I may be able to afford a Mac.

Only took ten minutes or so to download, but, while I hate to gripe about something that is free, I don't see the need to make this a video. I found myself listening to it, rather than watching it.

It still rates as A Good Thing.

internet connection (compared to others of the massive) it took a lot longer to download than to watch. The point that it doesn't *need* to be visual is a good one. Of course, the idea of the sponsorship is, no doubt, that the scrolling doobiewotsit at the bottom won't work on the standard podcast, so what we get really is, an infomercial; presumably the lads are talking about stuff from the Universal back catalogue.

Don't get me wrong. If every infomercial was only a millionth of a percent as enjoyable as this, I'd have maxed out the credit card yonks ago.

As a podcast regular, this is just as good, but one *only* needs to listen to it, and I suspect that i may do that in the future. I won't tell Universal if you don't, but you might want to hide a few of the 'no need for visuals' comments before you go back for the next pile of wonga.

Streamed using Windows Media Player, on a PC with Firefox and Windows Vista.

Can't see me watching it on an iPod..too small & not good for the old eyesight.

Enjoyed the usual jolly chuntering this morning on a more than dismal rainy day by the sea.

But the set looks hastily flung together! Looks like a lot of unsold 12" single covers stuck on the wall. The sort of thing you used to get from Woolies in the 49p bargain bin...ah those were the days. Can't Universal dip into their surely-still-deep-inspite-of-the-credit-crunch-on-top-of-illegal-downloads-destroying-the-music-industry-as-we-know-it (pause for breath) pockets and sponsor some more interesting album covers??

Look forward to the next instalment...

down loaded no prob, would be good to get in version for my Nokia 95 phone/windows media player.
enjoyed the chat snippets of music would be good for us who've never heard pentangle or steeleye span....

liked it, but ...
a) infomercial claims (above) rung true at times - particularly during the crawling graphics. That's not a bad thing, necessarily - perhaps go the whole hog, and display price and availability. Honestly.
b) shot was slighty too wide. understand the logic behind having a locked off single camera (which presumably is a budgetary concern) but it's all about the eyes, and I couldn't really see them.
c) not enough visuals. Again, I assume this is budget, but some full frame shots of the sleeves or archive photo's would have made up for the static shot above.
d) can't you get a PPL license and play 30 second clips at least? You don't need it on the other two podcasts, but I think you do here.
e) the idea of a third person popping in (I think Rob F. was proposed above) is a very good one.

You could totally ignore points a) to e) above, and I would still watch it though.

Took around 8 mins to download. No problems. It is a bit chunky, but no more than iPlayer downloads, and a damn site easier to use.

Loved the chat - you chaps are preaching to the converted with Pentangle and Fairport. The video and sound quality are excellent but either my computer audio is wired the wrong way round inside, or someone swapped your stereo channels: Ellen is on the right, Hepworth to the left – the opposite of the video.

I assumed it was the leads to my stereo until I plugged some headphones straight into the Mac and it was still wrong. Is this the same for everyone?

And is it an ironic reference to Patrick McGoohan's death or The Prisoner remake that my download doesn't have a name, only a number? (5b4e444a-3e16-0678-945a-4b3672c06ae1 to be exact).

It took around 35mins to download, using less than half of my otherwise idle 2Gb line speed.

Suggested shop name: The Needle and the Damage Done

(to customers' wallets, of course)

Maybe: Shenandoah Petsounds Between the Lines of Age and the Promised Land

I didn't finish watching it - not a big folk rock fan - well not from that era anyway and nothing that was said really got me interested. Keep 'em coming though - agree with some of the above comments - would like them to be more visual. Also a bit more variety in the content.

At partner's house-using my laptop. My main browser is Chrome and that has major RSS probs, so switched for this to Firefox 3.05.

(edit: OS is XP SP 3)

This downloads fine, currently has about 18% done and is estimating 38 mins left on a ~55 kB/s wifi link.

Firefox offered to put the RSS link into its bookmarks, pasting the RSS into gives a link that opens the relevant page but doesn't fire up the actual video-should it ?

Will probably consider subscribing via iTunes as I do for other podcasts-only video sub at moment is S Fry, though I do dip into Clive James' excellent ones. Main reason is shortage of space, I have an 8Gb iPod chosen for size not capacity.

Expect to play it off laptop on long train trip tomorrow.

And re cost, would prefer sponsorship to paying-one reason I dropped Gervais after first series was cost.

Took a while to download (probably my broadband - slow area connection), but had the name & sound & visuals & everything!

Agree that it's a bit lacking in the visual department - even loads of pictures from the CD booklets would be good. Could maybe use the visual props (i.e. record sleeves) to greater effect?

Strangely, I found Mark's occasional direct looks at camera slightly distracting: I prefer the idea (as per the uttterly superb audio podcast) that I'm eavesdropping into Two Blokes Talking, who don't know I'm there.

It's a gift for bringing in the former band members (or current members of the reformed bands), just to see them "in the flesh"! Just so long as Clare Grogan is in there somewhere, of course.

...being covertly road-tested as an alternative to the normal weekly podcast is it? I'm not a cynical person but I ask because I haven't got an iPod/alternative portable video player and, surely, there's only so much free recorded material a magazine can produce in a week.

Could download a bit quicker - I suspect some of that's down to my ropey Internet connection but it does seem slower than other video downloads.

I'm not convinced about the format though - it just replicates the Podcast with pictures (I know, they said that about television as well).

Assuming this is a prototype of some hidden future project, of which we know nothing - perhaps a Saturday morning music version of Soccer Saturday on mainstream TV - then it works fine.

...but we knew that from the Podcast, or even back to the OGWT DVD commentaries (in hindsight, the proto-podcast)

...how the fallen Clash poster miraculously reappeared on the end of the desk during the coda to the Shopcast?

As the banner advertising the The Pentangle box rolled across the screen, the missing Clash poster mysteriously faded back into place. Spooky!

Probably super dim question but it downloaded fine, I pulled it into iTunes and judging by the space usage when syncing it is there on the iPod - but I can't see how to view it! Is there a menu option I have accidentally hidden or something?