Deathcast Needs A Laptop!

Hey people!

My name is Kelsey Erickson, and I am the creator and host of Deathcast, and I need to ask a favor, but first. Some background:

What is Deathcast?:

Deathcast is a biweekly podcast that focuses on death and the funeral industry.  On this podcast I answer listener questions about death - typically each episode is based on one topic, embalming, cremation, the difference between caskets and coffins, etc. - and give honest, informational answers while trying to keep the discusstion light and entertaining in a repectful way. The mission of this podcast is to try and start the often uncomfortible discussion of death with their loved ones, as well as giving semi-unbiased, fair, factual information about the funeral industry and what happens to their bodies after they die. It's everything you always wanted to know about death, dying, and the dead. It's not grim...it's fun. Really.

Deathcast has over 7.3 thousand listens. around 1,000 downloads a week, was ranked 111th in the iTunes Podcast List, has been picked up and is now co-produced by Partners In Crime Media, And it only has 5 episodes. Pretty cool, right? BUT! I've been very ill and unable to record, I have a show lined up as a buffer, but it's difficult to catch myself back up when I only have an hour here and there to edit and record on our computer.

Right now, I do all of my recording & editing on my husband's 8 year old desktop computer in our basement.  I use a free version of Audicity to edit all of my episodes, and I also use the computer to research topics and find little known facts for each episode. 

My husband is a PC gamer, and loves to use every spare amount of time he has playing games. That's his hobby. And when my 10 year old laptop called it quits a few weeks before my first episode, he generiously and selflessly let me borrow his computer. Our 8 year old son also uses this computer for homework. However, me using his computer for upwards of 4 hours at a time editing, recording, researching is making the rest of the family resent me (not really). But it is difficult to schedule computer time around everyone else's needs. Thus making the time between episodes longer and longer, which is not fair for my listeners. 

So...I need a laptop.

The reason why I need a new laptop (other than making everyone's life a littler easier in my house) is to take my show on the road. I have 3 people excited and ready to be intereviewed for my podcast, but it's hard to lug around a desktop and 2 microphones in order to do an interview, I also go and visit people in hospice centers and other places where someone lugging around loud, heavy equipment would be frowned upon, and it doesn't look very professional. With a laptop All I need to do is carry one box, setup within seconds, and I'm ready to do my interview! 

Since I have a family, a wedding to prepare for (ugh), and a house that always seems to need fixing up whenever I try and start saving money. I haven't been able to get a good head start on saving for this laptop. That's where you come in, future mini-investor! I'm giving myself a buffer of $800 to go out and purchase a middle of the road, no flashy anything, all utility laptop that can run a nicer, paid for version of Audacity (or something smiliar) as well as Skype or IPDTL so I can do interviews with people who do not live in my area. All of the funds will go directly towards the purchase of the laptop, anything I receive over that $800 will either go towards more equipment (ex: an external hard drive) or will go into a seperate savings account for purchases for the podcast (gas money for travel, copensation for interviewees, extra mics, emergency repairs to equipment, etc.) 

 

Thank you for your time, your donation (if you choose to donate) and always, ALWAYS wear your seatbelt! 

-Kelsey Erickson, host and creator of Deathcast

Twitter: @justkelso

Website: www.deathcast.wordpress.com

Audioboom: https://audioboom.com/channel/deathcast