Well, I've decided to move to TypePad. Although I've thought through a number of the issues, I don't think this is strictly a rational decision. As I've become more used to the Radio software, I've come to respect it, but never to really like it. Does this matter? Well, if I'm going to be spending so many hours of my spare time blogging, yes. It's nice to know that I can easily change things about my blog without a lot of stress and botheration.
For example, if I decide that my original yellow design on the Typepad version of this blog is a bit too bright and bold, I can easily make a more subdued custom design in less than 5 minutes, or choose one of the pre-made designs.
I've also been impressed with TypePad's technical support (thanks Brenna) with helping me find out how to convert my Radio blog to TypePad. I plan to write about this later in more detail, but for now I'll just mention Bill Kearney's Radio Exporter program. I only converted the last month, but now that I know how to, I plan to convert more. Probably not all - the LiveJournal version will continue to be my official backup and archive.
The transition from Radio to TypePad is going to be very gradual. Over the next week or so, I plan to tinker some more with the MovableType version. Particularly the "about me" section and the blog rolls. When it's ready, I'll announce it, change the "www.explodedlibrary.info" redirect so that it points to TypePad and stop updating the Radio version of the blog. In the meantime, I'll be updating both.
I think that it's very possible for me to continue as a "Salon blogger" even if I'm not using the official program. I'm also looking forward to discovering kindred spirits in TypePad/MT land.