Podcasting For Dummies
Contents
1. quick edit of the outline and a change of mindset we present the Top Ten Types of Podcasts to Check Out Tech Podcasts If you re thinking about podcasting you likely have a comfortable knowledge of computers Web surfing and blogging But regardless of how technologically savvy you are like any aspect of life you can never stop learn ing That s why your aggregator should be catching at least one tech podcast The agenda for a tech podcast is surprise technology usually computer oriented All geek all the time Geeks nerds wizards and Tech Help gurus sit behind a microphone and pull back the curtain on how your computer works how a podcast s RSS feed can be better and how to make your time behind the keyboard more efficient Tech podcasts come delivered to you in a variety of skill levels and on a variety of topics Macs Some excellent podcasts for Mac users include MacCast shown in Figure 16 1 and avail able at www maccast com Your Mac Life Podcast www yourmaclife com and MacPhilly Almost Live www macphilly com 1 PCs Typical PC User typicalpcuser biz tpcu and Darn PC www darnpc com wordpress focus on the Windows environment and its latest updates and upgrades General computing Many of the tech podcasts out there like This Week in Tech www twit tv or HomeNetworkHelp Info are generic in their approach to operating systems following a 29 mindset that a computer is a comput2. post disclaimers on their podcasts Web sites or in their blogs show notes Soundseeing Tour Podcasts Podcasts offer their listeners as well as their hosts an audio gateway to the world In a soundseeing tour the world is depicted in the described sights and live sounds around the host offering listeners a virtual visit Usually armed with an iRiver podcast hosts take their listeners for a trip out into a familiar environment hold conversations and interact with the world around them recording events in the same way a tourist fills up card upon card with digital photos 37 For example Japan sports several soundseeing tours Together these five podcasts span every corner of The Land of the Rising Sun Planet Japan www planetjapan org podcast html Kobe Beef kobe beef blogspot com 1 Kyoto Podcast www kyotopodcast jp Herro Flom Japan www herroflomjapan com 1 Tokyo Calling www tokyocalling org Part of the appeal in this handful of feeds is how each takes place in the same country but remains unique in its perspectives With podcasts from Kobe Kyoto and Shiraishi Island subscribing to more than one podcast located in the same country can give you a wider per spective than just one Other soundseeing tours include countries where hosts open the door to their homes and take the world on a trip to the grocery store a quick errand into town or for the really lucky ones a quick stop off at th
3. 3 When you get to the podcast page and available podcasts in iTunes click the Subscribe button If you re using iTunes for the first time to sub scribe to a feed you get a confirmation message You can select the Do Not Ask About Subscribing Again option to avoid this message 23 iTunes immediately takes you from the Music Store to your Podcasts list and gives you the progress of the download After your podcast has finished downloading you can create a playlist for your podcast and organize your downloads accordingly Options options and more options Of course everyone s tastes and styles are different and there are plenty more options for podcatching clients Maybe you re using Mac Windows or an entirely different operating system Maybe you don t want to install any new software on your system or maybe you just like to be different Hey that s okay You too can be a podcast listener Doppler Designed exclusively for the Windows platform Doppler dopplerradio net has a strong contingent of dedicated users It seems to be a pretty rock solid piece of software and it s available for free Nimiq Nimiq nimiq n1 has been described as an exercise in simplicity It does what it does that is download podcast media files very well Some folks looking for advanced features such as downloading BitTorrent files are switching from iPodder to this little jewel Odeo But what if you can t or don t want
4. ioni 28 Independent Music Podcasts sss 30 Science Podcasts ui ERE pes Educational Podcasts eee Comedy Podcasts reunan nenia Husband and Wife Podcasts Soundseeing Tour Podcasts Serialized Novel Short Story Podcasts 38 Passionate Podcasts rennen naenin 40 Podcasts about Podcasting sess 42 Introduction M aybe you ve been casually surfing the Web or perusing your newspaper when the word pod casting has popped up Steadily like a building wave that would make champion surfers salivate with delight the term has popped up again and again and your curiosity continues to pique as the word podcasting echoes in your ears and remains in the back of your mind as a riddle wrapped in an enigma super sized with a side of fries and a diet soda to go Podcasting is many things to many people but at its most basic it s a surprisingly simple and powerful tech nology What it means boils down to a single person you Some liken it to radio at least online radio but it can do and be so much more Podcasting is a new method of communication transmitting your voice and its message around the world without using public air waves connecting the Global Village in ways that the creators of the Internet RSS and MP3 compression would probably never have dreamed It is the unique and the hard to find content that can t find
5. of choice Find the category you like start subscribing and then listen Podcast Alley If iPodder org was the first place to hang your podcast ing hat Podcast Alley podcastalley com is the first 25 place to boast and generally beat your chest about it With incredibly active forums detailed descriptions of podcasts and individual episodes plus the majority of all podcasters clamoring to get their listeners to VOTE FOR ME ON PODCAST ALLEY THIS MONTH it s no wonder that Podcast Alley is the most active podcast listing and ratings service to date Podcast Pickle Gary Leland and the crew at Podcast Pickle podcast pickle com take a slightly different approach for lis teners to find the podcasts they re looking for Their best innovation in our opinion is the Favorites listing Rather than rely on voting as a measure of popularity the Pickle allows registered members to mark as many shows as they like as their favorites The more people who have marked a show as Favorite the higher up on the Favorites list a podcast is A neat idea But that s a lot like a popularity contest you have no way to judge how well you might like a show just because a bunch of other people do That s why Podcast Pickle also allows you to browse by category or search for relevant keywords that mean something to you Vahoo com Audio search Browsing through lists and weighing your options using the relative popularity of shows as
6. podCast411 is to answer just those questions and to keep podcasters informed about what is currently playing in the podosphere 43 Podcast Brothers www podcastbrothers com This podcast keeps the podosphere informed on the various trends and really cool developments of podcasting Tim and Emile Bourquin focus on the state of the world of podcasting the portable media that offer ways of taking podcasts on the road and future trends that podcasting is leading businesses into
7. that fits your operating system at audacity sourceforge net shown in Figure 1 1 Oh yeah it s free An audio card Make sure your computer has the hardware it needs to handle audio recording and the drivers to run the hardware ES Some desktop computers come with an ele mentary audio card built into the mother board Before you spring for an audio card check your computer to see whether it can already handle basic voice recording Getting and setting up the hardware and software needed to record is a start The next step is using it 10 men Audacity Free Audio Etor ard Arumo Aa ee G utat asem ees LI ne ial ceres rov Dias a Tho Free Cross Platform Sound Editor haret a Mae OS X natt Download Audacity 12 2 toy Mar Of 8 oe X Omer doen More nme peme Figure 1 1 Audacity allows you to edit audio and create MP3 files Recording your first podcast When you have your computer set up and your micro phone working it s time to start recording Take a deep breath and then follow these steps 1 Jot down a few notes on what you want to talk about Nothing too fancy just make an outline that includes remarks about who you are and what you 11 want to talk about Use these notes to keep your self on track 2 Click the Record button in your recording soft ware and go for as long as it takes for you to get through your notes ES We recom
8. the Help Desk who believe they know everything already Chapter 1 Getting the Scoop on Podcasting In This Chapter Finding out what podcasting is Creating a podcast Finding and subscribing to podcasts Se the invention that makes the biggest impact on our daily lives isn t an invention at all but the convergence of existing technologies processes and ideas Podcasting may be the perfect example of that principle and it s changing the relationship people have with their radios music collections books educa tion and more The podcasting movement is actually a spin off of another communications boom personal Weblogs commonly referred to as blogs Blogs sprang up right and left providing non programmers and designers a clean elegant interface that left many on the technology side wondering why they hadn t thought of it sooner Everyday people could now chronicle their lives hopes dreams and fears and show them to anyone who cared 4 to read And oddly enough people did care to read and still do Podcasting combines the instant information exchange of blogging with audio files that can be played ona computer or MP3 player When you make your podcast publicly available on the World Wide Web you are expos ing your craft to anyone with a personal computer and a broadband Internet connection To put that in per spective the Computer Industry Almanac predicts the global online population will top 1 2 billion u
9. Excerpt from Podcasting DUMMIES by Tee Morris amp Evo Terra Wiley Publishing Inc Podcasting For Dummies Excerpt Published by Wiley Publishing Inc 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 5774 Copyright O 2006 by Wiley Publishing Inc Indianapolis Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing Inc Indianapolis Indiana No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or trans mitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying record ing scanning or otherwise except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the prior written permission of the Publisher Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department Wiley Publishing Inc 10475 Crosspoint Blvd Indianapolis IN 46256 317 572 3441 fax 317 572 4355 or online at http wiley com go permissions Trademarks Wiley the Wiley Publishing logo For Dummies the Dummies Man logo A Reference for the Rest of Us The Dummies Way Dummies Daily The Fun and Easy Way Dummies com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley amp Sons Inc and or its affiliates in the United States and other countries and may not be used without written permission All other trade marks are the property of their respective owners Wiley Publishing Inc is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book LIM
10. IT OF LIABILITY DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETE NESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUA TION THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL ACCOUNTING OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANI ZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE FURTHER READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the U S at 800 762 2974 outside the U S at 317 572 3993 or fax 317 572 4002 For technical support please visit www w
11. a measuring stick are great starting points but this is the Internet we re talking about here When you re looking for something in cyberspace you likely do one thing first Run a search 26 In late summer 2005 Yahoo rolled out its audio specific search engine at audio search yahoo com While Yahoo wasn t the first in the space it certainly has the potential to be the biggest having been a pioneer in search based technology for years Chapter 16 Top Ten Types of Podcasts to Check Out In This Chapter Five types of podcasts that are cool Five more types of podcasts that are cool A h yes narrowing down the thousands and thou sands of podcasts out there to an elite ten the Top Ten Podcasts You Should Be Listening To The Best of the Best In the podosphere these higher planes are commonly referred to as The Pod Squad Podcast Pickle s Favorites and Podcast Alley Top Ten List Where to begin Where to begin We sat down and each put together our own top ten lists of podcasts What we found was that one of us swore by some pod casts the other had never heard of and vice versa We started wondering How are we going to narrow this list down and eventually get it to ten Then we took a closer look at our lists and realized Hey we ve got a pattern going on here Between the two of us we had a solid cross section of types of podcasts not just in the way of genres but in production values So witha 28
12. a place on commercial college or public access radio You are about to embark on an exciting adventure into undiscovered territory and we hope this minibook featuring a couple of our favorite chapters from our big book Podcasting For Dummies makes you eager for more 2 Icons Used in This Book So you re trekking through the book making some real progress with developing your podcast when suddenly these little icons leap out grab you by the throat and wrestle you to the ground What do all these little draw ings mean Glad you asked avr EMBER Sy NNG e L STe ORON RY 1 PQ TEC I When we re in the middle of a discussion and suddenly we have one of those Say that reminds me moments we give you one of these tips If that Say that reminds me moment is more than a handy little nugget of informa tion and closer to a Seriously you can t forget this part factoid we mark it with a Remember icon Sometimes we interrupt our train of thought with a Time out Sparky moment and this is where we ask for your completely undivided attention The Warning icons are exactly that flashing lights ah ooga horns dire portents These icons can illuminate those So how does this widget really work moments you may have as you read Podcasting For Dummies You can regard them as cool trivia to impress friends with at parties or surprise the techno geeks at
13. ation for the independent label Artists are invited to submit music and sell CDs on the Bandtrax Web site The tartanpodcast www tartanpodcast com Podcasting from Glasgow Scotland Mark Hunter showcases unsigned or independent label music in order to win an audience for these new artists LoveHouse Radio www 1ovehouseradio com Based out of Richmond Virginia host P D Love took his love of music his appreciation for the independent artist and his everyday life and turned it into a podcast that highlights featured artists on the Podsafe Music network Many of these podcasts work together on the Podsafe Music Network music podshow com to offer the podosphere a one stop location to find postcasts that showcase the innovative and creative minds of inde pendent music 32 Science Podcasts The approach to science made popular by scientists like Carl Sagan and professional experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman hosts of the Discovery Channel s Mythbusters is rampant in the podosphere Here are some science podcasts that we recommend 1 Slacker Astronomy slackerastronomy com If you have always wondered about what is really going on beyond our atmosphere take a listen to a podcast descendant of the Carl Sagan Cosmos concept For those who would never leave the planet without their attitude Aaron Price Pamela Gay and Travis Searle dubbed the show Slacker Astronomy Skepticality skepticality com This pod
14. cast looks deeper into the news too weird for main stream media and takes a critical microscope to the pseudoscience of the paranormal the super natural close encounters and urban legends 1 The Science Show www abc net au rn science ss Australia s Robyn Williams looks at all aspects of science ranging from biology to chemistry to everyday applications of scientific achievements Science shows are good for you like vegetables only better Not only can you learn something new or broaden your scope in a field you may regard as a hobby but you can marvel at how the hosts demystify concepts once comprehensible only to Ph D s and keep the ideas easy to grasp 33 Educational Podcasts Why not broaden your horizons with educational pod casting For example say you ve always wanted to learn Spanish You could shell out some bucks for the Teach Yourself Spanish series or you could to listen to the free podcast Really Learn Spanish its compan ion blog is located at radio weblogs com 0142338 Instructor Johan van Rooyen takes his unconventional teaching methods mastered over a seven year stint with teaching English in Spain and turns them into a podcast that features star pupils as special guests who are looking to become more comfortable in the language many of us take in high school but forget by the time we leave college Imagine ordering at a Mom and Pop taqueria and getting it right If you are
15. client it s also an RSS reader and offers file management capabilities iPodderX www ipodderx com began modestly enough as a simple aggregator but now offers the following features Accesses and displays all HTML links and images that accompany the podcast post Retrieves any enclosed media file not just MP3 files Manages files for both iTunes and iPhoto via Playlist Builder Offers SmartSpace a feature that deletes old pod casts from your hard drive according to the parameters you set 21 iPodderX is available for both Mac and Windows users making it an affordable option for people looking for a podcatcher that goes above and beyond the simple downloading of MP3 files To subscribe to a podcast follow these steps when you ve identified a podcast you want to subscribe to 1 In your browser Control click Mac or right click Windows the podcast link and choose Options Copy Link In iPodderX click the Add a Subscription Feed icon This icon looks like a newspaper with a plus sign and is located in the top left corner of the iPodder interface as shown in Figure 1 6 The Subscription window appears showing the link you copied in Step 1 in the Subscription Feed URL box Click the Downloads tab Choose to download the most recent podcast or all available files from the File Catch Up menu Enter the name of the show in the Custom Folder Playlist text box Click the Add b
16. e pub Here is just a sprinkling of these types of podcasts Amsterdam Bicyclemark s Communiqu www bicyclemark org blog Canada Island Podcasting radio weblogs com 0145147 Great Britain The Definitive London Podcast www learnoutloud com Catalog Travel The Definitive London Podcast 6925 and Perfect Path www perfectpath co uk New Zealand Kat s Kiwi Podcast katskiwi podcast blogspot com 38 Serialized Novel Short Story Podcasts When Tee stepped into podcasting no author had yet set out to do what he was planning to serialize a novel in podcasts from beginning to end Twenty two chap ters of MOREVI and a preview of Legacy of MOREVI over a period of 23 weeks But would anyone really want to listen Wow people did want to listen and continue to do so months after its conclusion And now other authors are beginning to discover the potential of this exciting new way to promote their works their unpublished material and of course themselves Podiobooks are podcast novels with the authors recording their works from home Alongside Tee s swashbuckling epic fantasy MOREVI www teemorris com podcast others have come on board The Pocket and the Pendant markjeffrey type pad com Mark Jeffrey joined the podiobook genre with this young adult science fantasy adventure 1 EarthCore www scottsigler net Scott Sigler performed this juggernaut rock and roll science fiction thr
17. ection to MP3 Your file is converted to the MP3 format see Figure 1 3 aAA Sn meses Figure 1 3 While compressing audio files Apple gives a progress report on the conversion process Congratulations you just recorded your first pod cast At least the audio part of it Transferring your audio to the Web An audio file sitting on your desktop regardless of how earth shattering the contents may be is not a podcast Nope not by a long shot You have to get it up on the World Wide Web and provide a way for listeners podcatchers to grab that tasty file for later consumption 14 If you already have a Web server for your blog com pany Web site or personal site this process can be as easy as creating a new folder and transferring your newly created audio file to your server via your FTP client of choice After you post the media file you need to create a specially formatted text file usually XML Extensible Markup Language and move it up to your Web server This file describes where to find the media file you just placed on your Web server This is your podcast feed and the special format you use for your text is called RSS 2 0 Listeners to your podcast can subscribe to your show by placing a link to this podcast feed in their podcatching client Yes we know this sounds really complicated But we assure you it s not Some hosting companies such as Libsyn www l1ibsyn com specialize
18. er and the rest is mostly bells and whistles Technology perspectives The Girl on Tech girl ontech blogspot com or The Chris Pirillo Show www thechrispirilloshow com give personal perspectives on technology in society and go beyond the geek speak giving their own perspec tives on issues and how technology can affect just about everything the maccast For Mac Geeks by Mac Geeks Figure 16 1 MacCast is one of many podcasts offered to Mac users to get the most out of their iBooks or PowerBooks Logo by Tim Madden courtesy of Adam Christianson 30 Whichever podcast you feed into your podcatching client find a tech podcast that is right for you and either enjoy the new perspective or allow yourself to grow into your geekdom There is a lot to learn out there about computers PDAs Bluetooth and other cool Q Branch gizmos that are available at your local electronics store When you ve got the basics down these podcasts allow you to unlock their potential and go beyond your expectations Independent Music Podcasts Podcasting is audio content on demand and after taking a listen to what is being offered on the radio that is a very good thing Maybe it s a hazard of getting older but some of us just aren t hearing anything on the air that s all that interesting or exciting unless we happen to find an alternative station that has a few up and coming bands we ve not heard of or independ ent musicians who are looki
19. ice you take with you you possess the capability to listen to podcasts The catcher that started it all iPodder iPodder shown in Figure 1 5 was created by Adam Curry yes the former MTV VJ and no we re not 18 kidding It promotes itself as an open source free to use application that downloads audio files from RSS feeds of your choice directly to your Mac or PC You can then sync your portable player with your computer s media player and now you re podcasting on the go Download iPodder from ipodder sourceforge net After you install it subscribing to feeds is a simple process Follow these steps if you don t have a specific podcast in mind 1 Click the Podcast Directory tab iPodder comes preloaded with a variety of the more popular directories of podcasts 2 Navigate through the directory structure ALIUM II CEA Ts W tm View Tech Hap Damal Dooe Pied decern Den iu o 570 7 Figure 1 5 The groundbreaking trendsetting and all around first podcatching client iPodder 19 Click the name of the directory to see the choices offered In some cases you may need to click a subdirectory to see additional podcasts 3 Double click the name of a podcast You can also single click the name of the podcast and then click the Add button near the top 4 Click Save That s it You ve just subscribed to your first podcast with iPodder Of course you don t have to navigate through the
20. iley com techsupport ISBN 13 978 0 471 79138 6 ISBN 10 0 471 79138 5 Manufactured in the United States of America 10987654321 1S SX RQ QV IN Contents at a Glance Introduction tintas 1 Icons Used in This Book sese 2 Chapter 1 Getting the Scoop on Podcasting 3 Deciding Whether Podcasting Is for You 4 You want to deliver audio content on a regular basis eee 5 You want to reach beyond the boundaries of radio sss 5 You have something to say sese 6 You want to hear from your listeners 6 Creating a Podcast sess Looking for the bare necessities Recording your first podcast sss Compressing your audio files Transferring your audio to the Web Grabbing listeners see Catching a Cast with Your Podcatching Client 17 The catcher that started it all iPodder 17 Stepping up your game with iPodderX 19 The 800 pound gorilla called iTunes 21 Options options and more options Quest for Podcasts 24 iPodder org Podcast Alley 4 erento tenerent Podcast Pickle rere teen 25 Yahoo com Audio search esses 25 Chapter 16 Top Ten Types of Podcasts to Check Out Tech Podcasts ierit
21. iller These podiobooks led the charge that eventually led to Podiobooks com www podiobooks com a Web site founded by your humble authors dedicated to offer ing podcast novels and even nonfiction titles from 39 one reliable source Now Podiobooks com shown in Figure 16 2 offers Paul Story s Tom Corven www dreamwords com TomCorven htm a podcast live from the Scottish highlands And it continues to field many queries from authors both known and unknown in how to join the ranks of podcasting authors podiobooks com Figure 16 2 Podiobooks com presents novels one chapter at a time one podcast at a time each read by the author Logo created by Zaphire 40 But what if podcast novels are too big a commitment You can still get in a fast fiction fix with these podcasts Escape Pod escapepod info This podcast offers its subscribers a wide variety of previously published and brand new short fiction including five minute flash fiction podcasts The Seanachai goodwordsrightorder com This podcast continues to spin yarn upon yarn tale upon tale and moral upon moral in the Irish tradition of storytelling More and more writers are turning to podcasting for promotion and distribution of their work So curl up with a good MP3 player and enjoy the free fiction that the podosphere has to offer Passionate Podcasts There should be passion in every podcast you listen to but some do their thing si
22. in taking the technological bite out of podcasting so you can focus on creating your best sounding show With Libsyn shown in Figure 1 4 moving your audio files to the Web server is as simple as pushing a few buttons and the creation of the RSS 2 0 podcast feed and even the accompanying Web page are automatic Grabbing listeners With media files in place and an RSS 2 0 feed ready for podcatcher consumption you re officially a podcaster Of course that doesn t mean a lot if you re the only person who knows about your podcast You need to spread the word to let others know that you exist and that you have something pretty darn important to say 15 Orgel ficto haga merti of te day SE Dons am oomen plus mhaim curd niil Ce erm BGOSE Fiction Show 8 es general The Great Perle Part 1 MOUSE rmn 1A DO me BGOSE Show 7 ae w Teenagers trom Mars The Surregates Geta Podcast Figure 1 4 A podcast hosted by Libsyn handles many of the technical details Creating show notes Before you pick up a bullhorn slap a sandwich board over yourself and start walking down the street virtu ally anyway you have to make sure you re descriptive enough to captivate those who reach your Web site First you re going to want to describe the contents of your show to casual online passers by in hopes of get ting them to listen to what you have to say aen You can easily glance at a blog and get the gist s of a conve
23. ing before you embark on a huge marketing campaign The full size version of Podcasting For Dummies spends a lot of time talking about the various ways you can attract more listeners to your show and ways to respond to the ideas and feedback that your listeners inevitably 17 provide Many podcasters are surprised at the sheer volume of comments they receive from their listeners but when you consider how personal podcasting is compared to traditional forms of media distribution that s really not surprising at all Now that we ve finally busted pesky myths about pod casting and given you an honest warning about listener demand we re going to give a quick overview of vari ous applications that get MP3 files from Web servers to personal players Catching a Cast with Vour Podcatching Client So you have the MP3 file some XML and accompany ing show notes You re all set but ask yourself How do podcasts get from the Web to my computer To access all this great new content you need a podcatcher an application that looks at various RSS feeds finds the new stuff and transfers it from the Internet to your computer automatically Take a look at some of the different podcatching clients available for your pod casting needs Qe You may think you need an iPod for all kinds S of reasons but you really don t need one to podcast As long as you have an MP3 player be it an application on a Mac or a PC or a portable dev
24. ing from kid safe comedy to adults only Some of the earlier podcasts cited such as Slacker Astronomy and Skepticality pepper their podcasts with humor always good to add but straight up comedy podcasts are not intended to do anything other than entertain and perhaps make you think These podcasts cover a wide spectrum of humor Here are a few comedy podcasts that we enjoy Y The Bitterest Pill chebitterestpill com Perhaps you like your humor dry witty and maybe just a touch smarmy Dan Klass and his podcast The Bitterest Pill should do the trick With his background in stand up comedy Dan s delivery is edgy and relentless He takes a hard cold look at 35 the world and makes observations that you might think but would not have the courage to express openly Dan not only gives you his opinions but also podcasts them for the world to hear Requiem of the Outcast www requiemofthe outcast com wordpress If you re looking for something closer to family friendly and pleasantly geeky give Rich Sigfrit s Requiem of the Outcast a listen While it s mainly a podcast by Star Wars fans for Star Wars fans Rich s slightly twisted talent in comedy sketch writing appears and manifests itself as wacky goofball fan humor that can make even the casual fan of science fiction chuckle If it ever wanders beyond the realm of family friendly content Rich and his cohorts Ron and Jamie Garner let folks know about up and coming situation
25. ire the readers to manually select the content they wish to download What sets podcasting apart from blogging is that podcasting automates that process A listener who subscribes to your podcast is subscribed to all of your content whenever it s available No need to go back to the site to see what s new Vou want to reach beyond the boundaries of radio In radio the number of people who can listen to a show is limited by the power of the transmitter pumping out the signal Podcasting doesn t use radio signals trans mitters or receivers at least not in the classic sense Podcasts use the World Wide Web as a delivery system opening up a potential audience that could extend to the entire planet No rules exist yet anyway to regulate the creation of podcast content In fact neither the FCC nor any other regulatory body for any other government holds jurisdic tion over podcasts If that seems astounding remember that podcasters are not using the public airwaves to deliver the message ue Just because the FCC doesn t have jurisdiction 3 you re not exempt from the law or perhaps more importantly immune to lawsuits You re personally responsible for anything you say do or condone on your show Additionally the rules concerning airplay of licensed music the distribution of copyrighted material and the legalities of recording telephone conversations all apply Vou have something to say Podcasters as a general
26. list of podcasts Follow these steps if you have a specific podcast in mind 1 On the Subscriptions panel click the little green button with a plus symbol on it 2 Type the URL of the feed in the Add a Feed window Hopefully you copied the URL and can simply paste it in If not be very careful with your typing Congrats You now know how to use iPodder to sub scribe to any podcasts you happen to come across in the future Stepping up your game with iPodderX Shortly after iPodder came on the scene developers August Trometer and Ray Slakinski raised the bar for podcatching clients across both platforms with their own creation iPodderX shown in Figure 1 6 a pod catching client also known by its more geeky name an aggregator that promised to do a lot more than just download audio files And it delivers f Mom Pint 1 2005 D Man Regent 1 2005 Mon fay 25 2003 jj Min My 13 2008 G Mom by 15 2068 ij Mor My V 2008 e bay Th 1008 4j Mom t 11 2008 MEME Epaade Z2 Dregs us a raw way af ding Sham ond n o nans abot Mon and unae avg Me Va Eu Metacon seos esL Sip men utis thet meh amd nent men edi Se Hon and rund s unt ins am dida hag mo t from therm e De fot hcm soon Noten Die Lucas Die amat me Puri evel 10 tute of Co A Meth Laa des Leti Preces Comuni rv Calw ar ar Acne The jetven tures of ivaa Sa ymo 40 th Eve armed fern Sb wary Figure 1 6 iPodderX is more than just a podcatching
27. mend keeping your first recording to no more than 20 minutes That may seem like a lot of time but it will fly by 3 Give a nice little sign off like Take care of yourselves See you next month and click the Stop button 4 Choose FilecSave As and give your project a name Now bask in the warmth of creative accomplishment Compressing your audio iles If you re using an application other than Audacity you may need to make your recording into an MP3 file Many audio players that come with computers offer the capability to create MP3 files but if your audio player doesn t read or compress audio recordings to MP3 files you can keep it fed by downloading iTunes from www apple com itunes Check out iTunes in Figure 1 2 Even though it s an Apple product a Windows version is available as well d A Cines ia puedes dn OH One Contes M eet 13 Sc amp Dur 2n gota rm Ketone di ameet Cahana o mat Moral M illii bthtkikkbk i iatt emmy 2 9 rym AA Ft C Figure 1 2 Apple iTunes can create MP3 files from a variety of audio formats After you install iTunes follow these steps to convert your audio file 1 Choose File Add File to Library Or you can press O Mac or Ctrl O Windows 2 Browse for the audio file you want to convert and then click Open Your file is now in the iTunes Library 3 Find the audio file in the iTunes Library and click to select it 4 Choose Advanced Convert Sel
28. mply as a celebration of something a salute dedication or just plain declaration of love for a sport TV show or an other interest that for whatever reason matters to a group of people Here are some podcasts around such interests The Signal signal serenityfirefly com If you take a look at Podcast Alley s Top Ten podcasts you will find a show up there called The Signal This podcast is a celebration of the prematurely cancelled sci fi Western adventure television show Firefly The Signal is a podcast from Firefly fans for Firefly fans and for people curious as to what the fuss is all about The Signal 41 continues to show support for this out of this world Western and its feature film Serenity V Zencast www zencast org This podcast explores Buddhist and Zen teachings features new age music artists and teaches techniques in meditation aligning bio energies and spiritual enlightenment Cubscast cubscast com If you are less into achieving inner peace and more into screaming from the cheap seats at Wrigley Field then Cubscast may be what you re looking for As of the writing of this book podcasts are available for the Boston Red Sox the New York Yankees the Oakland Athletics and the new kids in the sport the Washington Nationals There are podcasts for pro fessional wrestling football both American and European and NASCAR many of them fan based fan sponsored and fan hosted Cath
29. ng for the big break The good news is that those maverick sounds are alive and well and doing just fine in the 21st century and they re finding a new promotion channel with podcasting Independent labels where the artists also work as promoters producers and holders of all rights have control over where their music plays how often it is played and how much it will cost you Many indie musicians who are having trouble getting exposure and radio airplay will grant permission for podcasters to use their music What does this cost the podcaster A few moments of time and a spot or two such as This music is brought to you by and Visit this band online at w w w dot And in return the musician is exposed to a worldwide audience 31 Musicians such as The Gentle Readers featured on Evil Genius Chronicles at www evilgeniuschronicles org The Transfer featured on EarthCore at www scottsigler net and Fumitaka Anzai featured on the Rev Up Review at www rev up review co uk have all enjoyed the benefits and windfalls of associat ing themselves with a podcast Now indie musicians are turning to podcasts that not only are dedicated to the broadcast of podsafe music but also spotlight independent musicians whose sound goes against the corporate music industry s notion of what the public wants Here are a few such podcasts you may want to check out Bandtrax www bandtrax net Bandtrax serves as a radio st
30. not interested in learning another language take a look at some of the other subjects offered in the podosphere Here are just a few examples of what s available History HistoryPodcast historypodcast blogspot com is completely devoted to history for the lovers of history This is a feed you will want to subscribe to Or if you do wish for a more specific era of discussion my most gracious lord check out the Medieval Podcast podcast medievalstudies info Money management If you re looking for advice on managing your money check out Radio Economics www radioeconomics com Or if you havea friend or family member getting ready for that next step in education try Student Financial Aid News www financialaidnews com blog index htm 55 There is a lot to learn from the world and whether you re tuning in to one of numerous podcasts spon sored by universities and colleges or to an enthusiast who wants to share and swap resources with you all this continuing education is available online in audio and at no charge Comedy Podcasts There are times in life when you just need a good laugh One of the joys of podcasting is having those good laughs categorized digitized and waiting for your call whether it is on the computer or your favorite MP3 player Humor though is in the eye of the beholder or in this case the ear of the listener Performing a search on Comedy Podcasts will offer you many choices rang
31. olic Insider www catholicinsider com But what if your passion is more rooted in the spiritual growth of your faith Does God have a podcast Pretty deep question we know Well God does have someone on the payroll not only making the Top Ten lists but winning the People s Choice Award for Best Religious Podcast The Catholic Insider shown in Figure 16 3 pod casting from The Netherlands is hosted by Father Roderick Vonh gen Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht Not only does he answer questions concerning faith religion and everyday values he also offers up commentary on Harry Potter and Star Wars A man of God A sci fi geek Now that s the makings of a fun podcast 42 Figure 16 3 Want the inside scoop on the Catholic faith Tune in to the Catholic Insider a podcast that looks at life from the Archdiocese point of view Catholic Podcasts about Podcasting It may sound redundant and feel a little odd to listen to a podcast about podcasting It would be like tuning into an interview show for interviewers interviewing other interviewers or having an electrician come over to an electrician s house to fix faulty electric wiring But why not VY podCast411 podcast411 com On this podcast about podcasting Robert Walch picks the brains of podcasters from every genre every recording method and every work ethic and asks them So how do you do it and Why do you do it The goal of
32. rsation but an audio file requires active listening to understand and it s quite difficult to skim In effect you re asking people 16 to make an investment of their time in listen ing to you talk read a story or play music You need some compelling text on a Web page to hook them Descriptions of podcast episodes are called show notes and they are designed to quickly showcase or highlight the relevant and pertinent contents of the audio file itself A verbatim transcript of your show isn t a good idea but we do recommend more than simply saying a show about my day Refer to Figure 1 4 for an exam ple of what show notes look like on a Web browser Getting listed in directories When you have a ready media file and a solid set of show notes you re ready to take your podcast message to the masses You can get listed on some directories and podcast isting sites such as Podcast Pickle and iPodder org explained later in this chapter Potential listeners visit literally dozens of Web sites as they seek out new content and getting yourself listed on as many as possible can help bring in more new listeners SU A huge listener base is a double edged sword 3 More demand for your product means more of a demand on you and the resources necessary to keep your podcast up and running We rec ommend working on your craft and your skills as well as getting a good handle on the personal and technological requirements of podcast
33. rule produce content that likely holds appeal for only a select group of listeners Podcasts start with an idea something that you have the desire and knowledge either real or imaginary to talk about Add to that a bit of drive a do it yourself ishness and an inability to take no for an answer The point is to say what you want to say to those who want to hear it Some of the most popular podcasts are created by every day people who sit in front of their computers for a few nights a week and just speak their minds hearts and souls Some are focused on niche topics others are more broad based Quite a few are seemingly put together at random perhaps moments before the recording started Vou want to hear rom your listeners I ve heard more than one podcaster comment on the fact that they get well comments For some reason which we ll let the social anthropologists of the future puzzle out podcast listeners are more likely to provide feedback to the podcasts they listen to than radio show 7 listeners are likely to e mail their thoughts to the show host That s probably traceable to the personal nature of selecting a podcast Podcasts offer their listeners and makers more control options and intimacy than traditional broadcast media can ju Because geography doesn t limit the distance iC your podcast can travel you may find yourself with listeners in faraway and exotic places And this feedback isn t alway
34. s going to be Wow great podcast Listeners will be honest with you when you invite feedback Creating a Podcast There are two schools of thought when it comes to creating a podcast The 7 need the latest and greatest equipment in order to capture that crisp clear sound of the broadcasting industry school of thought and the Hey my computer came with a microphone and l ve got this cool recording software already installed school of thought Both are equally valid positions and there are a lot of secondary schools in between The question is how far you re willing to go But let s dispel something right off the bat about pod casting You re not reprogramming your operating system you re not hacking into the Internal Revenue Service s database and you re not setting up a wireless computer network with tinfoil from a chewing gum wrapper a shoestring and your belt regardless if MacGyver showed you how Podcasting as mentioned 8 earlier is not rocket science In fact here s a quick run down of how you podcast 1 Record audio and convert it to a download friendly format 2 Create a simple but specialized text file that describes your audio file 3 Upload everything to the Web We admit that this list does gloss over a few details but a podcast in its most streamlined raw presentation is that simple Looking for the bare necessities You need a few things before starting your first pod cas
35. s that are not for the young or the squeamish Area 51 www areablshow com Area 51 is not about alien conspiracies or science fiction It s a completely irreverent slapstick and sometimes graphic comedy show that is many things but family friendly is not one of them If you like your comedy in your face and intense and challenging notions of what you can and can t get away with then you have found a friend in Area 51 Husband and Wife Podcasts Comedy is prevalent in all the various genres of pod casting especially with husband and wife podcasts After all sometimes you need humor to deal with your 36 spouse You can find a variety of husband and wife pod casts and here are a few we recommend 1 Croncast croncast com He Said She Said www hesaidshesaid podcast com Illinoise www illinoise net Playfully blunt is a great way to describe this kind of husband wife podcast because it is a glimpse into how spouses interact with one another and there is a spirit of fun shared between the genders It s as if you were listening to The Honeymooners being podcast and no matter what is said no matter what jibe is hurtled no matter who scores the most lethal blow to the ego it always ends with a heartfelt Baby you re the great est a dip and a kiss uU Always check the listings to see how playfully 3 blunt couples can get in their podcasts Many podcasts that deal with mature themes will
36. sers by 2006 In the United States broadband connections are now more popular than dial up And to top it all off portable players are surging in popularity with over 22 million adult owners This chapter is for podcasters those making the content and podcatchers those listening to the content alike We cover the basic steps to record a podcast and lay out the basics of what you need to do to tune in to a podcast Deciding Whether Podcasting Is for Vou Technically speaking podcasting is the distribution of specially encoded multimedia content to subscribed personal computers via the RSS 2 0 protocol Whew Allow us to translate that into common speak Podcasting allows you to listen to stuff you want to hear whenever and wherever you want Podcasting turns the tables on broadcast schedules allowing the listener to choose not only what to listen to but also when And because podcasts are trans ferred via the Internet the power to create an audio 5 program isn t limited to those with access to a radio transmitter This section covers other reasons podcast ing is probably for you Vou want to deliver audio content on a regular basis Sure you can post your audio content on a blog if you have one Many bloggers who do that called audioblog gers record audio segments and insert them as links into the text of their blog posts Readers of the blog then download the files at their leisure However audio blogs requ
37. t many of which you can probably find on your own computer A microphone Take a look at your computer Right now regardless of whether you have a laptop or desktop model Windows or Macintosh your computer probably has a microphone built into it or a jack for plugging in an external mic and maybe even an included external mic packaged somewhere with the manuals cables and such Position the microphone to a comfortable spot on your desk or table If you re using a laptop posi tion the laptop to a comfortable spot on your desk or table make sure you know where the built in microphone is in the laptop s housing 9 Uu Usually the built in microphone in a laptop is A located close to the edge of the keyboard or p near the laptop s speakers Some models tuck it in at the center point of the monitor s base Consult your user s manual to find out where the microphone is hidden on your machine Recording software Check out the software that came with your computer You know all those extra CDs that you filed away thinking I ll check those out sometime Well the time has arrived to flip through them You probably have some sort of audio recording software loaded on your computer such as Recordlt PC or iMovie which comes pre installed with many new Macs and can record voice as well as video qe If you don t already have the appropriate soft ware here s a fast way to get it Download the version of Audacity
38. to install podcatching software on your system Odeo odeo com allows you to subscribe to any podcast in its directory without putting any soft ware on your desktop Instead podcast media files are assembled and made available so you can listen to them at the click of a button 25 Podnova Podnova podnova com is another service that tracks podcast content yet doesn t require you to download any software to your desktop As with Odeo you have the option to download some software so files can be trans ferred to your MP3 player but it s nice to know that some services don t require this step Quest or Podcasts If you re going to podcast and with you picking up this book it s a safe assumption that the interest is strong it s a good idea to take a look around the podcasting community and see what other podcasters are doing We give you a few places to get started in this section directories podcast listing services and even podcast specific search engines iPodder org The directory that started it all iPodder org ipodder org is a volunteer supported directory of podcasts It consists of various categories managed by individuals with particular interests in given categories iPodder org is a bare bones site You won t find detailed descriptions about the podcasts sample episodes or any sort of ratings Instead you find many direct links to podcast feeds and those can easily be fed to your podcatcher
39. utton iPodderX automatically checks the feed and begins downloading content The 800 pound gorilla called iTunes With the launch of iTunes v4 9 podcasting went from what the geeks were doing in the basement of the Science Building to the next wave of innovation on the 22 Internet which was of course developed by the geeks in the basement of the Science Building Apple s iTunes www itunes com works as a pod catching client It lends an automatic hand to those who don t know where to find aggregators where to find blogs that host podcasts and which podcast direc tories list the shows that fit their needs and desires now they too can enjoy a wide range of podcast choices With iTunes podcasting reached into the mainstream markets around the world Instead of dealing with third party applications Apple iTunes is a one stop shop for all your podcasting needs It gets even better Subscribing to a podcast with iTunes is just as easy as with the iPodder and iPodderX meth ods Follow these steps to do so 1 In the iTunes Music Store click the Podcasts link located in the top section of the left column You can also click the Podcast icon located in the center of the Featured Artists section 2 Find the podcast of your choice You can do that by clicking its name in the iTunes Music Store or by performing a search using the iTunes Music Podcast search engine in the top right corner of the iTunes screen
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