What is Podcasting?

John F Croston III

Web Developer

What is Podcasting?

What is Podcasting?

"TiVo for Audio” - collected feeds of audio/video are stored on a PC that can be transferred to an MP3 player and accessed at whenever and wherever the listener/ viewer wants.

Podcasting?

The Podcaster - requires a computer, website, MP3 file (audio version of a JPG), and RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and/or the “iTunes Compatible”feed.

The Podcasting Catching Client – requires a podcast client technology such as that will deliver audio, video, images, documents, and any other kind of file right to computer. Look for podcasts at sites you register for, and then download the files to your computer. You can then listen to them on the computer or transferred to and iPod or other MP3 player.

• iPodderX - http://ipodderx.com/
• iPodder - http://www.ipodder.org/
• iTunes - http://www.apple.com/itunes/

What Makes Podcasting Happen?

• RSS feed - http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss or
  http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html or
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)
• The “iTunes Compatible” feed – needed if you want to be on iTunes - http://phobos.apple.com/static/iTunesRSS.html
• MP3 (for audio casting) or MPEG (for video casting)
• Web Server (with plenty of space)
• Bandwidth (lots of it)

RSS – Simplified

• RSS is a variation of XML (class on “Email Marketing, RSS Feeds, and Blogs” in EEI course book page 20) will give you most of the basics for Podcasting.
• RSS/XML already applied with blogs.
• The <enclosure> tag, developed by Dave Winer 2001 (shows that MP3 file is there) - http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss or http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss#ltenclosuregtSubelementOfLtitemgt.
• “Atom” is the latest XML format geared for podcasting - http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-atom10.html or http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42014.

Equipment and Software

• Cross Platform audio editing software: Audacity (zero budget) - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• Other software - $80 – $450+
• PC audio editing software:
• Adobe Audition - http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html ($325 full, $200 upgrade)
• Cakewalk - http://www.cakewalk.com/ - $425(?)
• MAC audio editing software
• Garageband - http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/ - $80 (part of iLife)
• Mixing board – get a small one like two channels for most things
• Condenser microphone - $80 - $100
• Audio card in computer to connect mixing board
• iRiver portable MP3 player with built in mike - (iFP 890 series - check eBay)

Other Podcast Information

• Suggested files settings are - 22 Mhz (still stereo) and lower bit rate for MP3 file compression (48 - 56k Mono - sermons, audio books, talk radio - 64k+ Stere - music, music & talk combinations - 128k Stereo - good quality music)
• iPod video screens are 320px by 240px
• Podcast safe music can be found at podsafeuseagenetwork (Need copyright
• Best to use a secure server for government people to access podcast files (MP3’s)
• Feedburner.com – contains lists of podcasts - http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home.
• Podiobooks.com – books as podcasts - http://www.podiobooks.com/
• Tip: put content/text as lyrics in iTunes
• Average podcast should be about 30 - 40 minutes
• Use iTunes to convert .WAV or other audio file formats to MP3 files

Who’s Podcasting

• CNN - http://www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/.
• Disney (Mouse Pod) - http://www.pocketsymphony.com/mousepod/
• ESPN - http://www.podcastbunker.com/audio/espn.php.
• NPR radio (All Things Considered and Fresh Air) - http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php
• Newsweek - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7078547/site/newsweek/.
• ABC News - http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Podcasting/

What Are People Podcasting?

Political Podcasts

• Senator John Edwards – first political person to use podcast
• Governor Arnold S.
• President George Bush – weekly speeches
• Talk Radio – Al Franken, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, etc)
• Face the Nation

What Are People Podcasting?

Tech Podcasts

• SXSW 2006 - http://2006.sxsw.com/coverage/podcasts/
• Web 2.0 Show - http://www.web20show.com/
• Web Standards Group - http://webstandardsgroup.org/audio/
• Boag World - http://www.boagworld.com/archives/podcast/
• Web Essentials 2005 (WE05) - http://www.we05.com/podcast/ (not valid anymore)
• The MACCast - http://www.maccast.com/
• This week in Tech - http://www.twit.tv/
• Your MAC Life - http://www.yourmaclife.com/
• Photoshop Guys – http://www.photoshoptv.com/
• Wired Magazine
• IBM

Why You Would Want to Podcast?

• Department head reports
• Keynote speaker and guest seminar – make sure to get permission
• News and current events
• Related news to your government agency or cooperate business
• Trade business articles – get permission first
• Training (enhanced podcasts) – images, ppt, links, etc

Podcasting Tutorials

• Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/tutorials/
• Google Search - http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Audacity+tutorial

Questions?