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Podcasting Blog
Audacity Updated
5/09/2008
The very popular among podcasters audio recording application, Audacity has received an update. Podcasting News has a full rundown of the changes, including many bug fixes. It is nice to see some interface fixes, too, as I’ve felt Audacity has always suffered on the UI side.
Got a Podcaster Birthday Coming Up?
2/14/2008
Don’t forget that I’ve put together the finest collection of gifts for your favorite podcasting friend, family member, neighbor, or stranger! This isn’t just a list for holiday gifts, but great to find something to buy for a birthday gift or something for yourself, too. Filled with books, hardware and more, the store is broken out into … Continue reading »
Greg Cangialosi on B2B Podcasting
2/13/2008
While on business and conference-going on the west coast, my co-author of The Business Podcasting Book Greg Cangialosi was interviewed today for the City Biz List about B2B podcasting. After a short introduction Greg gets right to the point about why podcasting matters to business:
Simply put, podcasting presents yet another opportunity for an … Continue reading »
Hardware Recommendations
- Kustom KM4 Mic with Cable
- Behringer XM8500 Microphone
- Shure SM58 Mic
- MXL MXL V63MBP Computer Desktop Recording Kit
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Contact
Ryan Irelan, Editor - listen@podcastfreeamerica.com
The Real Beginners Guide to Podcasting
No experience or software required.
By the time you’ve reached this tutorial through a search, you probably saw a lot of links to tutorials on podcasting. You’ll notice that most are insanely complex and technical. I’ve read them and I know how painful it is to try to learn something from them. But this guide, The Real Beginners Guide to Podcasting, is different.
This is a
At the end of guide, I’ve put together some video tutorials that will walk you through podcasting with each individual online podcasting tool. The goal is to have you successfully podcasting using one of the online tools and sharing those podcasts with the world!
What does Podcast mean?
“Podcasting" is a portmanteau that combines the words “broadcasting” and “iPod.” The term can be misleading since neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any portable player, and no broadcasting is involved.
From Wikipedia.org
That’s what the word means. But what is a podcast? A podcast is an audio program that is distributed over the internet.
Podcasts come in many flavors and varieties. Do you already have an idea for your podcast? It could be just you talking and/or playing some music. Maybe it’s an interview you recorded with your city councilmember or mayor and you want to share this with your community. It could even be a foreign language teacher demonstrating word pronunciation for students or a pastor’s sermons from a Sunday church service for the congregation.
Really, a podcast can be about anything. These are just some examples, but they show the variety of ideas and concepts.
Some Examples of Podcasts
Before we jump into learning how to podcast, you might want to briefly listen to some existing podcasts, so you can hear how different they all are and how they sound. Use the controller below to start listening to a short compilation of podcasts that I put together.
Podcast Free America Podcast Sampler
Featured in the sampler: Travel Commons, Coffee Geek, Elements and Audible Ajax.
Creating Your Own Pocast
Now that you’ve listened to a sampling of some podcasts, let’s get started with the basics about how to create a podcast. As I stated in the introduction, I won’t bore you with technical speak or try to teach you “how the pros” do podcasts. Instead we’ll start slowly and learn the basics and get a basic podcast recorded.
Did you know that you only need
- a computer with a built-in microphone
- an internet connection
- a cheap microphone or webcam (if you don’t have one built-in)
to create a podcast? Yep, it’s true! All of those other guides that you read talk about so many technical details that you have to wonder if they do it for your sake or for theirs. I’m guessing the latter.
Microphone Recommendations (in order of price):
Kustom KM4 Mic with Cable
Behringer XM8500 Microphone
Shure SM58 Mic
MXL MXL V63MBP Computer Desktop Recording Kit
Currently, you have a few choices of online tools for creating your podcast(listed in alphabetical order):
Choose a service. You can learn more about each service using the video tutorials below. You’ll need to sign up and create an account. Some of the websites are currently free (since they are still in the early stages) and others require a paid account.
Screencast Tutorials
These video/screencasts will guide you through the process of creating a podcast using the online tools listed above.
- How to podcast with Podomatic.com (video)
- More coming soon!
Stay in touch
Stay up-to-date with all things podcasting with my monthly newsletter SYNC Monthly (first issue goes out this week!). Subscribe now.
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