Podcasting

1
Podcasting

• Preparing the MP3 File
• Creating an RSS Feed
• Validating and Publishing the Feed

2
Podcasting Defined

• Podcasting is the distribution of specially
  encoded multimedia content (normally MP3 files
  with ID3 tags) to subscribed personal computers
  via the RSS 2.0 protocol.
• It is a form of narrowcasting, which sends
  content to people who have decided to listen, as
  opposed to broadcasting, which goes to everyone
  within a certain radius of the signal.

3
Podcasters versus Podcatchers

• Podcasters are the people who create the
  content.
• Podcatchers are those who listen to the content.

4
Potcatching Clients

• The first podcatching client was iPodder, created
  by Adam Curry, the former MTV VJ.
• iPodder is now called Juice Receiver and is
  freely downloadable from juicereceiver.sourceforge
  .net.
• Juice Receiver is a so-called aggregator that
  accesses the podcasts to which you have
  subscribed, retrieves any enclosed multimedia
  content, manages files for iTunes and iPhoto, and
  deletes old podcasts from your hard drive after
  they have expired.

5
iTunes

• The most popular podcasting client is iTunes,
  which is available for both Macintosh and
  Windows.
• You download iTunes from www.apple.com/itunes.

6
Recording the MP3 File

• You can use any audio recording software you
  prefer to record the MP3 file.
• Audacity is a free, cross-platform (i.e., Mac and
  Windows) audio editor available from
  audacity.sourceforge.net.
• iTunes can convert a wide range of audio formats
  into the MP3 format.

7
ID3 Tags

• ID3 tags enable MP3 players to display
  information about the file, such as

Name Artist Album Track Number Year Composer Genre
Comments
8
Creating ID3 Tags with iTunes

• Open the MP3 file with iTunes.
• Pull down the File menu and choose Get Info.
• Fill in the fields.

9
Adding Artwork with iTunes

• To associate artwork with your MP3 file, click
  the Artwork tab and use the controls to select
  your artwork.

10
Rss Podcast Example

• RSS templates for making podcasts are at
  www.udel.edu/fth/podcasting.
• There you will find a simple example called
  simple.xml and a more complex example called
  complete.xml.
• The simple example contains the minumum RSS for
  creating a podcast.
• The complete example contains optional tags used
  by iTunes.

11
Simple RSS Example

• Introduction to Podcasting
• http//www.udel.edu/fth/podcasting/simple.
  xml
• How to create a podcastn
• en-us
• fth_at_udel.edu (Fred
  Hofstetter)
• Fri, 03 Mar 2006 191345
  GMT
• Introduction
• What is podcasting?
• Fri, 03 Mar 2006 011500
  GMT
• fth_at_udel.edu (Fred Hofstetter)
• ting/intro.mp3"
• type"audio/x-mp3" length"114688"/

12
Validating a Feed

• After you create an RSS file, you should validate
  the feed to make sure it does not contain
  syntactical errors that may cause the podcast to
  fail.
• You can validate the feed for free at
  http//feedvalidator.org.

13
Advertising Your Feed

• If you want your feed to be listed at podcast
  directories and listing sites, you can go to the
  sites ping form, fill out the form, and click
  Submit.
• Some ping forms are at
• audio.weblogs.com/api.html
• www.allpodcasts.com/Update.aspx
• www.technorati.com/ping.html

14
Where to Find Podcasts

• The directory that started it all was iPodder,
  owned by and now called Podcast Alley at
  podcastalley.com.
• You can register and create favorites at
  podcastpickle.com.
• Yahoos audio search is at audio.search.yahoo.com.
  
• A directory of directories is at podcast411.com.
• iTunes U watch the movie about iTunes U at
  www.apple.com/education/itunesu_mobilelearning/it
  unesu.html

15
Podcasting from a Blog

• If you have a blog, you can use FeedBurner to
  turn your blog into a podcast. This is called
  burning your feed.
• FeedBurner automatically creates and hosts the
  podcasts RSS feed for you.
• FeedBurner is at www.feedburner.com.

16
About Podcasting

• A podcast about podcasting is atpodcast411.com
• A PC tutorial is at http//www.windowsdevcenter.co
  m/pub/a/windows/2005/04/05/create_podcasts_with_pc
  .html
• Apple tutorials are in the sidebar at
  www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/techspecs.html

17
iTunes Podcasting Specs

• The official iTunes podcasting specifications are
  online at
• www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/techspecs.h
  tml

18
Freds Podcasting Hardware

• Samson CO1U USB Studio Condenser Microphone
  www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodI
  D1810.
• Spider for CO1U Microphone
• Swing arm Rode PSA1 Studio Arm With 2 Axis
  Swivel Mount, 89, ordered from www.markertek.com.