Podcasting

Besides RSS, which was covered in Chapter 13, "Advanced Blogging Techniques," one of the best ways to retain your blog audience is with new content in different forms, such as podcasts. Somewhat new, podcasting enables everyone, including youthe blog authorto provide blog readers with commentary, news, and comedy.

A podcast is simply another name for an MP3 audio file that reports on news, technology, or events. In other words, podcasts are radio shows. Dozens of blogs now provide podcasts for their readers, such as Engadget.com (see Figure 14.1).

Figure 14.1. Engadget podcasts discuss new technology developments. These MP3 files can link with iTunes.

The beauty of podcasts are they automatically download to your PC when they become available. Basically this becomes radio on demand.

Note

Podcasts are for everyone, not just Mac-heads and techno-nerds. Although the name podcast evolved from audio files for iPod owners (addicts), other MP3 players are capable of syncing with and playing podcasts. A nifty program called iPodder enables you to synchronize on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Tens of thousands of podcasts are available on the Internet right now. You don't need an iPod or an MP3 player to listen; you can simply download and listen on your PC or Mac using some of these programs:

Apple iTunes

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

http://www.apple.com/podcasting/

A free download for Mac and Windows. Version 4.9 includes a podcast directory from which you can subscribe to popular podcasts.

iPodder

http://www.ipodder.org/

Open source (free) software that enables you to subscribe to blogs and have them download to your computer automatically. iPodder integrates with iTunes (Mac and Windows) and Windows Media Player. This software is the key to making podcasts sync with Windows Media Player (WMP) and WMP-type audio devices.

Some RSS aggregators are also capable of downloading podcasts. Here are the most popular for the Mac and PC:

iPodderX

http://ipodderx.com/

An RSS aggregator for the Mac (and soon Windows) capable of downloading attachments, specifically podcasts and video. The latest version of iTunes can download podcasts as well, but only ipodderx can download from other peer-to-peer networks (hint: BitTorrent).

NetNewsWire

http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/

Another powerful RSS aggregator for the Mac that is capable of downloading podcasts. A Lite (freeware) version is also available.

BlogMatrix

http://www.blogmatrix.com/sparks_main/

A powerful software package for Windows called Sparks enables you to record and edit podcasts and subscribe to other podcasts. The BlogMatrix website also provides a hosting service to upload podcasts and videos for others.

PodFeeder

http://podfeeder.com/

A web-based podcast hosting site and software provider for Windows. Download PodFeeder to synchronize podcasts with Windows Media Player 9 and WMP 10. Hundreds of podcasts are available.

DopplerRadio

http://www.dopplerradio.net

A Windows podcast aggregator that integrates with Windows Media Player (WMP). Create podcast playlists and watch WMP automatically download and sync the podcast playlists to your media device.

Searching for Podcasts

If you have an iPod or an MP3 player, by far the most difficult way to find podcasts is with Google. At the time this is being written, Google does not have dedicated search tools for singling out podcasts or MP3s.

If you have iTunes and want to search elsewhere for podcasts, check out

podcast.net

http://www.podcast.net/

A search engine of podcasts.

Experience Podcasting

http://www.experiencepodcasting.com/

A podcasting portal focused on entertainment. This site provides RSS "feeds" (links) to other artists' sites. Dozens (hundreds) of podcasts created by independent musicians and instructors.

Weblogs Audio

http://audio.weblogs.com/

A live site that lists the latest MP3 podcasts from a number of sources. A great place to find new podcasts.

Subscribing to Podcasts

Why not try to subscribe to a podcast? If you have iTunes (Mac or PC) version 4.9 or higher, click the Podcast selection on the left side; then click Podcast Directory at the bottom of the right frame (see Figure 14.2).

Figure 14.2. iTunes on a Windows PC displaying podcasts.

Apple's podcast page appears, where you can subscribe to free podcasts.

You can also subscribe to podcasts without iTunes using a an opensource tool called iPodder. iPodder is available for the Mac and Windows but is usually used to sync up with Windows Media Player. To sync with WMA players and Windows Media Player itself, you need to set up iPodder first. Follow these steps:

1.	Download and install iPodder (see Figure 14.3). You can find iPodder at http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php. Figure 14.3. iPodder interface with several podcast subscriptions. It's free folks!
2.	Subscribe to some podcasts you may find around the Net at interesting blogs (see the sources for podcasts earlier in this section). iPodder begins downloading podcasts and places them in a directory. Make sure that you know where the podcasts are stored by clicking File, Preferences.
3.	Now set up Windows Media Player. In Windows Media Player 10 (iPodder also works with WMP 9), make sure that the Library tab is active, right-click Auto Playlists, and then select New.
4.	When the New Auto Playlist button appears, enter a playlist name such as podcasts; then click Click Here to Add Criteria. Scroll down and select More (see Figure 14.4). Figure 14.4. Select More under Auto Playlists to access podcast files.
5.	Scroll down and select File Name; then click OK. The small window closes. Click Click to Set and then enter the text My Received Podcasts. Finally, click OK.

You can now sync podcasts pulled off the Net with any MP3 player that connects to Windows Media Player, thanks to your work in Windows Media Player and iPodder.

Podcasts In The Press

Podcasts are popping up everywhere. Steve Robinson, Mission Specialist (that is, astronaut) for STS 114, which launched in July 2005, transmitted the first podcast from space. This one-half minute MP3 was a hit with geeks worldwide. Check it out here:

http://www1.nasa.gov/returntoflight/crew/robinson_podcast.html

Another new development is podcast viruses. You can't catch a virus playing an MP3 (it's not an executable file, obviously), but the media players that download podcasts can be fooled into downloading an executable prior to a synchronization. The term for this is podcatching.

Create a Podcast for Your Blog

Creating your own podcast and hosting it on your blog involves working with audio. This means: Get a microphone and some headphones. You can create podcasts with the microphone in your PC (if it has one) and no headphones, but it won't turn out very well. In addition to a mic and headphones, for the Mac, you will also need GarageBand.

GarageBand

http://www.apple.com/support/garageband/podcasts/

A website by Apple that provides somewhat vague instructions for GarageBand and podcasts.

For the PC you can use

Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Open-source (free) audio-editing software that performs the same function as Apple's GarageBand. This software is also available for the Mac and is a fine replacement.

You also need this MP3 encoder, which is required by Audacity:

LAME Encoder

http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~raa110/audacity/lame.html

http://www.free-codecs.com/Lame_Encoder_download.htm

Open-source (free) MP3 encoder that enables Audacity to export in the MP3 format. Download the software and then unzip it to a directory (for example, C:\Program Files\LAME). If you're on a Mac, go to http://spaghetticode.org/lame/ to grab it.

If you have all these items, you're ready to record your first podcast. Later you learn how to host it on your blog so that it syncs to readers' MP3 players.

The following steps show you how to create a podcast on the PC using open source software. This software is also available for the Mac (and is almost identical):

1.	Plug the mic into the mic port on your laptop or desktop PC's sound card (usually a red port with a small mic icon next to it). Plug in your headphones (usually a green port next to the mic).
2.	Install and then open Audacity. Click File, Preferences and make sure that your computer's sound card is selected under Audio I/OPlayback Device and Audio I/ORecording Device. Dont close the window yet!
3.	Click the Quality tab and change Default Sample Format to 16-bit. This sampling rate is best for voice.
4.	Under Audacity's File, Preferences, click the File Formats tab. In the MP3 Export Setup section, click Find Library (see Figure 14.5). A dialog box appears asking whether you want to locate the lame_enc.dll file. Hopefully you've already downloaded and extracted the LAME encoder files to a directory such as C:\Program Files\LAME or C:\LAME. Click Yes; then locate the lame_enc.dll file. After you find lame_enc.dll, highlight it, click Open, and then click OK to close the Audacity Preferences dialog box. Figure 14.5. You need to tell Audacity where the lame_enc.dll is located.
5.	Click the microphone icon in the top right of the software (next to the down arrow) to "turn it on" (begin the monitoring process). You should see the level bars start to move back and forth above this icon.
6.	Click the Red record button on the left side of Audacity, and it begins recording (see Figure 14.6). Click the yellow square to stop. Afterward you can import songs and lay them on as background music, edit the sound "envelope," and more. Figure 14.6. Audacity hard at work recording your podcast.
7.	Read the Audacity tutorial at this address to learn more about the software: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/tutorials.
8.	When you finish creating a recording, click File, Export As MP3. Give the file a name and specify a storage spot on your computer; then click Save. If Export As MP3 is grayed out, you haven't set up the LAME encoder yet. Download LAME, unzip it to a directory, and then follow step 4.
9.	Enter some information about the podcast in Edit the ID3 Tags for the MP3 File. Choose ID3v1 or ID3v2 (see Figure 14.7). Figure 14.7. Adding an ID3v1 tag helps your listeners organize their podcasts.

Audacity exports your podcast to a directory. Now you just need to upload it and host it on your blog! This is covered in the next section.

Hosting Your First Podcast

To have your podcast sync directly to a visitor's iTunes or Windows Media Player, you need to jump through a few hoops before your readers can access the podcast. Most blogging sites currently do not have podcast RSS capabilities or even host the MP3 files. As such you need to have the following lined up to get your podcast on your blog:

Blogger (A blog hosting service)

http://www.blogger.com/start

Post photos and text but not much else. Regardless, Blogger has an easy WYSIWYG editor and enables you to post by email and phone using a service called Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).

Yahoo! GeoCities (or another web page/storage service)

http://geocities.yahoo.com/

Yahoo! hosting provides up to 15MB storage. You can upload your MP3 files here when you need to store files.

ourmedia

http://www.ourmedia.org/

Free hosting service for podcasts and video. If you need an ad-free resource for media files, this is it.

FeedBurner

http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home

A service that lets you create an RSS feed of your podcasts, enabling iPods and other MP3 players to sync new podcasts. Includes dozens of optimization choices for the RSS feed. The basic service is still free!

If you've created your MP3 podcast, let's use Yahoo! GeoCities to add a podcast. You first need to upload your podcast and then retrieve the URL that points directly to your podcast. The following steps assume that you have already registered at Yahoo! and are logged in:

1.	Upload your podcast to the Net using your Yahoo web page. After you log in to Yahoo!, click Easy Upload on the right to access the upload page. Click Browse, find your file, and then click Open. Finally, click Upload Files.
2.	When the confirmation page appears, click File Manager (see Figure 14.8). When the File Manager page appears, find your MP3 file and then click View next to it. Figure 14.8. Yahoo!'s File Manager enables you to view your new upload.
3.	A new page pops up and starts playing your MP3 in QuickTime or Windows Media Player. Click Stop to stop the playback.
4.	Important! Highlight the URL at the top of the page, and copy it (select Edit, Copy or right-click and select Copy). You will need this URL in FeedBurner later.
5.	Post a new entry to your blog that includes this URL. Make sure that the URL is in <a href> tags, as shown in this example: Check out my first podcast! Here 'tis... <a href=http://www.geocities.com/pkuhns/first_podcast_ever.mp3> My First Podcast!</a>
6.	Important! Now copy the URL of your blog, not the MP3 file. You will need it in the next step.
7.	Surf over to FeedBurner's home page: http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home.
8.	Paste your blog's URL in the FeedBurner field Your Blog or Feed Address; then click Next.
9.	On the next page that appears, scroll down and check the SmartCast check box (see Figure 14.9). Figure 14.9. FeedBurner's SmartCast turns your blog into an RSS feed that can deliver podcasts.
10.	More SmartCast options appear. Although they are optional, you might want to type a description for your podcast. This description appears on FeedBurner's RSS directory.
11.	Leave all the options at their default; then click Next.
12.	Sign up with FeedBurner on the next page; then click Next.
13.	On the final page, highlight and copy the Burned URL field, which should resemble a URL like this: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ProveItYourself.
14.	This is the iPod-compatible link that your readers can use to subscribe to your podcasts. Edit the template for your page and put this URL somewhere for your readers. They will need to copy it and paste it into their iTunes or iPodder software.
15.	To see your feed in action, open iPodder (iTunes is explained next). Click the green plus sign or click Tools, Add a Feed; then paste your new FeedBurner URL in the URL field.

iPodder retrieves your podcast automatically and downloads it to your hard drive! If you selected your iPod sync directory in File, Preferences, your podcast would upload to an iPod the next time you synced!

Subscribing to Your PodcastiTunes

To subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, click Advanced, Subscribe to Podcast. Paste the FeedBurner URL you created earlier; then click OK. Your podcast should download to the iTunes directory immediately afterward. Now get to work creating podcasts on a regular basis.

Every time you post a blog with a URL to a new podcast (in <a href></a> tags don't forget) the podcast automatically appears in iTunes (see Figure 14.10) or iPodder. Like magic!

Figure 14.10. Podcasts become old hat after you've set up your RSS feed.