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Chapter 1

Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting

In This Chapter

 Finding out what podcasting is

 Creating a podcast

 Finding and subscribing to podcasts

ometimes 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,

education, 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 chronicle their lives, hopes, dreams,

and fears, and show them to anyone who cared to read. And oddly enough,

people did care to read — and still do.

Podcasting combines the instant information exchange of blogging with audio

and video files that can be played on a computer or portable media device.

When you make your podcast publicly available on the World Wide Web, you are

exposing your craft to anyone with a computer and a broadband Internet con-

nection. To put that in perspective, some online sources report the global online

population is over 1.2 billion users. In the United States, broadband connections

are now more popular than dialup among the 235 million Internet users. And to

top it all off, portable players are surging in popularity, with over 22 million adult

owners.

This chapter is for the consumers of the content (the audience) and those

who make the content (the podcasters) alike. We cover the basic steps to

record a podcast and lay out the basics of what you need to do to enjoy a

podcast on your media player.

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Summary of content (20 pages)

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Chapter 1 AL Getting the Scoop on Podcasting In This Chapter RI Finding out what podcasting is Creating a podcast MA TE Finding and subscribing to podcasts S TE D ometimes 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.
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12 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency If you’re starting to get the idea that podcasting is revolutionary, groundbreaking, and possibly a major component of social upheaval, great. But not all podcasts are so deep. In fact, many of them are just plain fun! Deciding Whether Podcasting Is for You Technically speaking, podcasting is the distribution of specially encoded multimedia content to subscribed personal computers via the RSS 2.0 protocol.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting You 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, transmitters, 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.
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14 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency Narrowcasting (the practice of delivering content to a select group) distinguishes podcasting from traditional forms of broadcast communication, such as radio. Where a radio station broadly casts its signal to anyone who happens to be within the radius of the signal, podcasts narrowly cast content to people who have made the overt decision to listen.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting Creating a Podcast There are two schools of thought when it comes to creating a podcast: The “I 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 I’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.
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16 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency Usually the built-in microphone in a laptop is located close to the edge of the keyboard or near the laptop’s speakers. Some models tuck it in at the center point of the monitor’s base. 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.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting Recording your first podcast When you have your computer set up and your microphone 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 want to talk about. Use these notes to keep yourself on track.
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18 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency Figure 1-2: Apple iTunes, available for both Mac and Windows platforms, can create MP3 files from a variety of audio formats. 3. Find the audio file in the iTunes Library and click to select it. 4. Choose Advanced➪Convert Selection to MP3. Your file is converted to the MP3 format. Figure 1-3 shows the progress screen that indicates your file is being converted. The default file format for iTunes file import is AAC.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting Figure 1-3: While compressing audio files, Apple gives a progress report on the conversion process. If you already have a Web server for your blog, company 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. If that last paragraph left you puzzled and you’re wondering what kind of mess you’ve gotten yourself into . . . relax.
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20 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency 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. If you want to take more control over your Web site, podcast media files, and their corresponding RSS 2.0 feed, look at Chapters 10 and 12.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting You can easily glance at a blog and get the gist of a conversation, but an audio file requires active listening to understand, and it’s quite difficult to skim. In effect, you’re asking people to make an investment of their time in listening to you talk, read a story, or play music. You need some compelling text on a Web page to hook them.
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22 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency Internet to your computer automatically. In this section, we take a look at some of the different podcatching clients available for your listening/viewing needs. You may think you need an iPod for all kinds of reasons, but you really don’t need one to podcast. Allow us to state that again: You do not need an iPod to listen to or create a podcast.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting Download Juice from http://juicereceiver.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. Juice comes preloaded with a variety of the more popular directories of podcasts. 2. Navigate through the directory structure. Click the name of the directory to see the choices offered.
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24 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency The 800-pound gorilla called iTunes With the launch of iTunes version 4.9 in June 2005, podcasting went from what the geeks were doing in the basement of the Science Building to the next wave of innovation on the Internet (which was, of course, developed by the geeks in the basement of the Science Building).
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting With iTunes, podcasting reached into the mainstream markets around the world. (And if that doesn’t make you go “Wow!” consider this: On August 4, 2005, iTunes launched in Japan. Within four days, the iTunes Music Store had 1 million downloads. Sony’s own MP3 download service averages less than 500,000 downloads a month.) Instead of dealing with third-party applications, Apple iTunes is a one-stop shop for all your podcasting needs.
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26 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency 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 (http:// dopplerradio.net) has a strong contingent of dedicated users who are perfectly happy with the features it offers. Additionally, it seems to be a pretty rock-solid piece of software, and it’s available for free. Songbird: Songbird (www.softpedia.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting For more information and product comparisons, we suggest heading over to PodcatcherMatrix (http://podcatchermatrix.org) and exploring more podcatching clients. Bottom line: At this point, you should easily be able to subscribe to the podcasts of your choice. Quest for Podcasts Now that you have your podcatching client, it’s time to take a good listen to what’s happening in the podcasting community.
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28 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency Podcast Pickle Gary Leland and the crew at Podcast Pickle (http://podcastpickle.com) take a slightly different approach for listeners 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.
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Chapter 1: Get ting the Scoop on Podcasting Digg.com Digg.com is a site originally known for its innovative way of getting news to the masses by having its news stories get noticed by peer selection, a process they call digging. In 2006, a podcast directory was added to the mix (www.digg.com/ podcasts). As more people digg a show (or episode), the more popular it gets and the higher it moves in the digg.com list. That’s right, Gracie — another popularity contest. Like other sites, digg.
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30 Par t I: Podcasting on a Worldwide Frequency If you’re watching your budget, there’s a fee to attend the conferences, but the expo floor is free of charge. Of course, like many cons and expos, a lot of the fun happens after hours. In 2008, the New Media Expo moved from sunny southern California to “sin city,” Las Vegas. (Just remember — what happens at the NME, stays at the NME.