Start Podcasting

We're moving

2007-03-07T01:36:00.000-08:00

As one of many site updates, this site is moving over to 99shades.com. See you there.

SI's iPod bikini

2007-02-16T23:29:00.000-08:00

Via Podcasting News : Marissa Miller in a white iPod 'bikini'.

Podium software released

2007-01-24T03:55:00.000-08:00

Via Podcasting News : RM Education has annouced educational podcasting software, Podium. Podium is designed to simplify the process of creating enhanced podcasts in a classroom environment.

SoundTech Podcasting Kit

2007-01-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

Via Podcasting News : creating your first podcast just came one step closer with the release of SoundTech's Podcasting Kit, which contains a microphone, cable and appropriate software. Simple stuff maybe, but it's great to see.

EFF : Line Noise podcast

2007-01-17T20:58:00.000-08:00

Just came across the latest podcast from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), which takes a look at just a few of the gadgets on show at this year's CES. Definitely one to add to the subscription list.

Maccast podcaster meetup (part 1)

2007-01-17T06:24:00.000-08:00

This is a recording of a very interesting roundtable discussion held at San Francisco's largest Apple Store at the beginning of this year's Macworld. Great stuff.

Skullcandy MacGyver MP3 Watch

2007-01-12T23:42:00.000-08:00

Want to get your podcast fix even when you've left your shuffle clipped to your other jacket? With up to 1gb just waiting for your favourite audio treats, the Skullcandy MacGyver MP3 Watch may be just what you're after.

Comply Whoomp Earbud Enhancers

2007-01-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

About to upgrade your iPod's headphones? Consider the Comply Whoomp Earbud Enhancers. At a little under $20 for a pack of four, these may well be cheaper than those new earbuds you've been eyeing.

7 ways to increase the number of subscribers to your podcast

2007-01-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

There are a number of things you can do to increase the number of subscribers to your podcast. Here are just a few of them.

1. Create a dedicated blog, and use the existing methods to market it (take a look at 7 ways to market your blog for suggestions).

2. Add it to iTunes, in the directory where your #1 rival lives. For more information on submitting your podcast to iTunes take a look at Apple's required specs.

3. Cater to dialup users. Whilst you may have a high speed internet connection, many of your potential subscribers are still using dialup. Consider offering low-bitrate or audio-only versions of your podcast.

4. Use theme music. I usually listen to podcasts on an iPod shuffle (to give my eyes a bit of a break), and I suspect I'm not the only one. Starting the podcast with an easily identifiable musical theme is a quick way of ensuring that your listeners have the right podcast playing, the volume is OK and that they can sit back and relax.

5. Keep an eye on your stats, and use them. Using a service such as Feedburner is a great way to help stay on top of things. If the majority of your listeners are downloading your podcasts at a particular time, are grabbing one episode more than the others, are on dialup etc; cater to them.

6. Deliver regularly. By putting your podcast online at the same time each day/week/month you'll encourage people to look for it at that time. There are several ways of doing this automatically (once the podcast itself has been created), so there's no excuse for missing a deadline simply because you're on the road somewhere.

7. Cross promote. Make use of other blogs and podcasts to mention your own. If you have several blogs or podcasts yourself, use them to help each other.

Time Magazine Top 10 Podcasts

2007-01-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

From Time Magazine, the top 10 podcasts of 2006 :

1. This American Life
2. The Show with Zefrank
3. BBC | From our Own Correspondent
4. Scientific American 60 Second Science
5. Cool Hunting Video
6. Slate Magazine Daily
7. WFUV's Take Five
8. WSJ's Your Money Matters
9. TWiT (This Week in Tech)
10. Learn Mandarin Chinese

20 tools for your iPod

2007-01-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

Got a new iPod for Christmas? Try out some of these.

Record Labels Soften Stance On Podcasting

2007-01-04T07:13:00.000-08:00

Via WebProNews :

It seems that the larger record labels have been anti-podcasting from the start. After all, it's a bit difficult to control music when it can be easily chopped out of an unprotected audio file.

Times, however, are finally changing. Sony BMG - demonstrating a level of common-sense not often associated with record labels - is teaming up with Ford and Chrysler for a year-long license of music for their podcast distribution. Not exactly small players, but it's a start.

Mainstream media on a downhill run?

2007-01-03T04:25:00.000-08:00

Podshow's Adam Curry has stated that the video of Saddam Hussein's execution - which was posted in numerous places on the internet within 24 hours - is both a highlight for the web, and a 'jump the shark' one for the mainstream media.

I must admit, he does have a point.

iPod on Amazon's 'Best of 2006' list

2006-12-29T01:45:00.000-08:00

Via Macsimum News : the iPod once again appears on a 'Best of 2006' list - this time on Amazon.com.

Queen's Christmas speech available as a podcast

2006-12-27T06:21:00.000-08:00

That staple of holiday listening, the Queen's Christmas speech, is now available as a podcast. Subscribe here.

DIGG podcasting

2006-12-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

DIGG has just rolled out another update, this time replete with some great podcasting features. Looks good.

Podcamp in Second Life

2006-12-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

Via Podonomics : A Podcamp is being organised to begin at the end of January 2007. The difference this time - it'll be held in Second Life. Sounds great.

Turn your iPod into a Karaoke machine

2006-12-17T03:13:00.000-08:00

From the site :

Turn your iPod into your own band. Play backing tracks or songs and sing along. We add an echo effect to your voice to make it sound like you are on stage! Includes a high-quality microphone, cables, AC adapter, and microphone stand clamp. We even include an electric guitar input--the MusicJam has a guitar preamp with Tone and Distortion controls. The MusicJam has a sophisticated circuit design with very low noise and superior sound quality that may be used for public performances and recording via standard RCA jacks on the side.

Recording your interviews

2006-12-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

So I’ve been a bit busy, but I’ve made a new promise to myself and to you the readers to get something up here every week about podcasting.

Awhile back I downloaded Skype…and it sat there collecting dust. Well not really but you get the idea. I did nothing with it. Finally I shot off an e-mail to someone that said they wouldn’t mind being interviewed. Sure they’d love to be interviewed. Luckily they were busy, so I was allowed a bit of time to prepare for the interview. The first order of business was to figure out how to record from Skype.

I found very little options for recording. Especially free options. The one option that I did find was from 2004 and it gave me hope that Skype had been upgraded and would now seamlessly record podcasts. That was not the case.

So interview night arrived and I was fumbling around like a total amateur. Oh wait…I am an amateur. Luckily the person I interviewed was also a computer person and helped me out a bit. After a bit of searching he was able to come up with SoliCall. SoliCall not only records conversations it is also supposed to reduce the noise on the call, which is an added bonus!

SoliCall is a very small program that you download and install. Once you have installed SoliCall you need to set up your Skype (or whatever program you use) so that it uses SoliCall for audio rather than the defaults that are setup. In the process of setting up SoliCall they will give you instructions on how to setup various programs. Despite setting up Skype the way they described I was not able to chat with my interviewee. After a bit of time I figured out that once I started the call I would no longer be able to talk. A work around that I found was to un-plug the microphone and plug it back in. Then I was in business.

So once we got SoliCall setup we were onto the interview which I was not prepared for. Next time I will talk about what needs to happen for an interview:

Searching for Video Podcasts

2006-12-13T21:52:00.000-08:00

Via Podcasting News: Searching for more video podcast content? Try SearchforMedia's www.searchforvideo.com. Time for another external hard drive I think.

The iPod Pillow

2006-12-06T07:50:00.000-08:00

I like to relax whilst listening to podcasts, and the iPod Pillow looks ideal. It's more than just a fun-looking pillow - pop your favourite mp3 player into the hidden pocket and hook it up to the pillow's internal speaker. What's more, the enormous controls actually work. Beautiful.

Podcast : a definition

2006-11-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

The recent Pew report on podcasting has - as expected - generated quite a bit of buzz; much of which seems to contain rather odd definitions of a podcast. As pointed out on Podonomics, some of the definitions are not only long-winded, but inaccurate.

Keeping things short, simple and spot-on is Wikipedia, with the line :

A podcast is a multimedia file distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.

Beautiful.

'Music only' playlists in iTunes

2006-11-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

Although I've been using iTunes for quite a long time (a few years, anyway), it's only recently - since switching to Mac, incidentally - that I've started playing around with playlists. Tonight's discovery (courtesy 43 folders) is the 'music only' list, which makes an interesting change from my usual podcast-only diet.

If the 43 folders post has got you wanting more, head over to Doug's Scripts. Enjoy.

Making your file look good

2006-11-14T05:03:00.000-08:00

It's really hard to make an mp3 file look good, but what I'm talking about is getting your ID3 tags to look good. This is done so that when someone pulls your podcast into iTunes or into one of the other pod catcher software they will know what your file is all about.

So what is an ID3 tag you might be asking your self. Simply put it is kind of like a database that holds extra data about your file. Some pod catchers will use the file name for their purposes, but some of them, such as iTunes will use the ID3 tag to catalog them as needed. So how exactly does one edit the ID3 tag?

In Audacity when you output a mp3 file it will pop-up with a window asking you to provide some information about the file. Some of the options are the author and music genre that your file is going to be in. It's great for basic information, but for a podcast specifically it doesn't do a very good job.

When you have entered your basic information in the Audacity window save your file. The next step seems a bit redundant, but it has to be done. Now you need to pull that file into iTunes. Once the file is in iTunes find the file in your Music Library and do a "Get Info" on the file. Once you have opened the information for that file go to the "Info" tab. Here there are a variety of fields that you can fill out. These are the ID3 tags that I have been talking about.

If you want to give you podcast a album picture go to the table labeled "Artwork" and add a piece of artwork.

Once you done all of these changes you now have a file that has the ID3 tags changed and when someone pulls your podcast into iTunes or another type of pod catcher program they will have all the information that you set in your file.

Listen to podcasts on your phone

2006-11-13T05:48:00.000-08:00

TechCrunch has an interesting piece on a couple of ways to listen to podcasts on your phone. Whilst I'm not alone in pondering the real value of doing this - particularly when mp3 players are so cheap - I can certainly appreciate the sentiment.

Improving your iPod's battery life

2006-11-12T22:58:00.000-08:00

From Shivaranjan comes this wonderful - and timely - piece : 8 Tips to Improve Apple iPod’s Battery Performance (Life). Good stuff.

Podcasts I've got to have

2006-11-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

Despite not spending as much time in front of the computer (the wife might argue that point) I have been listening to podcasts like a drug addict. Most of them that I listen to are just weekly podcasts, but I have a couple that are daily podcasts and if I miss them my day is just off...or feels that way. Usually Monday's are the big podcast days. I think everyone, including myself, does them over the weekend. Here are some of the podcasts that I'm listening to on a regular basis.

Jim Cramers Real Money - How to make money in the stock market

Max Out Radio - Nutrition and Lifting Podcast

Muscle Ventures Podcast - Another lifting podcast/video blog

Strengthcast - Fitness and Nutrition Podcast

Fitcast - Fitness and Nutrition Podcast

Build a solar iPod charger

2006-11-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Want to take your podcasts just a little bit further? Take a look at this tutorial (via Lifehacker) on constructing a solar-powered iPod charger. Very nice.

Although the total cost isn't specified on the site, about $30 seems like a reasonable estimate.

Getting music into your podcast with Audacity

2006-10-28T05:31:00.000-07:00

I’m still talking to myself…err I mean I’m still podcasting. Last week after writing up the post I set about trying to figure out how to get music into my podcast. I succeeded in doing so and I wanted to share.

First thing you need to do is find the music that you want to put into your podcast. If you plan on taking your podcast to the big time you’d better make sure that you have permission to use the music that you are putting in (even if you don't go big it's probably best to get legal music). Once you have decided on the music you need to pull it into Audacity. Simply put you just open the file in Audacity (File->Open)

Once you have opened the file you will have a track in Audacity just as if you had recorded something. From here you need to decide which part of the music you want. I just chose the opening of a song (first 20 seconds I believe). So from there I cut the rest of the song out so all I have is the first 20 seconds. You may want to add an effect to the music so that it fades out. Additionally I would recommend that you play with the volume for that track. I found out in my experimentations that the music was drowning out my voice so I lowered the volume on the track (perhaps to low now that I go back and listen to it.)

Once you have your music setup all you need to do is press the record button. Once you press the record button your music will begin playing and you can begin recording.

I haven’t figured out how to get music into the middle of a podcast or at the end, but once again if I do I’ll let everyone know.

Enjoy podcasting.

The iPod turns 5

2006-10-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

Engadget takes a brief look at the 5th birthday of the iPod. While it wasn't the first mp3 player, it certainly revolutionised the consumer electronics industry.

For a bit of nostalgia, check out Jobs' original launch presentation. Great stuff.

Further thoughts on podcasting

2006-10-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

So I’ve now produced 2 podcasts and I’m about to record my third podcast (you can download them here: http://www.strengthnews.net/podcast/. Both of them have gone fairly smoothly, but I’ve not been trying to do anything out of the norm. They are what I’d call “raw and unedited”. Here’s some thoughts that might serve you well if your planning on doing a podcast.

Know what you are going to talk about. There’s only so much “ahhs” and “ummms” and dead air that people can stand. I think I do a decent job of avoiding these, but I still find myself doing it. I would probably do a bunch more of it if I didn’t write down what I wanted to say. For a podcast of less than 10 minutes, like mine, I think you really only need to jot down the main idea. However if you are going to go for a much longer podcast you’d better look at putting more thoughts into your ideas and fleshing them out.

Talking to your self is a bit weird. I don’t know how I’d do a podcast longer than 10 minutes with only myself. For myself if I was going to go much longer than 10 minutes I’d have to do some sort of intro or fancy up the podcast (music, intro’s, exits etc).

I’ve been using Audacity to record my podcasts. It does a pretty good job, but I think there’s a learning curve to it and I’ve not yet found it. On the podcast I’m going to try and record today I want to include some music. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do that or not, but if I am I’ll let you know.

Despite not posting in awhile that’s what I’ve got for you at this time. If I figure out how to get music in using Audacity I’ll let everyone know how I did it.

Enjoy podcasting!

Demise of the Starbucks podcast

2006-10-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

The Podonomics Blog has an interesting piece on the fact that the Starbucks podcast has been abandoned after only 3 episodes, potential reasons for the failure and some suggestions for other companies considering making a similar move. Very interesting.

Incidentally, if you're looking for a great coffee-related podcast, go no further than CoffeeGeek. If you've never heard it, you're in for a treat.

International Podcasting Expo 2006

2006-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

If you missed last month's Podcast & Portable Media Expo, take a look at this. The International Podcasting Expo is an online event (so there's no travelling involved) with some great speakers. Sorry about the short notice - it's on this weekend. Wherever you are.

Podcast ad on TV

2006-10-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Noticed an ad for a local podcast (Channel Nine News) this evening on TV; which is definitely a good thing. The TV advertising that is, not the podcast in question.

Does this mean it's commercially viable? Not yet. But it's a good start.

Autofill Podcasts on an iPod Shuffle

2006-10-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Recently I purchased a device largely for the purpose of listening to Podcasts - an iPod Shuffle. Up until then I'd assumed (always a slightly foolish move) that it'd be a simple matter of getting iTunes to keep me hooked up with the latest episodes of my favourite podcasts.

Downloading them is great. Syncing them to the Shuffle isn't.

Poking around for more information on this - with the vague notion that there must be a solution out there somewhere - I came across this enlightening post by Matt Taylor. Problem solved.

2 Degrees of content

2006-10-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

When putting together your podcast you have to think about what you want your topic to be. As I see it there’s 2 ways in which you can do this. The first way, and the way that I’m taking with my podcasting, is to take a topic that you know about and are passionate about. This makes things so much easier. The second route and the one less traveled is to choose a topic that you know nothing about or very little about. In this type of situation you are forced to produce and learn about your topic. I can see where this would make you more passionate about your posting because you are learning as you go along.

Once you have chosen your topic to podcast about you need to get more in depth content for your podcast. This may not apply to personal podcasts, but for those that are speaking about a specific topic, you may need to come up with content. Some areas for content are pretty obvious: blogs, newspapers and other websites. Below I have listed some other areas in which you can get content.

Google News – This is more a combination of papers, but the best thing about this is that you can RSS it and watch it.

Forums – Forums are great areas for discussions that can be hot topics.

Interviews – If you know a professional in your topic see if you can interview them. You’ll need special equipment to do this, but it can be done (I’ll discuss this later).

Re-download podcasts in iTunes without subscribing again

2006-10-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, occasionally a podcast download in iTunes stops part-way; leaving you stuck with a partial file. iTunes merrily tells you that it has the entire download, though when an entire episode of Diggnation comes in at a whopping 2min 11secs you have to wonder.

There's no obvious way (at least on the Windows version) to get iTunes to re-download the file. An anonymous poster to MacOSXHints found the solution (short of unsubscribing/resubscribing, which is annoying at best):

In the 'Podcasts' section of iTunes, click the arrow to expand the episode listing of the podcast in question. Select and delete (Windows: Delete button | Mac: Backspace key) the offending episode. If prompted to relegate your partial file to the trash, do so. You won't be needing it again.

Click the arrow again to close the listing.

Now, this is the crucial part. Hold down the Shift | Option button whilst clicking the arrow to expand the listing. This will force an update of the podcast, and the formerly deleted entry will reappear with a shiny new Get button beside it. Simply re-download the episode, kick back and enjoy.

You got to perform

2006-10-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

I’m sitting here getting ready to create my first podcast and I’m nervous. Why am I nervous one might be asking themselves? Well here’s why: I am not a performer nor am I someone that likes to be in front of the spotlight. I’m sure I’m not the only one like this, there has to be at least a couple of other people like me, right?

I’ve been thinking about this all day trying to figure out how to get over this nervousness and along the way I discovered how to get over it. The simple answer is just get over it. There’s no other way. But there is actually more to it than that I’ve discovered. Well at least for me. I’ve wanted to be a writer for a long time which I consider putting yourself out there in the spotlight. I’ve let a few people see what I have written, but not enough to get comfortable with it. Photography on the other hand is different. I used to hate having my picture taken. But I took up digital photography a few years ago and I snapped away at just about anything in site (as my hard drives can attest to). Somewhere along the line I didn’t mind being in front of the camera. I still don’t take a good picture, something to do with not smiling or always scowling, but I honestly don’t mind it. I actually kind of enjoy it when given the chance. So I’m really hoping that by just jumping into podcasting and doing it, I will come around and not feel like a total fool by talking to no one.

So I’m off to “just do it”. We’ll see how it turns out.

Finally, an iPod

2006-09-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Despite having had various mp3 players over the past couple of years, I've been without one - a working one anyway - for a few months now. Yesterday I finally got around to resolving this situation, with the purchase of an iPod Shuffle.

It was a great day indeed.

Why a Shuffle? In fact, why an iPod? This may seem a little odd, but I wanted something without a screen. The device's primary use was - and still is - to be listening to an audio podcast or audiobook when I just want to give my eyes a break. Sit back, close your eyes and take it all in. Beautiful.

The other criterion was that it be inexpensive. Although there are other players for the same price, they all appeared to try their hand at several things. Rather than risk a possible 'jack of all trades, master of none' situation I went straight for the only player I saw which performed one simple task well.

A brief note on the iPod: if you're just looking for an mp3 player to playback podcasts, any of them will do. Shop around. However, if you're looking for something simple, take a look at the Shuffle. Simple, elegant and functional.

More books to take a look at

2006-09-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

Originally I planned on reviewing another book that addressed podcasting but you know what? It was just about the same thing that I reviewed before, so I won’t bore you with a review. Before I go on let me say this about books. I think if you get a book on podcasting you should have your microphone and software ready to use so you can try some of the things that are recommended in these books.

If you’re looking for a book on podcasting here’s a list of books that you might be interested in (most of these are linked to the right):

Podcasting Bible

Podcasting: The Do-It-Yourself Guide

Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Podcasting

Podcasting for Dummies

Absolute Beginners Guide to Podcasting

Secrets of Podcasting: Audio Blogging for The Masses

Podcasting Hacks: Tips & Tools for Blogging Out Loud

2006-09-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

Podcasting Hacks: Tips & Tools for Blogging Out Loud
By Jack D. Herrington

Media are becoming a conversation, not a lecture

I’ve tried writing something about this book about 3 times now and nothing that I’ve put down has been interesting. So hopefully by tossing all inhibitions out the window I’ll get something that’s useful and I’m pleased with. Sometimes you got it, other times you don’t.

My “writers block” is not because this book is boring. In fact it is probably the opposite. There is so much information contained in this book I don’t even know where to start. All of the book (most of it?) covers how to create your own podcast. From the beginner where you pick up the $39.99 USB microphone from Best Buy (we don’t have a Circuit City where I live…ugh) to those that want to drop a cool $1300 on a microphone. If your one of those people putting down some serious cash on the microphone you’ll enjoy the plans Herrington has on how to build your own home studio and some amps that will make things all that much nicer.

However if your like me and a cheap bastard and not 100% sure you want to do this end Herrington also covers that end of things as well. It seems to me, at this point, that Audacity seems to be the software of choice for editing your podcast and recording it. Best of all it’s FREE and in my opinion nothing beats free. Well I guess if the software isn’t that good then paying something might be worth it. However I will reserve judgement until I work with the software.

This book is a bit on the geeky side, but I suspect most of us who are looking to podcast are either a bit geeky or just want to be famous. Or maybe no one will listen to us speak so we post up a podcast that we hope someone will listen to. Despite the geekiness (writing Perl scripts to download podcasts) this book should be on any serious podcasters shelf. It’s got a ton of information that will be useful for the beginner and for the pro.

Why podcast?

2006-09-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

I’ve gone back and forth with myself on if I should produce a podcast of some sort. I’ve been blogging for a few years now and podcasting seems like the next logical step to take. But why exactly would I be podcasting? At the heart of the answer I think it’s because I want to give it a try and see how much different it is from blogging. But there are many other reasons why one might want to podcast. Here are just a few reason’s one might want to podcast:

Get your message out in a different format. I enjoy reading blogs as much as the next person, but there are times when I’m just downright tired of sitting on front of a computer.

Perhaps you are a better speaker than a writer or you are covering a topic that would be better portrayed through voice rather than written word.

More powerful communication. According to this link (http://www.podshowcreator.com/why.shtml) , voice is a more powerful communication medium than written text.

Okay so it’s only 3 reasons, but you could probably sum them up as one thing: communication. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my few years up on this earth (okay it’s more than a few), there’s a lot of communication that DOESN’T happen that should. At least this has been my experience. Podcasting is just another way for us to communicate.

So now that I’ve decided that I’m going to do a podcast, I’ve got to figure out what tools I need in order to produce one. A run to the library will probably be in order.