PODCAST @ YOUR LIBRARY Transcript - Learning How To Podcast In Your Sleep

							                     PODCAST @ YOUR LIBRARY

     Transcript: Learning How To Podcast In Your Sleep
                          Darren Chase March 2007

            Part 1 What is a podcast and how does it work?

A podcast? I know what that is!
A Podcast is media content shared online - like an audio or video blog. Many
podcasts are serialized and styled into episodes like radio or television
broadcasts hence the name podcast, a mishmash of broadcast and iPod.
Originally a podcast referred to audio content, and some folks distinguish
shared video content by calling it a vlog, vodcast, videocast or even a show.

Sharing is nice.
Whatever the media, blogs, podcasts and videocasts have a number of key
commonalities, including sharing via an automated syndication format like
RSS or OPML.

“Automated syndication” means I can subscribe to the podcast so that
each new episode comes to me via a software tool called a feed reader or
aggregator. Having things come to me is good on so many levels: it saves
me time and takes the guess work out of when my favorite sites have new
content.

There are a number of feed readers - For example, iTunes
(http://www.apple.com/itunes/jukebox/ ) has a feed reader for subscribing
to podcasts:
     • There are others designed especially for podcasts, like Juice
       (http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/ )
     • While more are general all-purpose feed readers:
            • Some are browser-based like Sage (http://sage.mozdev.org/ )
              and the one built into Safari (http://www.apple.com/safari/ )
            • others are Web-based like Google
              Reader(http://www.google.com/reader ) and Bloglines
              (http://www.bloglines.com/ )
            • some are local directories on your computer like RSSOwl
              (http://www.rssowl.org/ )
            • some are email-based like the one in Thunderbird
              (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ )

If you've never used a feed reader to subscribe to a podcast don't worry -- it
feels really good.
Google Reader
I like Google Reader because it's Web-based and I can use it to subscribe to
and enjoy all kinds of media content. I am going to use Google Reader to
subscribe to the podcast I create during this demonstration. Setting up an
account with Google Reader is fast and free, so if you want a feed reader
consider visiting www.google.com/reader to create your own account.


                      Part 2 Can I make a podcast?

You and even your mom can make a podcast. Podcasting can be reduced to
two dimensions: creating the podcast and publishing the podcast. There are
different steps and a variety of tools, resources, and services for creating
and publishing a podcast.

I am going to cover the feel-good easy way to get started podcasting
on a shoestring budget. I will:
    • Record a podcast using a microphone and free software called
      audacity
    • Set up a WordPress blog to syndicate my podcast
    • Publish the podcast to the Internet Archive, a vast, non-profit Internet
      Library
    • Use feedburner to create an RSS feed for my podcast
    • Subscribe to my podcast via an aggregator
    • Share my podcast on Blubrry, the podcast community

Computer and microphone
There are different ways to record a podcast. Recently telephone podcasting
has become popular. Also there are a number of handheld digital recording
devices available (like the popular line of Zoom Recorders). These devices
are good for recording on the go. Recordings from these devices are
transferred to a computer and edited before being published as a podcast.

For this podcasting demonstration I will use a computer and a microphone.
Though most laptops have built-in mics that can be used for podcasting,
using a microphone delivers better quality recording. There is a wide range
of microphone styles, including headsets like this and handheld microphones
like this. Let's use the headset. Mac, PC, or whatever -- your computer
should have a mic input jack. You may need an adapter to plug in your mic.

The computer I am using for podcasting is an Apple MacBook Pro. Now let's
get our podcast recording software. Though my laptop comes with an
application called GarageBand that is good for recording podcasts, if you're
using a PC or an older Mac you won't have GarageBand, so I am going to
use a great audio recording application called Audacity which is available
online for free download.

Audacity
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) is digital audio recording
software that is popular because it is great, free, stable and easy to use. To
begin using Audacity, I download and install it on my computer.

LAME Encoder
While at the Audacity/ sourceforge site also download and install the LAME
Encoder (http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php ) - with this I can export
Audacity recordings as mp3s. Mp3 is the standard podcast file type.

Recording a podcast
With my computer, microphone and Audacity installed and opened, I'm
ready to create a podcast - let's take a look at how audacity works:

This is the record button. This is the stop button. This is play, pause,
forward and rewind. If I have a mic plugged in I can select it as the input
source with this dropdown menu. This slider is mic level, this one is output
level. These meters are monitoring my input. OK let's stop. This is my
recording track. With Audacity we can record multiple tracks, and utilize a
number of effects and editing tools to produce a nice sounding podcast.
When done, save it (here in the file menu), then export it as an mp3 (also
in the file menu). Good. Now I'm ready to publish my podcast.

Publishing your podcast
For those who have webhosting that allows them to upload media files like
mp3s, publishing a podcast is pretty easy. On the other hand, if I have a
blogger.com or WordPress.com blog I am not able host media files.
However there are a number of inexpensive and not-too-difficult solutions
for those who want to Podcast but cannot host media files. This is the
scenario I will demonstrate since it does not exclude anyone from the entire
spectrum of wanna be podcasters from publishing a podcast.

Blog
Why do I need a blog to podcast? I think it's a great idea to use a blog if I
want an interactive platform for my podcast that I can easily manage online,
and where I have the flexibility to edit the posts supporting my podcasts and
moderate comments from listeners.

For the shoestring budget, I recommend Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/
) and WordPress (http://www.wordpress.com/ ). WordPress is a free,
attractive, easy to use open source blog with nice features, including widgets
for displaying content from other sources via RSS, as desired. The only
wrinkle in this scenario is that with a free blogger or wordpress.com blog I
cannot upload mp3s. For a small, reasonable fee I can upgrade my
wordpress.com blog and enable it to upload mp3s. If I do that this tutorial
would be over at exactly right now.

But let's say I do not even have a small, reasonable inclination to upgrade.
In that case I will continue with the shoestring budget version of
podcasting. Enter our hosting solutions.

Internet Archive
The Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/ ) is a vast, non-profit
Internet library of Websites and cultural artifacts in digital form. As part of
it's mission to preserve and provide organized access to digital information,
the Internet Archive will host your media making it available to researchers,
historians, scholars and other users.

OdeoStudio, Podango, Podomatic, Box.net
There are other free podcast and file hosting services out there, notably
OdeoStudio (http://studio.odeo.com/create ), Podango
(http://www.podango.com/ ), Podomatic (http://www.podomatic.com/ ) and
Box.net (http://www.box.net ) which all do fine jobs. On the plus side my
WordPress.com blog supports the easy embedding of Odeo audio and is
widget ready to display Box.net content, however the Box.net free account is
limited to 1GB.

Podango offers free hosting of audio and video podcasts, and membership in
a podcast community. It looks like a really good solution for podcasters
looking for free hosting and an active social network.

OdeoStudio is a great solution for recording a podcast online or uploading a
podcast I've already recorded. I like OdeoStudio alot -- it's a great tool.

However, as a librarian I really believe in and totally dig the mission of the
Internet Archive, and feel that is an opportunity for anyone who wants to
share their digital media to be a part of something tightly organized, smart,
non-commercial, awesome and for the ages. Hallelujah, can I get a witness?

Join the Internet Archive
On the upper left of the Internet Archive homepage select the "join us" link.
Great. You may have noticed the upload button there on the home page.
You can, if you want, upload your podcast anonymously. I prefer joining --
it makes it much easier to manage my podcasts. After joining, upload your
podcast via the easy to use electronic form. Remember: only upload content
that you have the rights to share - original podcasts, please. We're almost
done.
OK! I've got my Internet Archive podcast, and my free WordPress.com blog.
Now I am ready to syndicate my podcast on my new blog that I uploaded to
Internet Archive. For this I will need to use a simple code for embedding an
audio player in my blog. Here's what I do:
    1. Go to the Internet Archive page of my podcast
    2. DO NOT click on the embed and help link below the podcast player -
       for security reasons this does not work in WordPress
    3. Click on the Audio Files link to whichever version of my podcast I
       want to embed - I recommend 64kbs
    4. copy the URL to your podcast
    5. write a post - select the Code tab
    6. write [audio ]
    7. Paste the URL of your podcast before the end bracket, ex.: [audio
       http://ia360642.us.archive.org/3/items/EmergencyShip/
       emerencyship3D_64kb.mp3]

Done! Now I have an audio player of my podcast embedded in my blog.

Feedburner
My blog has its own RSS feed so folks can subcribe to it with a feed reader,
like Google Reader or Bloglines. If somebody subscribes to my blog, Sleep
in Public, they will receive my podcast and be able to listen to it. For most
people this would be good enough. But for me I want to use Feedburner
(http://www.feedburner.com/ ) to create a specific RSS feed for all my Sleep
in Public podcasts. Feedburner not only creates RSS feeds, it allows me to
manage my feeds and track my subscribers. Cool!

Here's what I do:
    1. Copy my blog's URL
    2. Go to Feedburner
    3. Paste my blog's URL into the create feed bar
    4. Select the I am a podcaster box
    5. Click Next
From here I am prompted to join Feedburner or login. Once logged in, I
make decisions about what kind of information I would like feedburner to
track. Importantly, I can now copy and paste a subscribe to this feed
button into my blog.

To do this I:
   1. Click on the Publicize tab on my Feedburner account page
   2. Select the feed button I want to display
   3. Copy the code
   4. Login to my blog's Dashboard
   5. Click on the Presentation tab
   6.   Select Widgets
   7.   Pull the Text 1 widget up to the widget's bar
   8.   Click on the Text 1 widget
   9.   Paste the code
  10.   Save Changes

Subscribe to the podcast
Now that I've got my feed button on my blog, anybody can subscribe to my
podcast by simply clicking on the button. When I click I am taken to the
feedburner feed page for my podcast--notice the different feed reader
options, including iTunes, Google Reader, Bloglines, Juice, and others.

Blubrry
Now that I have a podcast I want to share it with as many people as I can.
One way to help promote and share my podcast is to share it in a podcast
directory and network it in a podcast community. There are a number of
podcast directories and communities, including:
     • Blubrry (http://www.blubrry.com/ )
     • Odeo (http://odeo.com/ )
     • Podcast Alley (http://www.podcastalley.com/ )
     • Podomatic (http://www.podomatic.com/ )
     • And for Higher Education podcasts - iTunesU (http://www.apple.com/
       education/itunesu_mobilelearning/itunesu.html )

For video content there's more than YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/ ),
notably:
    • Blip.tv (http://blip.tv/ ) Supports all video formats; active,
       enthusiastic community
    • Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/ ) richer files than YouTube;
       exceptional interface and strong community

Among these, I really like Blubrry for it's easy to use interface, RSS feeds
and buttons, overall enthusiasm and esprit de corps. I am going to join the
Blubrry social network and share my podcast:
   1. Go to www.blubrry.com
   2. Click Sign Up
   3. Click Set up your Podcast page
   4. Copy and Paste your blog URL
   5. Copy and Paste your podcast RSS feed URL (the one from
      Feedburner)

Done! Blubrry will automatically update your podcast page via your podcast
RSS feed.

In the course of this demonstration I've recorded and published a podcast
utilizing a selection of excellent, free resources and services, become a
participant in the awesome mission of the Internet Archive and joined a
podcast social network to further market my podcast and connect with
listeners and other podcasters.

Thank You!
I hope you have found Learning How to Podcast In Your Sleep stimulating
and educational! We've covered a lot of ground through the course of this
demonstration, and if you want to review a transcript of this tutorial, as well
as access resources and support materials, please visit my blog, the Secret
Library of Better Dreams at http://www.ibiblio.org/secretlibrary/ and look for
the Learning How to Do Things in Your Sleep page. Feel free to contact
me: secret.darren@gmail.com.


Thanks for your time, and may all your podcasting dreams come true.


                                 Resources

How To & Tools
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ )
   LAME Encoder (http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php )
Blogger.com: How do I post podcasts/ audio to my blog?
(http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=80259&topic=12466 )
Box.net (http://www.box.net )
Create on Odeo (http://studio.odeo.com/create/home )
Feedburner (http://www.feedburner.com/ )
Freevlog (http://www.freevlog.org/ )
iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/jukebox/ )
Juice Receiver (http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/ )
Making and Submitting a Podcast to iTunes Store (http://www.apple.com/
itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html )
Podcast FAQ (http://www.podcastfaq.com/ )
Podcasting Toolbox: Mashable.com (http://mashable.com/2007/07/04/
podcasting-toolbox/ )
Podcasting Tools: Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/
podcasting )
PodPress (http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress/ )
Where to Submit your podcasts - best podcast directories and search
engines (http://www.masternewmedia.org/podcast_directory/ )
Wordpress.com: Music & podcasting FAQ (http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/
12/24/how-do-i-get-music-on-my-blog/ )
Yahoo! Podcast Resources (http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/podcasts/ )
Search
AOL (http://music.aol.com/radioguide/podcasting )
Blogdigger Media Search (http://www.blogdigger.com/media/index.html )
Yahoo! Audio Search (http://audio.search.yahoo.com/audio )

Directories & Hosts
Blubrry (http://www.blubrry.com/ )
Internet Archive - podcasts/ host (http://www.archive.org/details/
audio_podcast )
LibraVox - free audiobooks in the public domain (http://librivox.org/ )
Odeo (http://odeo.com/ )
Ourmedia (http://ourmedia.org/ )
Podango - podcast community and host (http://www.podango.com/ )
Podcast Alley (http://www.podcastalley.com/ )
Podcast Ready (http://www.podcastready.com/ )
Podcast.net (http://www.podcast.net/ )
Podomatic - community and host (http://www.podomatic.com/ )
Podseek (http://www.podseek.net/ )
TalkShoe - telephone podcasting (http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/
main.jsp?pushNav=1&cmd=home )

Video Only
Blip.tv (http://blip.tv/ )
Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/ )
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/ )