Podcasting

Kate Pitcher,Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian

SUNY Geneseo

COMN 274 Electronic Publishing

October 5, 2007

What is a podcast?

There are LITERALLY podcasts for every topic…even board gaming!

Podcasts

“…syndicated audio or video content in a multimedia file meant for play on a handheld device (such as an iPod) or a personal computer…”

MP3 + RSS = Podcast

June 28, 2005

What makes a podcast…a podcast?

iPodsCan be used as…

hard drivecalendar

contact manageraudio recordersave text filesphoto librarynotes readeralarm clockPDF libraryvideo player

can be projected w/LCD or TVMusic

MP3 players

Finding a podcast is EASY:

• Type podcasts + directory in any search engine and you will find LOTS of podcasts on MANY subjects

• Look for a icon on your favorite website• Search for podcasts + “subject” in any search

engine • In iTunes, search the podcast directory for

thousands of podcasts on many different topics

Creating podcasts is EASY:

• Create an MP3 recording• Host it on a website• Publish a feed

What technology do you need for podcasts?

• Computer or handheld device (iPod or MP3 player for example) to listen to or watch the podcast

• Podcast receiver (or podcatcher) to subscribe to the podcast

How do we find and subscribe to podcasts?

• Find a podcast you are interested in listening to

• Find the orange “RSS” or “POD” button

• Click button OR copy and paste the URL into your podcast receiver

Subscribing to podcasts with iTunes…

1.

2.

3.

Other podcast receivers:

• Doppler• Juice

• Bloglines

How do we create podcasts?

Two easy ways:1. Create podcasts by phone2. Use recording software to:

– Record audio and convert it to a downloadable format (MP3)

– Create a text file which describes the audio (RSS)

– Upload to the web

Podcasting Tools

• Gabcast http://www.gabcast.com

• podOmatic http://www.podomatic.com/home

• Odeo http://www.odeo.com

Gabcasthttp://www.gabcast.com/index.php

•Free•Record podcasts by phone

Creating a podcast by phone…

Toll-free number

Click on “Testing” icon to get the podcast and play!

podOmatichttp://www.podomatic.com/home

•Free•Record your own podcasts

Post an episode

Odeohttp://odeo.com/

•Free•Upload MP3 files

Elements needed for recording your own podcast

• Recording & editing software• Microphone• Audio card• Convert audio file to MP3 file format• Upload MP3 file to server• Create an RSS feed for the podcast

Recording Software

• Sound Recorder (found with most Windows OS)

• Audacity (for PCs and Macs; free) http://audacity.sourceforge.net

• GarageBand (for Macs)http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/

Creating an RSS feed for your podcast:

1. Apply Tool’s Podcast RSS Feed Generator:

http://www.applytools.com/cgi-bin/sa/podcast/podcast.cgi?

2. Poderator:http://poderator.com/

3. PodcastBlaster:http://www.podcastblaster.com/podcast-feed/

In order to create the RSS feed for your podcast, follow these steps:

1. Create a plain text file on your computer, a .TXT file if you are on Windows using NotepadNote: Word (.doc file format or other) will not work

2. Copy and past the podcast XML code into the new file.

3. Rename the file to "podcast.xml" and upload to your server.

Example of the podcast XML file in the .txt file using Notepad

Example of RSS feed as it appears when I click on

podcast logo…

Contact Info…

Kate PitcherReference/Instruction & Web Development

LibrarianMilne LibrarySUNY Geneseopitcher@geneseo.eduhttp://www.geneseo.edu/~pitcher