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 [email protected]://www.geneseo.edu/~pitcher