Thursday, January 11, 2007

iPod & iTunes: Create Your Own Podcast

Podcasting is still such a new medium that there aren't many programs around to simplify the process of wrapping your MP3 in an RSS feed yet. A little online research should yield some decent freeware or shareware podcasting applications for download. Here's the basic idea.

1. Record the show; use Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net), which has everything you need and doesn't cost a dime.
2. Edit the audio, removing any verbal missteps (“uh, um, err, you know what I mean,” etc.). You can also run noise reduction and hiss reduction, but in general, a dry mix works fine for podcasting your voice.
3. Export it as an MP3; a bit rate of 64 Kbps should be sufficient. If your podcast is voice only, consider mixing it down to one mono track, since that takes up half the space and recordings made with most desktop microphones are mono anyway.
4. Make an XML file with all the relevant data about your recording.
5. Post the MP3s and XML file on your server, using whatever directions your host service provides.
6. Publicize your podcast by submitting it to podcast directories (a simple web search will turn up several, but you might start at iPodder.org, Podcast.net, or PodCastAlley.com).
7. Keep doing your show every week; who knows, you might be able to build up enough of a following to influence the New York Times Best Sellers list like Oprah, or you might end up being approached by a nationwide detergent company to advertise their wares during your dramatic daytime soap opera show.

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