Podcast Lists

Podcasting may be better understood as blogging in terms of voice and visuals. Initially of appeal to the aspiring radio artists only, the expanse of podcasting has broadened to just about any information that needs mass distribution - be it distribution of school lessons, meeting alerts and updates, public safety messages or the non-profit organizations that need to further their objectives most economically yet effectively. With widened horizons and increased competition, the emphasis on proper hosting and promotion of a pod cast has also increased.

Anyone passionate about a particular topic can become a Podcaster. All you need is a microphone, a computer with Internet connection and a basic audio recording and editing software. You can use the free Audacity software on net to record and edit your voice.

As your main aim is to make your pod cast available to general public for downloads and reviews, you must zero down to a web server that allows you to store your files and provides you a URL coupled with good bandwidth. You also need to create a RSS feed for your podcast that enables listeners to easily subscribe to your podcast. You can avail the services of RRWH.com for effective and economical hosting services. RRWH offers you three attractive plans to suit your pocket and requirements. xi

Once your podcast is online, you need to make its presence. In other words, you need to promote your podcast by all means, which include submitting your audio files to pod cast directories and using all web-marketing techniques. You have already found your way here to Podcasts-lists where you can start promoting your Podcast by submitting it to our directory.

First and foremost, you need to pay best possible attention to the content of your audio files. Only quality content can further your objectives and realize your regular audience. So, it is essential to edit your content after initial recording and revise drafts to come up with optimally refined podcast, ready for upload.

You can create a blog hand-in-hand that can be used by your listeners to connect with you and post their precious comments. The blog can also serve as an excellent medium to place your Show notes and post articles relevant to your topic of expertise.

Submitting your pod casts to various podcast aggregators is the next key strategy. You can submit your podcast to www.podcast-lists.com, which publishes links to your pod casts as featured links or regular links for a nominal fee. The podcast aggregator finely categorizes all pod casts among groups based on different themes for easier access. Further, Yahoo and AOL also list podcasts and can prove to be useful means to promote your podcast to a larger audience. The key to better net presence is appropriate use of as many keywords or tags that describe the content of your show - the more specific the better.

You must promote your podcast through all platforms readily available. You can utilize the affordable and far-fetching viral marketing to publicise your work on net. You may attend conferences, online events and cross promote by listening to other’s podcasts. You may engage in writing articles for various ezines and other similar sites to establish your expertise and spreading your URL. You can subscribe to various related forums and write responsive suggestions, solutions and tips for building creditability and get in-bound links.

Depending upon your budget and ambition, you can also go for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services with professional help or learn and practice various web-marketing strategies yourself, for better search engine presence of your URL. You may want to take a look at Check SEO to learn the basics of Search Engine Optimisation.

In a nutshell, podcasting can be your key to the dreamt commercial success. A unique window to showcase your talent and strengths, in the absence of a godfather or a lucky break, podcasting can make it happen for you. All you need to pay attention to is the content, the presentation style and proper promotion of your work through easy and affordable tactics.

What software do I need?, what hardware do I need?

A crafty blend of the essence of blogging and MP3 technology - Podcasting is an upcoming Internet prodigy offering inexhaustible content in terms of both variety and magnitude. With Podcasting, any aspiring artist can realize his/ her dreams of becoming a Disc Jockey (DJ), a Radio Jockey (RJ), a singer, a talk show host, a recording artist et al. All one has to do is to create his/ her own podcast and upload it on Internet for mass audience, which is fairly easy.

If you are a novice to Podcasting, you can think of Internet audio programs and Internet broadcasting. Invented from a combination of “iPod” and “broadcasting”, pod-casting is a digital recording of any radio broadcast or similar program that is made available on Internet for review on PC, as well as, download to personal audio player. Just like blogging allows anybody to write at any length and breadth to gratify the writer within, Podcasting allows you to record your audio or video, mostly in MP3 format and upload it to a website to show off your talent as a RJ, DJ etc. Like the one who blogs is called a blogger, the one who podcasts is known as podcaster.

The content matter of podcasting is not susceptible to any kind of rating or screening. This also means that you may find the quality of podcasts widely varying from very refined to absolutely dull and dry.

From a low-profile start, the phenomenon has caught on like a wild fire with all the well-known websites online. The wider and richer prevalence of Pod-casts is all thanks to its tremendous and still-growing popularity, predominantly by way of word of mouth publicity. This not only explains its extensive reach, but also its immense potential. Consistently, it is inviting the attention of larger sections of general public, which is as a result bringing about a plethora of talent being showcased across the net for free of cost mass distribution. And you can be easily one among them.

The entire procedure to create your own pod-cast is extremely simple and straightforward. Anybody can create a pod-cast, even those who do not possess any knowledge of programming or other norms of computer wizardry. All one has to do is collect the basics that comprise of a recording software, a microphone and/ or web camera, a topic and a web space to upload or make available your podcast.

Podcasting may incur you a little or no start-up cost. The software can be freeware or paid software. For example, while FeedForAll, WebPod Studio, ePodcast Creator, ePodcast Producer and BlogMatrix Sparks! are paid software available on net, Audacity, GarageBand, Propaganda and Easy Podcast are free of cost pod cast publishing software tools. Both hardware and software are characteristically very easy to install on your personal computer/ laptop. The topic may be just about anything - from music, comedy, sports, philosophy to even your individual reviews.

To define the procedure step-by-step, first you plug a Universal Serial Bus (USB) headset with a microphone into your computer and install a MP3 recorder for Windows, Mac or Linux. Then you record your voice (optionally video) and save it as MP3 file. And at last, you upload the MP3 file to one of the podcasting sites. You can go through a tutorial on how to upload MP3 file at FeedForAll website.

A revolution in the Internet technology, Pod casting is an opportunity - a window to showcase your talent - that must be explored and exploited by you, particularly if you are talented and ambitious.

Podcasting is a new method of sharing audio, video, and other media files over the Internet through a subscription-based service. You receive the latest updates on your chosen channels. There is no need of sophisticated gadgets like iPod to listen to a podcast as your computer can play podcasts using software like Windows Media Player or Real Player. So simply download the podcast on to your computer and play it whenever you like. Alternately you can download it directly to your portable MP3 players like the iPod. You may also store it on a CD and play it wherever you go.

Software required for podcast

Most podcast downloads are free. Some video podcasts of popular programs may cost a few dollars. However, you need proper software to manage your subscriptions to various podcast channels. This software is a podcast aggregator, news reader or pod catcher that permits you to subscribe to several pod casts directly from their RSS feeds. Whenever you switch on your computer, this software will update your podcast so that you have access to the latest content on your favorite podcast.

Here is a list of the best pod catchers available currently. These are in no particular order ; Juice, Odeo, iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Feed Demon for Windows.

Downloading a podcast

Right click on the chosen audio podcast and select save as in the desired file on your computer. Those with Mac operating system need to download by pressing the control button and then clicking on the link to download the linked file.

Those with an iPod visit the iTunes website, then click on File with the option to add new tunes to the library. Enter the podcast title in the search terms and then click subscribe. Next, download the file and then transfer it to your iTunes library. The podcast will synchronize with the iPod and be available for listening. You can listen to free music podcasts. You can buy audio books for $2.95, movies from $9.99 to $14.99 and games starting at $4.99. All of these will automatically synchronize with your iPod.

In case you have opted Juice, download it on your computer by clicking on the download link available at all podcast websites. Juice has many superior features like an in built directory of several thousand podcasts, automatic clean up and authentication. It can cater to multiple media players at one go and has a centralized feed management system. It is easily accessible to partially sighted and blind users.

Run the installer, select the location, and then save it on your computer. To listen to a podcast simply click on the feed title to view individual episodes in a bottom window. Then right click on the episode you wish to hear and play it on your media player.

Configuring your MP3 player for podcasting

In case you own an MP3 player from companies other than Apple, like Dell, Pocket PCs, or Smart phones, you need to configure your player with Windows Media Player. To simplify matters, create Podcasting folder in My Music folder after installing Windows Media Player as the default media player. Choose the types of podcast you want, namely text, audio, or video. Right click on it and download it using Juice or iTunes as described above. Next, right click on the play list and select Add to Sync list for all episodes of the podcast. You can then synchronize these with your portable MP3 player. Connect the MP3 player to your computer; select the Sync tab on the Windows Media Player Screen start Sync and then you can have a vast collection of podcasts no your MP3 player.

You can automate the entire synchronization process through the Auto Play list function when you subscribe to multiple podcasts. For this, just edit the settings on the Windows Media Player so that you get the latest updates of only the past 24 hours whenever you connect your MP3 player to the computer. You must also get the downloaded files optimized using Windows Media Player.

Podcasting, as a medium of transmission, first made its appearance as early as the year 2000. Let us understand what is a podcast. It is nothing but digital recording of radio programs. A podcast is essentialy a multimedia file made available to users through the Internet for use on their personal computers or mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players and iPods.You can easily download the content from the podcasting website if you use devices compatible with RSS or Atom data feed formats.

Radio Userland made the first podcast in 2001.Today all major websites host pod casts and you have a growing list of podcasting enthusiasts dedicated to generating a variety of podcasts for your listening pleasure. Ben Hammersley first used the term podcasting in an article in the Guardian in 2004.

Working of a podcast

A pod cast works on a subcription model where there is an information provider who distributes the content and a subscriber . The content provider gives information on a wide variety of topics and the subscriber can choose relevant content as per his requirements. Subscribers hear a sample of the podcast before they decide to subscribe to it.They can search online podcast directories for relevant data. Moreover recent studies reveal that a majority of the podcasts remain on the personal computer of the subscriber and not his mp3 player.

The content may be text based, audio, video or images. The content provider first loads the file on a server on the Internet. He creates a reference for it on another file known as the feed . A feed is nothing but a list of the URL addresses in RSS format. It contains details of all episodes of the podcast with a short description of each. A podcast can have a single or multiple content providers. When the subscriber selects a file, he downloads XML files with their URL address from this server. To download the feed he must have the necessary software termed podcast aggregator to receive and manage the podcasts.

A podcast receiver is always running on your computer and it will check for the latest updates on your favorite podcasts at regular intervals.It manages the data from subscription to various channels and downloads the latest items to your computer or Mp3 player.You can then store, or play the files as per your convenience. The most common example of podcasting is downloading iTunes to your iPod.

Types of podcasting

As the podcasting community grows by leaps and bounds podcasting evolves to cater to different mobile devices. Common types of podcasting based on modes of distribution are audio and video podcasting and MMS podcasting for mobiles. Podcasting distributed over mobile phones is mobilecast, and over a fixed line phone is a voicecast. Some podcasters distribute over a live stream to save the bandwidth. This is known as peercasting and listeners can then redistribute the podcast to other interested parties. Mobile phone users can even receive podcast via MMS.

Podcasting can take other forms like blogs, audiobooks and spread social messages. Audio podcasting can include the use of phone, voice software like Skype or live interactive audio as in a chat .Video podcasting can include the use of images, videos or video recordings.

Uses of podcasting

Podcasting has grown from providing a source of entertainment for an individual to becoming a medium with social utility. Podcasting works rather well in distributing urgent messages in a community and in setting up conferences. People also use it for soundseeing tours of museums and distributing school lessons among students.