Podcasting Kate Pitcher, Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian SUNY Geneseo

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…”

What makes a podcast…a podcast? MP3 + RSS = Podcast June 28, 2005

iPods Can be used as… hard drive calendar contact manager audio recorder save text files photo library notes reader alarm clock PDF library video player can be projected w/LCD or TV Music

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 phone 2. 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

Gabcast http://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? • Poderator: http://poderator.com/ • PodcastBlaster: http://www.podcastblaster.com/podcast-feed/

In order to create the RSS feed for your podcast, follow these steps: • 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 • Copy and past the podcast XML code into the new file. • 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 Pitcher Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian Milne Library SUNY Geneseo pitcher@geneseo.edu http://www.geneseo.edu/~pitcher

Podcasting Kate Pitcher, Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian SUNY Geneseo