One final piece of reading: Ipodder.org has linked to a great blog posting over at the Radio X-Factor, a great radio blog maintained by Ray Edwards. Ray posted something previously that was actually the spark that lit my own fire to get my podcast up and rolling. Up until I read that particular post by Ray, I had heard the term podcasting a few times, but hadn't been inspired to check into it further, since I assumed you had to have an Ipod to get involved(and I don't have one).
Ray posed the simple question: "Morning shows, are you listening? Can you use this model to get your show on listeners's iPods? (Hint: yes!)"
That was all I needed to read to get me started reading, to figure out how to get my weekly terrestrial radio show up online via podcast. Sure, we already had an online webcast archive of each week's show, but this just seemed that much cooler - and it certainly is!
After a couple of weeks of podcasting our regular radio show, I was listening to Adam Curry on the Daily Source Code podcast program that he does, and a listener asked him about his recording setup, and he detailed that setup, and that sent me out to Radio Shack to buy the particular microphone suggested by Curry.
End result: For about 40 bucks total, I left with that microphone, and a couple of assorted accessories, and now have the ability to podcast at will from home.
It's that easy. For those that are interested, you definitely owe it to yourself to read Ray's "how to" article on podcasting. It's a good read!
Podcasting is something very cool, and the book is still being written - add your own chapter to the book!
Shameless plug time: Check out my podcast. You can also find my podcasting related, though graphically not-pretty at the moment blog right here. Email comments, audio and otherwise by clicking here!
Article comments
1 - Mads Kristiansen
Hi Matt,
There are a couple of things I would like to add to your excellent article. You mention, that feedcast.com takes "the last 100 podcasts" from "audio.weblogs.com" and dresses them up graphically.
It may seem so, because the infos are so alike at times, but Feedcast doesn't actually read anything from audio.weblogs.com. It aggregates the enclosures itself from the original feeds by examining them once in a while and thus has its own set of source feeds from where the enclosures are discovered. No other aggregator feeds are used.
Small detail, that I just wanted to clear up.. :)
As the socalled author of feedcast, I would also like to mention to everyone, that it is still under development, so although it is usable, there may be features that are not working as they should or perhaps not documented properly on the site. Everyone is ofcourse welcome to use the site and have a look. Comments are also very welcome in my mailbox.. ;)
Thanks, Mads Kristiansen
2 - Matt Wardlaw
right on -
I stand corrected....and for the record, your site rocks!
Thanks for offering input into how it all works!
3 - TDavid
Podcasting is great for people who already have audio content and for those who make money from audio content to promote their work.
4 - kinrowan
Hey Matt, thanks for the press.
Two things I wanted to mention; I am a little fixated on the track length thing; in one of my earlier posts on podcastreviews.net I explain why:
in other words, since I have control over the podcast, if I want to skip over a track I don't care for it would be a lot easier to do if I know how far to go. Maybe I do go a little over-board on that.
In answer to your other question, I have a very minimal amount of college broadcast experience. That helps me know what it's like behind a mic, but I don't think that informs my reviews as much as my theatrical audio work and the fact that I know what I like to hear.
Thanks again for the mention, and for something to think about....
kinrowan
5 - Ray Edwards
Matt,
Great post! I look foward to checking out your podcast - and am so gratified that something I wrote "clicked" for you and got you moving. That was the intent. Keep podcasting, and welcome aboard.