Category: ITunes

Intro to Podcasting Part 2

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What is old is New Again!

In my previous post about podcasting, I talked about What is Podcasting and why you would want to podcast. These are some important questions that you must first want to answer before you start podcasting. It is one of the most terrifying things anyone could do but the most enjoyable after you do start podcasting. You can become an expert in your own right but just because you are podcasting doesn’t mean you know everything or to ignore the little guy.  You can learn at lot from other podcasters in your field or area.  It isn’t that you need to be afraid of the other guys but you should at least be working together and bringing other followers to your podcast.

How to Podcast!

Everyone who ever wanted  to podcast should do their research.   I happen to have done some research on the subject and also was part of several different podcasts.   Some of my most memorable podcasts were:

As you can see these are just a few of the podcasts that I was part of.   I really enjoyed them and I wanted to help those who wanted to start your own podcast.   The setup that Mike Smith has is something that only grows from the passion and dedication of his love of community.  It however is not the bare bones to say the least.   He has bought this equipment one piece at a time and you should really start off small and work your way to big.   So what are bare essentials?  It is just these things:

That is the Bare minium you will need to start podcasting.   It however isn’t going to be expensive but it will be time consuming.   So as you can tell some of this is going to be optional but others are required to podcast.   Most of this is just what you feel is needed for your podcast.  If your looking for an in depth article you can check out the how to podcast tutorials.   They give you some excellent advice on what it is required of you to podcast.

The Purpose of Podcast!

It isn’t hard to understand why anyone would podcast but if you are curious as to the purpose of podcasting, well I will explain it to you.   Before we had computers we had radio stations and before we had radio stations we had a campfire.   As you can see, we are always want to connect to other people through spoken words because it makes it more personable and real to us.   We all want to be a part of a community to learn something new, so that is where podcasting comes into play.   We can be driving our car and listen to a podcast like an audio book, and not be around a computer.   It seems more and more people are doing this while driving, and less and less listening to the radio.   I must say a good podcast keeps me driving for hours without having to turn the station.

Are you going to be a podcaster or are a podcaster.   I’d love to here your experiences.   Feel free to leave a comment and tell others how you got into the business of podcasting!

Paul Sylvester


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Intro to Podcasting Part 1

Paul2 Replies

Watamu (16) Image by malczyk via Flickr

So you want to start your own podcast?

I’ve helped several different organizations set up there own podcast, so I thought we would go into detail about the process.   I am going to lay it out to everyone who might be interested and discuss the finer points on how you’d start and what you will need.   Although, this will not be a complete tutorial, I did figure we could at least talk you through it and help someone who might be wanting to start your own podcast.

Starting a podcast can be a challenge, but yet really fun.   In the tutorial we will discuss aspects of:

  • What is podcasting?

  • Why Podcast?

  • How to Podcast?

  • Purpose of Podcasting?

  • Making money from Podcasting?

  • Examples of Podcasts?

  • Content Delivery, Free VS Paid!

As you can see there will be several different aspects that we will be delving into and even discussing them in length.   I will say this will be one of those times I am going to learn with you on this because I will be researching this as I post it.   So you can have all the information with you and learn something.

Podcasting 101

You’ve probably heard the term podcasts, or even have some podcast that you listen to already but if you don’t, I will explain it to those who might need to understand it.

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word replaced webcast in common vernacular due to the fame of the iPod and its role in the rising popularity and innovation of web feeds.

Via Wikipedia

Anyone can podcast and you could be the next big podcast.  It just depends on what your goal is and what your aiming for.    I will say that podcasting seems to be more and more out there than it was 10 years ago.

Why Podcast?

This has been asked over and over through the years. It varies from person to person. I will give you the general answers because it will be hot topic to anyone. Although some would say why not, here are in my mind the most common answers:

  • To Make even more Money

  • Connect to even more people around the world

  • easier than blogging

  • Your Personality

Like I said these are in my mind the most common reasons and are not all the possible answers that someone in the podcasting field might not have another reason. As you can see these are just generalized and should be used as reference and nothing more.

In the next part we will discuss the fundamentals of podcasting, what you will need and why you’ll need it. Hope you’ll stay tuned into this fun little subject!

Paul Sylvester

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To podcast or Not to podcast? That is the question!

Paul

US Navy 100514-N-7227H-012 Rear Adm. Craig Fal... Image via Wikipedia

I did love doing the Miketechshow Listener Round Table!

I kind of wish Mike would do more Listener Round tables.  Talking about the tech of the day and having those how to podcasts are something that really excites me.    I loved the discussions we had about our experiences and stuff.   I loved the creativity of the podcasts, and I would love to restart those podcasts.   I just have some problems with this.

First Problem: Extra Guests!

As you can see this would be the most crucial part of the whole problem.   Having guests who would want to come on board on a usual period.   I haven’t decided if i will do this but if i did, It would probably start off being a monthly podcast and then we’d go from there.

Second Problem: Intro Music and Album Art!

I have never been good with making intro music like Mike does on his podcast.   If I did decide to do this then I’d want to have everything set before I do start having a podcast.  I already have a good Podcasting headset which is the Plantronics .Audio 655 USB Multimedia Headset which is a very good headset to do a podcast with.   I even did most of the podcasts with this head set.   I absolutely love this little headset to use on any podcast.   That at least is not a problem for me right  now.

Third and Final Problem:  Editing!

Although I can edit them using Audicity, I do not have a good understanding just yet and also where I would host the file for you to download.   I can always host it on a free service but I think it is important for the listeners to be able to download them to listen.   Although I have looked around, I have found some great free services but I would like to not do free because most of them require an audio advertisement that i get no money for.   If I am going to do some kind of advertisement, then I would like to have the money to help support the blog or podcasting, so I can buy more stuff to make the podcast even better!

What do you think?   Do you want to do a listener round table like we used to or not??   You answer will determine what I do next!

Paul Sylvester

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TGIF: Time to watch Babylon 5 Season 1 through 5 On the Roku!!

Paul

As many of you know I simply love Science Fiction shows and movies. This weekend I intend to sit down and try to start watching Babylon 5 all the way through. This will be a marathon for me, but I thought people would like to know you can watch these online through your Roku Box and Netflix Accounts right nows. You can also watch these on the Tivo if you have Netflix Subscription!! Since I don’t have the URL’s for the netflix I will show you where else you can you view these:

Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on the Babylon 5 space station: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262. With its prominent use of planned story arcs, the series was often described as a “novel for television”.

 

I must admit when J. Michael Straczynski created this series he made it so you can watch each episode independently of each other but also create it where you could actually think of this as a novel for TV. Let me break it down so you can understand it just a little more, Each season has a season story arch but also a series story arch. For instance the first season we have character development along with understanding all the races. Season two has a season story arch about the impending fight with earth and series story arch of fighting with a new powerful enemy that is on the rise. I won’t spoil it for you but I simply love being able to watch these on my Television set without having to sit at my computer to watch these. I know with all the episodes available to watch on the Roku that I probably won’t get through but One or two seasons this weekend but I will continue next weekend to watch the rest of the series.

Have A Good Friday and See you Monday!!


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Macworld 2009 Roundup

Paul

I’m not a really big fan of Macintoshes but I thought I’d share with you what happened at Macworld and what is coming out this month after the announcements. So here’s the run down on Macworld Expo 2009:

  • [ad#ad2-right]17 Inch Mac Book Pro (Buy it From the Amazon Store) — “$2,799, 2.66 GHz and 4 GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive” and They have a battery exchange program for those who have bad batteries.   Engadget has some really good video’s of this new Laptop.  I also looked around Slashdot did a really good job on the summary of what happened at Macworld.   They are claiming it will be able to run 8 hours on battery but I will wait to see what people say after they get there hands on this.

  • I-Life 09 (Buy the older version from Amazon 2008) — Today at Macworld, Apple showed it off.  You can see the photos from Gizmodo and it looks nice.  Some of the stuff this can do is Facial Recognition, also use it with Flickr and Facebook.   Geotag Reversal so it can look up where you took the picture and pin point it on the map for later reference.  I-life 09 will cost 79$ solo or 99$ for Family.

  • Garage Band 09 (Buy Garageband 2008 Tutorial DVD from Amazon) — Some very popular guitar artists teaches you how to play a guitar.     Some Names that teach you how to play are Sting, And Noah Johns.  You will be able to buy more lessons on Itunes for 3.99 a lesson!  Not bad if you want to teach yourself.

Last thing and this is really important, Itunes will begin selling 3 tiers of songs 69 cents, 99 cents, and 1.29$ depending the popularity of the songs.  Apple also dropped 8 Million Songs from DRM.  They expect to have it up to 10 Million songs buy March.  Apple will also sell songs over the air on the Iphone 3G (Buy the Iphone 3G fro Amazon), so you no longer have to have your computer near you to buy a song.    This is about all Apple talked about at Macworld Keynote, if you have any other things that I missed buy all means leave a comment.