a startup podcast

Continuing with my assignments for Blue 2.0, I’ve created a podcast. The content is not the point of this entry; rather it’s the process for a first-timer that I thought you would find most interesting. First of all, a podcast is a series of downloadable audio (or sometimes video) “episodes” that offer subscription (like RSS) as an option for automatically downloading new episodes. Some listeners will download into their mp3 player; others will keep on their desktop or laptop computer. Still others won’t subscribe but will visit a webpage to download and listen as needed. Here’s my adventure in podcasting:

I was getting a late start with the last two weeks’ assignments, so to make up for lost time I tried to make the content of the podcast assignment as easy as possible. Looking around the room, I spied my copy of Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. Hmmm. First, I had to ensure that Spoon River Anthology was in the public domain. A visit to the online Gutenberg Project verified my suspicion that it was indeed.

To record my introductory episode and the subsequent readings of the epitaphs in the book, I used Audacity. Many if not most personal computers come with software to record audio, but I have always liked Audacity for the power it offers. I would suggest using software that is easy for you to use. Next … where to host it/post it? There are various resources for posting your own podcast, not the least of which is your own homepage. I decided to check out a free service. I kind of liked podbean at www.podbean.com. The instructions were easy to understand and the whole process seemed uncomplicated. Best of all for me, the web interface is almost exactly the same as it is here at WordPress. Here is a link to the resulting podcast weblog.