A podcast on podcasting

I break down and talk about … podcasting.

Listen to the podcast: A Podcast on Podcasting

Transcript

This is Leo Notenboom with news, commentary and answers to some of the many questions I get at askleo.info.

When I first started podcasting, I wanted to avoid doing what every other podcaster seems to be doing, and that’s to talk about podcasting. Obviously, this once, I’ve changed my mind.

Podcasting is really just automated delivery of an audio file. And, in a sense, it’s been going on for a long time. My friend radio host David Lawrence was delivering audio content by email several years ago, well before podcasting was born. Email delivery became a problem due to little things like spam, and he suspended the operation until recently, when his “personal netcast” was reborn as a podcast.

The thing that’s special about podcasting is its delivery in an RSS feed, and the tools that automate it’s delivery. iPodder, for example, will download podcasts directly on to your iPod. And it doesn’t have to be an iPod! There are solutions for other devices as well, for example I listen to podcasts on my Treo 600 cell phone.

But once you get past the delivery, podcasting is just an audio recording. So if you can record an MP3 file, you can create your own podcast. In fact, there are services coming along that handle the recording and publishing for you! For example Aunty-Spam’s “Guest Ranters dot com”, one of the places that this podcast is republished, is one of several services that provide a phone number you can call to record your own podcast.

If you’re considering a regular podcast, it pays to invest just a little in education and possibly hardware like a quality microphone. I’m speaking on a Plantronics USB headset, for example, but there are tons of other options as well. I recently looked at a new guide by Jake Ludington, his “Podcasting Starter Kit” which is a great overview, and is probably going to lead me to upgrade some of my own equipment.

You’ll find links to the sites and resources I’ve mentioned, as well as related articles, in the shownotes. Visit askleo.info and enter 8526 in the go to article number box on the home page. You can also comment on this podcast, or any of my articles … I’d love to hear from you.

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