Overview
- Listen up! Podcasting, which has taken the online world by storm, involves recording a broadcast and embedding it in an RSS feed so listeners can download it to their PCs, iPods, MP3 players, or even their cell phones
- Written by one of the first and most popular podcasters, this cutting-edge book will have readers not only finding, downloading, and listening to podcasts, but creating and broadcasting their own
- Shows how to find podcasts to subscribe to; use podcasting software including ipodder, doppler, and more; create a podcast with just a PC or Mac; or build a professional studio for recording podcasts
- Addresses copyright issues and music ownership and offers helpful advice on understanding the "geeky stuff": RSS, XML, and Enclosures
- Mainstream media, including MSNBC and Time magazine, have recently started advertising on podcasts
Synopsis
Listen up! Podcasting, which has taken the online world by storm, involves recording a broadcast and embedding it in an RSS feed so listeners can download it to their PCs, iPods, MP3 players, or even their cell phones
Written by one of the first and most popular podcasters, this cutting-edge book will have readers not only finding, downloading, and listening to podcasts, but creating and broadcasting their own
Shows how to find podcasts to subscribe to; use podcasting software including ipodder, doppler, and more; create a podcast with just a PC or Mac; or build a professional studio for recording podcasts
Addresses copyright issues and music ownership and offers helpful advice on understanding the "geeky stuff": RSS, XML, and Enclosures
Mainstream media, including MSNBC and Time magazine, have recently started advertising on podcasts
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewPodcasting is hot. No, sizzling. How do you catch the wave before everyone and their uncle does? How do you find and subscribe to the best podcasts? Make it more convenient to listen to them? Create your own podcasts, and put them out there? Read Todd Cochrane’s book, that’s how.
Cochrane starts by capturing what makes podcasts so exciting: the ability to find and create programming that touches you personally, in an age where commercial radio has become the same bloodless mass-produced stuff, up and down the dial, everywhere you go.
Next, he shows how to choose the right software for you, comparing packages such as Doppler Radio, iPodder, jPodder, iPodderX, and even software for Linux and Pocket PCs. You’ll learn what you need to know about podcast aggregators (including emerging sites focused on specific topics); then walk through subscribing and listening to the podcasts you want.
Next, Cochrane turns to becoming a podcaster. You’ll find plenty of tips for preparing and organizing your show -- and for getting the right equipment, even if your budget is practically nothing. There’s coverage of where to record your podcast for maximum quality (one surprisingly quiet option for live interviews: your parked car). Cochrane walks through the recording and post-production process in detail, helping you avoid mistakes that can make your podcast unlistenable.
Finally, he turns to the crucial issue of finding the right hosting provider and plan. Bandwidth for delivering podcasts costs money; Cochrane offers practical tips for controlling those costs. Hear what you want, broadcast what you want -- the power is now officially in your hands. Bill Camarda, from the August 2005 Read Only