Podcasts

Podcasts are easy to do whether you DIY with an audio editor and your own website or use a third-party to create it and host it. A Podcast allows you to create a "chunk" of programming which can be accessed on-demand. Even the original idea of subscribing to Podcasts has been diluted. Now, just placing an audio file online at your website and informing users to click to listen to your "Podcast on-demand" is sufficient. Thanks to broadband, the minute your audio file begins playing uninterrupted through the end-users player, you have achieved the same effect as Internet Radio.

Once you've created enough Podcasts, there's nothing stopping you from offering them as one constant stream on an Internet Radio station. A service like Live365.com allows you to upload files and have them automatically cycled. In other words: you can eventually turn your individual Podcasts into an automated Internet radio station.

These microphones are awesome for podcasting if you don't already have a good mic - http://www.bluemic.com/ - I would recomend the snowball - http://www.bluemic.com/snowball/

Using GarageBand to create Podcasts
Before recording a podcast episode using GarageBand, be sure you have an internal microphone or microphone connected to the microphone-in connection on your computer. It's also good practice to have a set of headphones connected to the headphone jack of your computer so you can hear the audio as it will sound in the finished podcast episode. To record a podcast episode using GarageBand:

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 * 1) Open GarageBand. If a previous project opens, close it, and then in the window that appears, either double-click **Podcast** (GarageBand 09) or choose **New Podcast Episode** (previous versions).
 * 1) Next to "Save As", give the podcast episode a name, and then click **Create**.
 * 1) On the left, click the icon next to either "Male Voice" or "Female Voice".
 * 1) To ensure sound levels are adequate, speak into the microphone. Watch the green bars that appear next to the Voice option you selected. If the green bars don't move clear across, or they frequently bounce into the red, adjust the volume of your voice or adjust the GarageBand settings. **Note:** If your sound levels are not adequate, you may need to adjust your computer's sound and speech levels from within your System Preferences.
 * 2) To begin recording, click the red button, and then speak clearly into your microphone.
 * 1) To stop recording, click the red button again. The waveforms of the recorded sound will be displayed in the "Timeline" area of the GarageBand window.
 * 1) To add music or sound effects to the episode, from the **Control** menu, select **Show Loop Browser** or **Loop Browser**. When you find the loop you want to add, drag it to the "Jingles" or "Radio Sounds" track.
 * 1) To add an additional track, from the **Track** menu, select **New Track**.
 * 1) To listen to the recording, either drag the playhead to the beginning of the track, or click one of the backward arrow buttons ("Go to the beginning of the song." or "Move back one measure."), and then click the forward arrow button ("Start or stop playback.").
 * 1) To add photos or video to the episode, from the **Control** menu, select **Show Media Browser** or **Media Browser**, and then choose a file from under "Photos" or "Movies".
 * 1) To add podcast metadata, select "Podcast Track". If the "Episode Info" box isn't visible (in the bottom right), from the **Track** menu, select **Show Track Info**. In the "Episode Info" box, edit your podcast episode's "Title", "Artist", and "Parental Advisory", and enter a "Description". For more, see [|In iTunes, how do I edit track metadata?]
 * 1) To add album art, drag an image to the "Episode Artwork:" box in the lower left.
 * 1) To export the project as a podcast file, from the **Share** menu, select **Send Podcast to iTunes** or **Send to iTunes**. iTunes will open and prepare your podcast for playback.

If you want to find out more about GarageBand you can check out these apple documents



OK, so you've created a podcast, now what?
The “nuts and bolts” of podcasting is something called RSS, Really Simple Syndication. RSS is the aspect of podcasting which creates a file of instructions to make the audio you’ve created available to potential users. This file of instructions contains Extensible Markup Language or XML. It’s similar to HyperText Markup Language or HTML.

It doesn't really matter where your audio is located as long as your RSS file correctly points to it. It's as simple as that. If you feel more comfortable with your audio on your own website, great.

There’s a service called MyRSSCreator.com which writes all the code for you automatically! As a matter of fact, MyRSSCreator.com not only writes the code, it also will host your podcast “feed”. You can create new posts, edit them, or delete them from your own channel. You can even preload and schedule posts to appear at a later date.

Get your podcast on iTunes: http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html

Also:

Video Tutorials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RimJ6BfQaTE http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=223

10 tips http://www.voiceovertimes.com/2008/01/04/10-tips-for-editing-a-podcast-in-garageband/

Overall Tutorial http://radio.about.com/od/createyourownpodcast/ss/How-to-Create-Your-Own-Podcast-Make-Your-Own-Talk-Show-Music-Program-or-Audio-Stream.htm