PODCASTING FOR THE REST OF US

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the concept of Podcasting these days as a steady portion of the mail I receive contains questions on the subject. I recently interviewed Todd Cochrane, the author of "Podcasting, The Do-It Yourself Guide" on the Computer America Show. During the program, I made a mental note to follow up with a column on the subject because it's interesting, and to let readers know my radio talk show has begun Podcasting as well.

The life blood of a radio station is of course, its listeners. The number of listeners tuning in directly corresponds to the number of advertisers who want to be on it as well as how much a station can charge them. With federal regulations, tariffs, limitations placed on broadcasting power and other restrictions, most every station today makes their programming available over the Internet in an effort to increase their listenership.

There are basically two ways to put your audio out on the Net. The first is to stream the audio live so that anyone online can instantly hear what is currently being broadcast. The second is to archive the content so that it can be downloaded and listened to whenever and wherever. If you choose to listen to that downloaded audio, your computer usually has everything to play it back. If you want to take it with you, that requires an additional step which takes the downloaded audio from your computer's hard drive and copies it to some kind of external media or player. For example, many choose to burn the audio to a CD so it can be played in the car's stereo, or transferred to a portable mp3 player to be enjoyed wherever you take it.
It's this latter scenario where Podcasts come in.

Many of the aforementioned radio stations that already have audio archives available are now creating Podcast pages. These are specially designed web pages that conform to specific code specifications that Podcasting software you run on your computer will interpret. And once you give it the exact Podcasting page address, the software will automatically log onto that website, check to see if there is new audio content since your last visit, download it to your computer if there is, and then transfer the audio into your connected mp3 player. And since this is all done unattended, many get their Podcasts overnight and find their players loaded and ready for the following day. By the way, that's how the term "Podcast" was coined since the most popular mp3 player to date is the Apple iPod.

It's important to point out that although many radio stations are making their content available for Podcasting, a vast number of individuals are making their own Podcasts as well. As popular as web logs or blogs have become, where people publicly post chronological entries to their online diaries, events, and anything else you can think, so also do they do with their Podcasts. The difference is that Podcasts are audio rather than written. And just as with a blog, Podcasts require regular updates otherwise the content may become stale. This is one of the reasons radio stations have it made since they already have daily programming to be Podcast. Coming up with new material for your Podcast may prove to be a bit daunting. But if you have lots to say and you want lots of people to hear you saying it, then creating your own Podcast may be the venue for you.

As with anything on the Internet, it takes some expertise to get your Podcast going, plus there are other hurdles to overcome such as where can you list your Podcast so that everyone will know where you are. Sure there's Google but there are specific places you should go to get your Podcast listed.

One place you can go to get started is to read Cochrane's book. In it he lists how to use Podcast software, get the necessary plug-ins for your browser, how Apple's iTunes supports Podcasts and lots more. "Podcasting, The Do-It Yourself Guide" ($19.99) is published by Wiley and is part of their ExtremeTech series of books. If you've ever been a frustrated radio talk show host, or you just want to speak your mind and have lots of people listen in, then Podcasting is your voice to be heard.

www.wiley.com/extremetech