Podcast Platform.com - Where Podcasters Feel At Home!

KIES "De Beste Podcast"

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:43:50 +0100

Speedlinq looft een aanmoedigingsprijs van 500 euro uit voor "De Beste Nederlandse Podcast".
En de aanwezigen op het NL.P.E bepalen welke podcast dat is!

Maar welke podcast zou dat moeten worden?
En waarom is dat dan De Beste Podcast?

Laat zien wie jij nomineert, en waarom...

(voor comments even inloggen svp)

Facts & Figures

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 17:39:05 +0200

Welcome to the Facts & Figures section!

In this section we gather all information regarding (Video) Podcasting and Podcasting Business. Here you find the summaries of related articles.

2006-06-21: (Podtrac, June 2006)

Brand awareness of podcasting among internetusers is 41% in June 2006.

2006-06-21: (Podtrac, May 2006)

44% of all (video)Podcastusers listen to/watch their podcastepisodes on a mp3player.

2006-04-25: (PQ Media; ‘Blog, podcast & RSS advertising outlook research’, April 2006)

Total spending on user-generated online media end 2005 is $20.4 million:
Blog ad market : $16.6 million
Podcast advertising: $3.1 million
RSS $650,000
End 2006 reaching $49.8 million, the total spending is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 106.1% from 2005 to 2010, reaching $757.0 million in 2010
The podcast ad spent is expected to be the largest of the three user-generated media in 2010: $327.0
Most popular categories of ad spend in 2005 (54.5%):

Technology: $4.0 million
Auto: $3.9 million
Media: $3.2 million

Top two advertising methods: ad insertions through advertising networks (39.2% - $8.0 million) and cost-per-click ads (38.2% - 7.8 million)
Expected to be the fastest growing method of ad spendings from 2005-2010 are affinity programs (such as LinkShare and Sharesale) which offer website publishers payment when a consumer purchases an advertised product online, with compound annual rate of 130.8%

2006-04-25: (Feedburner; ‘Expanding universe: Podcasting market update’, April 18, 2006)

Creation of podcast feeds has averaged 15% growth month over month
Podcast circulation is growing nearly 20% per month
Today more than 1.6 million aggregate subscribers to Feedburner-managed podcasts (more than doubled since Nov 2005)
iTunes is favorite for podcast subscribers, 43% of the market uses other applications
Before the end of 2006 Feedburner will likely manage over 100,000 podcasts representing more than 5 million subscribers

2006-04-25: (Forrester Research; ‘Podcasting hits the charts’, March 28 2006)

46% of 16- and 17-year old European consumers would consider paying for podcast content. 33% would accept advertising as a necessary evil to subsidize content.
2010 : more than 12.3 million listeners will synchronize podcasts to their MP3 players.

2006-06-21: (eMarketer, March 2006)

Expected weekly podcast users in the USA:

2006: 3 million podcast users

2010: 25 million podcast users

Expected podcast advertising spendings worldwide:

2006: € 63 million

2010: € 263 million

2006-04-25: Mobile Podcast: Melodeo Mobilecast (Rogers Wireless and Melodeo, February, 2006)

North America’s first mobile podcast service

2006-06-21: (Podtrac, January 2006)

78% of all adults in the USA who ever heart a podcast are male;
Of all podcast users who listened to a podcast in the last week are 51% feminine.

2006-04-25: (The Yankee Group; ‘Digital audio player’, 2005)

48.1 million consumers will own a digital audio player in USA in 2006 and by 2009, there will be 67.7 million digital music players.

2006-06-21: (Bridge Ratings; ‘The Podcasting Outlook’, November 2005)

Brigde Ratings is expecting 45 million podcast users in the US by 2010.

2006-06-21 (The Diffusion Group; ‘Podcasting: Fact, Fiction and Opportunity’, June 2005)

20% of all podcasts are played on a portable audio player.

Welcome to the Legal section!

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:40:06 +0200

Legal aspects of Podcasting are explained in this section

We guide you through the most important things you should know about legal issues, concerning five topics:

1 - Protecting your podcast
2 - Watch your mouth!
3 – Using music
4 – Interviews
5 – Quotes

1 - Protecting your podcast

There are no special laws for podcasts yet, but you do have to follow the rules of the constitution of your country. Everything that YOU make, belongs to YOU. A unique podcast and unique webpage content is legally referred to as a work (just like a painting) and is protected by the same law that is the legislator of copyright in your country (national) and by the Convention of Berne (international).

This means that all copyright laws that apply to paintings, apply to podcasts and shownotes as well. This implies that nobody is allowed to copy, reproduce, or publicate your work. To make sure you are the one to be pointed at as the creater of the podcast, put your name down as the author in the ID3 tags. The use of a copyright notice or copyright statement is not necessary, but it makes it easier for the viewer to see that the rights are yours.

Creative Commons License

"A Creative Commons license is based on copyright. So they apply to all works that are protected by copyright law (books, websites, blogs, photographs, films, videos, songs and other audio & visual recordings, for example). Software programs are also protected by copyright but, as explained below, we do not recommend that you apply a Creative Commons license to software code.

Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights—such as the right of others to copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to distribute your work and/or make money from your work. They do not give you the ability to restrict anything that is otherwise permitted by exceptions or limitations to copyright—including, importantly, fair use or fair dealing—nor do they give you the ability to control anything is not protected by copyright law, such as facts and ideas.

One final thing you should understand about Creative Commons licenses is that they are all non-exclusive. This means that you can permit the general public to use your work under a Creative Commons license and then enter into a separate and different non-exclusive license with someone else, for example, in exchange for money." (source:creativecommons.org)

There are different licenses you can choose from. It depends of your preferences of what you want people can do with your work.
At creativecommons.org you can find all the information you are looking for.

2 - Watch your mouth!

There are no laws that settle the contents of podcasts yet. This means that you can say whatever you want, if it is allowed according to the constitution of your country of course!

In every country there are certain rules what broadcasters and journalists can and cannot say in their shows. Podcasting will probably get those (or similar) laws in the future too. So if you don't want to change all your podcasts afterwards, it is better to follow these rules. This way, you won't get into trouble later.

3 - Using music

In order to use music in your podcasts, you need to be aware of the fact that there are 5 types of music:

Music of signed artists;
Music of unsigned artists;
Music with Creative Commons license;
Music of which the copyright has expired;
Podsafe music.

- 3.1 Music of signed artists

These artist are signed by record labels. Using this type of music in your podcasts means you have to pay royalties. So don't use it for free!

If you decide to use this type of music you have to pay for the rights to your local instance. These are some examples of instances in different countries. However, there are no rules yet concerning podcasting but these instances are working on it so keep in mind that you have to pay in the very near future!

USA: ASCAP
UK: MCPS/PRS
France: SDRM
Germany: GEMA
Italy: SIAE
Spain:SGAE
The Netherlands: Buma/Stemra
Belgium: Sabam
Scandinavia: NCB

- 3.2 Music of unsigned artists

This kind of music contains everything you create yourself and all music from musicians who are not signed by any record label.

- 3.3 Music with Creative Commons License

A Creative Commons license is based on copyright. So they apply to all works that are protected by copyright law. Artists use Creative Commons to protect their work as they wish. It tells you what you can and cannot do with the music. Most of the time it says the music can only be used for non-commercial purposes.

- 3.4 Music with expired copyright

The copyright on music is temporary: It expires after a curtain term. The overall rule is: There is copyright on music tracks until seventy years after the maker's death.

- 3.5 Podsafe music

Podsafe refers to a track that is legally permissible to use in a podcast. This is possible, because the band or artist is either not signed to a label or recorded their tracks under the Creative Commons licence. Independent artists often make their compositions available as podsafe music in order to get free publicity and airplay.

Artists can submit their own podsafe music on certain websites. Podcasters can sign up on those websites and use the music for their shows.

You don’t have to pay royalties or whatsoever. There'e only two things to do: Register the music you are using on the podsafe music website (so the artists know how much airplay they are getting) and mention the name of the artist and the site you got it from in your show.

4 - Interviews

If you are recording interviews, always get your interviewee to sign a quit claim. If you are interviewing through a phone, make sure you record his/her permission. If you don't get permission, your guest can always get back at his/her contribution to the show and say you can't use the material. That would be a big loss of time, effort and money!

5 - Quotes

You can use quotes in announcements, reviews, polemics, or scientific essays if the work you quote from is lawful publicated. The size and the number of quotes have to justify the aimed goal, and you have to name the source you got the quote from!

Quickstart Guide Juice

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 11:34:46 +0200

Welcome to the Quickstart Guide to Podcast Listening with Juice!

Learn how to get started with listening to podcasts with Juice.

- Download the software
- Browse for podcasts in the podcast directory
- Subscribe and download podcasts
- Move your podcasts to your favorite player

1 - Download the software

First you will need software that enables you to Subscribe to podcasts.
Go download Juice (Win and OS/X).

After downloading it, the software will automatically start-up the installation-software.
(If not, run Juice.exe in Windows)

2 - Browse for podcasts in the podcast directory

Juice has its own podcast directory.

After opening Juice, click on ‘Podcast directory’ on top of the screen. Now there are different dossiers.
Double click on the file ‘Podcast Alley Top 50’ for example. Now you can see all files in this category. Now double click on the file called ‘Nobody likes onions’ (for example).
The next thing you see is a popup in your browser: 'Add a feed'. It shows the url to ‘Nobody likes onions’. Next, click on 'Save'.
There is an option to add other podcast feeds to Juice as well, in case you find some interesting podcasts some place on the internet.
Click on the RSS feed and copy the xml link to ‘Podcast directory’ at the free space next to ‘Add’. (Or click the green button with 'Subscriptions')

3 – Subscribe and download podcasts

Now you saved the xml link, go to the section called ‘Subscriptions’. It says you subscribed to ‘Nobody likes onions’. After you click on it, all the existing episodes will appear in the bottom screen. You can read the show notes of every episode by clicking on the right mouse button. Select the shows you want to download and click on the button with the blue arrow (check/download selected feed) on top of the screen.

At the section called ‘Downloads’ the shows you have selected appear. This way you can check the selected episodes are being downloaded. To get the newest episodes of your subscribed podcasts click ‘Subscriptions’ and the green button with the arrows (Check for new podcasts).

4 - Move your podcasts to your favorite player

Once your download is finished it is ready to listen to.
Go to 'File' on top of your screen then select ‘Preferences’. Go to ‘Player’ and choose a player to play your podcast in. Save your settings and return to your downloads. Click on the green arrow on the left of your downloaded podcast.

In case you also run iTunes it is possible to get your podcasts in de iTunes library by selecting iTunes as player.

Using Podsafe Music

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:36:01 +0200

- What is podsafe music?
- Using podsafe music
- 1. Music of signed artists
- 2. Music of unsigned artists
- 3. Music of which the copyright has expired
- Websites that contain podsafe music

What is podsafe music?

Artists can submit their own podsafe music on certain websites. Podcasters can sign up on those websites and use the music for their shows.

Using podsafe music

In order to use music in your podcasts, you need to be aware of the fact that there are 3 types of music:

Music of signed artists
Music of unsigned artists
Music of which the copyright has expired

1. Music of signed artists
These artist are signed by record labels. Using this type of music in your podcasts means you have to pay royalties. So don't use it for free!
2. Music of unsigned artists
This kind of music contains everything you create yourself and all music from musicians who are not signed by any record label.
3. Music with expired copyright
The copyright on music is temporary: It expires after a curtain term. The overall rule is: There is copyright on music tracks until seventy years after the first release.

This rule is not as easy as it looks, so read more about this one at our Legal section!

So, the easiest way to put music in your podcast is by using podsafe music. You don’t have to pay royalties or whatsoever. There are only two things to do: Register the music you are using on the podsafe music website (so the artists knows how much airplay they are getting) and mention the name of the artist and the site you got it from in your show.

Websites that contain podsafe music:

Player Software

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:52:43 +0200

- Default audio-player
- Free podcast players on your PC
- 1. Winamp
- 2. Windows Media Player
- 3. Quicktime
- 4. Realplayer

- Default audio-player

Usually, when you double-click on an mp3-file on your computer, it automatically starts playing using the default audio-player installed with your Operating System.
For your typical computer, that would be:

Windows Media Player on MS-Windows,
Quicktime on Macintosh computers, and
the default player depending on your Linux-distribution.

But in case this method doesn't work, or you desire another player than the default one, still no worries!
Please continue to read...

- Free podcast players on your PC

You can easily start listening to podcasts (and any other audio file) by downloading a free audio player onto your computer.

Audio players that are only used for playing music and podcasts, are very much alike. The following players are some well-known players:

1. Winamp

for Windows
Winamp is easy to handle and the most common used player. It supports every major audio format. To download Winamp click HERE

2. Windows Media Player

for Windows
For those who don't want to be bothered with looking for a program and just happen to be running Windows, Windows Media Player is a great way of playing your audio files. WMP supports most audio files.

3. Quicktime

for Mac and Windows
Quicktime is a well-known player as well. It plays almost any audio file type. Beware: If you don't want to receive weekly emails Quicktime news, don’t forget to undo the 'Sign-Up' check box! To download the free Quicktime Player click HERE.

4. Realplayer

for Windows
With the Realplayer (standard version) you can play every type of media files you will probably need. The quality of both sound and vision is good> It also many portable players, such as the iPod. To download the Realplayer click HERE.

Finding Podcasts

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:16:29 +0200

- What is a podcast directory?
- Categories of podcasts
- Weblinks to podcast directories

- What is a podcast directory?

A podcast directory collects podcasts for you. The only thing you have to do is search for the subject you want information about. This is an easy way to find podcasts if you don’t know which podcasts you are looking for exactly. There are a lot of websites that gather these shows and file them in directories like sports, business, and entertainment. Like using a phonebook to search for telephone numbers, podcast listeners use podcast directories to search for podcasts.

- Categories of podcasts

Browsing through a podcast directory shows the variety of available podcasts.
There are podcasts about almost every subject you can think of. To give you a little appetite, here are some examples: Sports, Business, Comedy, Technology, Music, Finance, Harry Potter, Knitting, Programming, Language courses, Painting, Sex and what-not! There are no institutions controlling the podcast universe (yet), so there are no bounderies regarding the creativity in podcasts!

- Weblinks to podcast directories

...through a build in podcast directory in your podcatcher

...some place on a website

1. The first place to look for podcasts is in the podcatcher software you downloaded. If you haven't done this yet, HERE is your guide.

Podcatchers like iTunes and Juice have their own inside directory. By opening the directory you can see all subdirectories they offer. By clicking on a subdirectory it shows all podcasts of that particular subject. Now you can choose which podcasts are interesting enough for downloading!

2. The second way to find podcasts is at some place on a website. PodcastPlatform helps you getting started by giving you some links to large podcast directories.

The world of podcasting is moving very fast so here a glimpse of today’s offer:

podcast.net
Over 26.000 podcasts in 18 categories and contains sub subdirectories
podcastalley
Over 17.000 podcasts in 16 categories, no subdirectories, and contains video podcasts
podcasts.yahoo.com
This is not a directory but a huge search engine just for podcasts
podcastingnews
digitalpodcast
Over 15.000 podcasts in 29 categories
idiotvox
podcastempire
Over 11.000 podcasts
podcastpickle
Over 6.600 podcasts
podfeed.net
Over 4.000 podcasts

Quickstart Guide iTunes

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 12:17:54 +0200

Welcome to the Quickstart Guide to Podcast Listening for iTunes!

Here you can learn how to get started with listening to podcasts with iTunes.

- Download the software
- Browse for podcasts in the podcast directories
- Listen, then subscribe
- Listen to your podcast on your favourite player

1 - Download the software

First you will need software that enables you to Subscribe to podcasts.
Go download iTunes (Win and OS/X).

After downloading it, the software will automatically start-up the installation-software.
(If not, run Setup.exe in Windows or double-click on the Installer in the iTunes folder.)

Installed? You just finished the first step!

2 – Browse for podcasts in the podcast directories

In iTunes, the ability to browse for podcasts has been built-in.
After opening iTunes, click on the item named Music Store on the left. (Don't be afraid, everything we are going to do is Free!) Next, a screen with a LOT of information appears.
Ignore all of it but one box on the left, named "Inside the Music Store". In that box you see an item named "Podcasts". Click on "Podcasts". The next screen you get is focussed on podcasting.
Go to the search-box in your left, and type in "Adam Curry". The resulting page will show you a list of podcasts, all more or less related to Adam Curry. If all went well, you will notice a podcast called "Adam Curry: Daily Source Code" somewhere in the top ten.
Please click the little arrow next to the title of the podcast, and you will enter the information page for the Daily Source Code.

3 – Listen, then subscribe

First, when selecting podcasts, you listen first before subscribing.
Double-click a episode of the Daily Source Code.
You'll get a sample of the show (the playtime is not more than a couple of minutes at the most.)

Next, if you like what you hear, click the button "Subscribe".
The podcast "Adam Curry: Daily Source Code" is now added to your podcasts.
On the utmost-left in your iTunes window you can find an item named "Podcasts" (in the same column as Library, Radio etc.). If you click on it, you'll enter your list of podcast subscriptions. The Daily Source Code should now be part of that list.

You can enter the list of previous episodes by clicking on the small triangle, placed left of the title. You can download previous episodes by clicking on the button labeled "Get". You can listen to each individual podcast by double-clicking on its title.

4 - Listen to your podcast on your favourite player

iPods
The iPod and the iTunes software work seamlessly together!
If you indicate in iTunes you want to synchronize your podcasts to your iPod, new episodes will be automatically put onto your iPod every time you connect it to your computer. (Check "Preferences", "iPod" in iTunes for details.)

Other audio players
There are basically two ways of getting podcasts on other audio-players from iTunes.
First, check-out the location (pathname on your hard disk) of your music-directory in iTunes.
(Check "Preferences", "Advanced" in iTunes for details.)

If your mp3-player shows on your computer as just another disk drive, you can drag-and-drop your podcasts from the podcast-directory onto the mp3-player.
If your mp3-player came with software to synchronize it with your computer, you might be able to do the following.
In your setup, enter the pathname of your iTunes/Podcasts-directory, this is the location where your soundfiles can be found. The software automatically sync's your computers directories content with that of the mp3-player.

Gear

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 04:42:52 +0200

Choosing your Studio Setup

In this section we'll introduce you to the hard- en software to setup your Podcast Studio. (The same for a Vidcast Studio will follow shortly.)

Since there are about 267,984,789,512 possible Studio setups, we have decided to simplify things a bit. All for your convenience, of course!

We'll introduce you to:

The Minimal setup
(We'll introduce you to the Basic and the De-Luxe setups shortly...)

The Minimal setup

The minimal setup is really the MINIMAL Podcast Studio setup.
The thought behind it: Add As Little As Possible.

The microphone

For computers with a built-in microphone, which is often the case with laptops, it's easy. Stick with what you have!
In other cases, buy the cheapest microphone avaible to either stick in your soundcard/line-in (a passive microphone with a mono mini-jack plug).

Or, if that is cheaper or more convenient, buy a USB-microphone.

The recording software

Most computers with a sound input already installed, have some audio-software pre-installed. Either as part of the Operating System (Windows, OS/X, Linux, and others), or as an additional software package provided by the computer manufacturer.

If that's the case, please check if:

the software enables you to record, using the microphone you just have choosen;
the software is able to save the recording as an mp3 audio-file, including ID3-tags!.

If you get an affermative on both questions, your OK.
Of not, please download the free Audiacity (Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux).

The feed software

In the minimal setup, there is no feed software.
You just use your two typing-fingers (if you type like we do, that is) and the standard text-editor that has been installed together with your Operating System:

Notepad (Windows)
TextEdit (Mac OS/X)
vi, Emacs and about 2 million others (Linux)

The publishing software

To publish, you have to choice to:

publish your Podcast on your own website, or
publish your Podcast using one of the special Podcast Hosting Providers (like Feedburner and the Podcast Delivery Network.

When you choose to publish on your own website, you will need a program to transfer files from you own computer to your website-server.
Software that will take care of that is called an FTP-client, where FTP stand for File Transfer Protocol.
Many free packages are available for download. Check out www.TuCows.com and search for "FTP" with your particular Operating System selected.

The headphones

You'll need a set of headphones to listen to your own recording the way your audience will!
Apart from that, headphones give you the ability to listen to the sound you are recording, without the microphone picking up the signal as well.
(If a microphone picks up its own signal after it has passed through an amplifier, the resulting sound is a high tone increasing in volume. This phenomenon is called "a feedback loop". Jimi Hendrickxkxxx made this sound very popular, using it to create guitar sounds that went on for ever. Although he happened to be very successful, you probably don't want that kind of noise in your Podcast.)
Since we're talking Minimal Setup here, let's grab a pair of headphones laying around, or buy a cheap pair of those earplugs.

That's it!
Did you notice, the only item that might (!) include a purchase is the additional microphone. And we can inform you that you can buy a microphone of reasonable quality for less than fourty bucks/euro's!
In other words, starting your own Podcast requires nothing more than initiative and some free software. And maybe, just maybe, spending a little money.

Shift into gear with Podcasting!

The PLATFORM TEAM
;-)

Post-Production

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 17:34:33 +0200

- Follow the created concept
- Check volume levels
- Create pauses
- Other tips

Follow the created concept

In order to get episodes that match the format you created, check the following things:

The length of your podcast. Is it longer than you promised to your audience? Make it shorter!
The goal of your podcast. Does your episode match the overall goal of your series of podcasts? Did you mention all the things you wanted your audience to hear?
Music and sound. Is there enough music or sound in the podcast, to prevent your podcast from being boring?

Check volume levels

Always check the volume levels of all parts of your podcast. Is the volume level the same over the entire episode? This is extra important if there is more than one host or with interviews. If all the spoken parts are checked, you should check the music level as well! You don't want your audience to hear the music louder than your voice! You can use a music bed under your text, but make sure your voice can be easily heard! (Unless your audience prefers the music, of course.)

Create pauses

Don't expect your audience to keep up with 20 minutes of talking without a single pause! This sounds obvious, but is often done wrong. Best is to create a pause after every complicated sentence. Keep in mind that listeners hear your information for the first time, while you probably read it three times before.

Depending on your show, you should decide whether to do something with these pauses or not. You can just create silences of a second (maybe even two), but you can also use sound as a bumper between parts.

Either way, it divides your podcast into little parts, which is good for keeping the attention of your audience.

Other tips

Use (functional) sounds
For instance: beach sounds if your talking about travelling or traffic noises if you are talking about a city
Edit with a conscience
Don't edit in a way that is misleading. If the quote you want to use is pointing at something that is said earlier, repeat the issue that he or she is referring to!
Check sentences...
like "I'll get back to that point later" or "Like I said before" Best is to prevent these kind of sentences, but if you choose to use them, check if the thing you are referring to is still valid!
Get feedback
Get other people to listen to your podcasts critically! Try to really do something with the comments you get! This is the best way of improving your podcast.

Advertising

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 17:29:41 +0200

Advertising in podcasts

This page is aimed at advertisers. Why should you invest money in advertising through podcasting? Well, that's simply because podcasting is narrowcasting! Every single podcast subscriber is definitely interested in the chosen subject of that particular podcast.

So go find a podcast that gives information about something in your specific market! This way you can reach a very specific audience for relatively low costs.

Audience and prices

As a marketing manager you probably want to know how large your audience is. There are more and more podcasters that sign up their shows at special websites (like feedburner.com)that measure the number of subscriptions and downloads of the podcast episodes. This way it is easy to find out how large the audience really is!

Advertising models

There are several ways of advertising in podcasting. And as for prices: It is just a matter of supply and demand! Get yourself a good deal!

As for now, the best advertising model for podcasting is yet to be discovered. The following examples are just a number of the current possibilities to get revenues:

Pay per click model

Billboarding
Use sponsoring on your podcasts: This podcast is brought to you by...

Advertisements in the episode
Ads at the start of your podcast or in the middle, like a commercial break.

Let subscribers pay!
The first paid podcast is born! You can subscribe to The Ricky Gervais Show for $7 a month (for four episodes of 30 minutes). We will see how that turns out!

Micropayments
This system lets your audience pay a small amount of money per listen. Companies like PayPal and Amazon already sell podcasts this way.

Of course, these examples are just a handful of the endless ways of advertising in your podcast. Instead of using your advertisers IN your podcast, also consider using your podcast as an extra service for your customers. In this model, you just sell your products and services through your website, attracted by your own podcast! The benefits of this model include expanding your brand, giving your customers extra information, and spreading your company's ideas! This is really good for your company image and reputation. If you turn out to be an expert on the subject, customers see you know what you are talking about!

New advertising models will be created and old models will be updated a lot in the following years. Keep a close eye on all that is happening in the advertising area!

Recording your Podcast

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 17:18:00 +0200

- On-line and batch recording
- Six steps to recording your podcast
- Tuning your gear
- Two tracks, or not?
- Testing
- Recording
- Listening
- Done

On-line and batch recording

Here at The PLATFORM we distinguish two kinds of recording:

On-line recording:
The all-in-one-go kind of recording. For the Podcaster it means having all songs, sound-effects and microphones ready to be triggered and blended into the recording. Having done the recording, there are some limits in editing in post production. If you want a high quality podcast, on-line recording is the most difficult.
Batch recording:
Spoken voice first, sometimes even in several separate recordings, and adding music and sound-effects at a later stage (in post production). It leaves more room for editing out mistakes, improving sound quality, and perfecting the overall experience of your podcast.

For podcasting rookies, we highly recommend the batch recording method!
The section below is useful for both methods of recording, and we specifically say so, if it is not.

Six steps to recording your podcast

Tuning your gear
Two Tracks, or not?
Testing
Recording
Listening
Done

Tuning your Gear

The first thing to do is making sure your sound is OK, meaning:

No Clipping: Regardless of your setup, you always have to make sure that the sound is not too loud, causing an input-overload. This would cause the sound in being cut-off, resulting in a sever loss of quality of your overall sound. This effect is called clipping. Fortunately, all recording equipment and software is equipped with VU-meters to indicate the signal-level. (Yes, it's the green-yellow-red things going up-and-down or right-to-left with the same rythm as the noise.) Make the loudest sound that you would normally make in your recording, like a cough, a well pronounced "P" or "T" sound, and make sure you set you levels just high enough to avoid the meters to go into the red. Well done!
No Distance: On the other hand, also make sure that you are audible enough. Nothing is more irritating for your audience than having to turn up the Volume, only to have their eardrums blown out when they switch to another Podcast.
Right Timbre: When your input-levels have been correctly set, it's time to listen to the vibe of the sound. (If you don't like the sound of your own voice when you hear it played back, no worries, most people don't! You'll get over it!) Check if the "S" doesn't sound too shrill (equalizer: less high tones), or the "O"-sound not to bassy (equalizer: less bass tones). Just play with the setting of your recording-equipment until you are satisfied. And please ask others for feedback about your sound!
Depending on your Podcast Studio (probably also known as Bedroom, Bathroom, Study, Shed or Trinity) you might have to deal with some environmental sound-issues. What usually works best is avoiding background noise as much as possible (which also means speaking close to your microphone), and
If you are using a microphone pre-amplifier (pre-amp, for short), or a more advanced piece of recording software, you might even setup the compressor, limiter and noise gate. (A compressor modifies (compresses) the sound-level of your input, thus avoiding changes in volume. A limiter, on the other hand, limits the input-level, thus avoiding clipping of your sound. And lastly, a noise-gate blocks the input-signal when it falls below a certain level, thus avoiding a lot of background noise during silent moments in a recording.)
Rock-steady Quality If you are ready, please note all settings! Recording your next episode will be a lot easier when you only have to look up the previous settings. And it also comforts your audience if they recognize your sound. Keep in mind that, during the day, your voice shifts in pitch. In the morning you have a deeper sounding voice than at the end of the day. If possible, plan your recordings at the same time of day.

Two tracks, or not?

Or maybe even more tracks!
If you are using multi-track recording software, and you are not of the "on-line recording" persuasion, you might consider using tracks for each individual piece of sound you are using in your recording. This enables you to set the sound-settings, and sound-effects (like equalizer, delay, pitch-shifter and what-not), for each voice, song, and other sounds you might be using. It gives you maximum control over the way way your Podcast sounds in the end.

Testing

Before you really start, just play around a bit and create a recording to test if everything comes together the way you planned. This saves a lot of time, and headache, compared to doing you show all over again.

Recording

Before you hit record, just one last check.
Make sure that you are recording at the highest quality possible. (The settings are usally found at the input/output section, with sound-card related information and settings.) Recording at 44,100 Herz/24 bits, creates CD-quality audio. The secret of creating a high-quality mp3-soundfile, is to keep all audio before the compression-process (that's when the mp3-file is created) at the highest quality possible. OK, now that we're ready...
press Record!

Listening

Now that you recorded everything there is to record for this episode, lean back and listen to it. And, if possible, have others listen as well!
When you are still at it, you can decide to do some recordings over again. The moment you decide to move to the next step, post-recording, it will be a lot more difficult to get into the recording-mode again. When quietly listening to the recording, you usually notice some background noise, stuttering, or other imperfections that you didn't notice during the recording. And, depending on what you want to offer your audience, you might want to change that piece of audio.

Done

Now that you're done, it's time to celebrate!
Save the file, still at the highest quality possible (because there's some post-production ahead), and take a nice and cool bottle of Heineken from the fridge...

The PLATFORM TEAM
;-)

Creating a Feed

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 02:34:27 +0200

Help! How do I create a Podcast XMl/RSS file?

Easy--cheat! copy one!

Sometimes the easiest way to do something is to just do it. And for that purpose, we are pleased to offer you a sample RSS/XML file that you can use for your podcast. Simple copy the file below and save it as a text file with a name like mypodcast.xml. Then, go through and switch out the details that are in bold with your details and upload it to your webserver.

BLUE STUFF--replace

BOLD BLACK--remove

<rss version="2.0">

<channel>

<title>My Podcast</title>

<link>http://www.mywebsite.com</link>

<description>THIS IS WHERE YOU PUT IN A DESCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST / BAND, ETC.</description>

<generator>My Text Editor</generator>

<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>

<language>en-us</language> Of course, you can put in a different language

<copyright>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/</copyright>OPTIONAL--you may not want this language

<managingEditor>myemail@mywebsite.com </managingEditor>

<webMaster>myemail@mywebsite.com </webMaster>

<pubDate>Thu, 1 Dec 2005 18:17:37 -0800</pubDate>

<lastBuildDate>Thu, 1 Dec 2005 18:17:37 -0800<</lastBuildDate>

<category>Rock</category>

<ttl>720</ttl>

<image>

<url>http://www.mywebsite.com/podcastimage/144.jpg</url>This is your logo.

<title>My Podcast</title>

<link>http://www.mywebsite.com</link>

<width>300</width>

<height>300</height>

</image>

Using special tags:

Now, once you do all that, you go through and do it again with "special tags" for iTunes

<itunes:author>My Name</itunes:author>

<itunes:subtitle>THIS IS WHERE YOU PUT IN A SHORT TITLE OF THE PODCAST / BAND, ETC.</itunes:subtitle>

<itunes:summary>THIS IS WHERE YOU PUT IN A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST / BAND, ETC.</itunes:summary>

<itunes:keywords>rock band music punk techno etc etc etc... </itunes:keywords>

<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>Put YES if you use language or sex or naughty things.

<itunes:image href="http://www.mywebsite.com/podcastimage/144.jpg"/>

<itunes:owner>

<itunes:name>My Name</itunes:name>

<itunes:email>myemail@mywebsite.com</itunes:email>

</itunes:owner>

<itunes:category text="Rock">

<itunes:category text="Music"/>

</itunes:category>

What's next?

OK, that is all that you need for the PODCAST, now you need to do the stuff for each show. Every time you add a new show, you'll need to copy the stuff below and paste it into your RSS/XML, editing it to reflect the details of the new show.

<item>

<title>Podcast 1: The Show at CBGB</title>

<link>http://www.mywebsite.com/mp3/show1.mp3</link>

<description>We played CBGB last night eventhough it has now turned into yuppie condos.</description>

<author>myemail@mywebsite.com</author>

<pubDate>Sun, 27 Nov 2005 18:17:32 -0800</pubDate>

<category>Rock</category>

<enclosure url="http://www.mywebsite.com/mp3/show1.mp3" length="110039585" type="audio/mpeg"/> This is a VERY important line as it tells the listeners' software where to find your mp3s. Please be sure to fill it out with the link to the mp3, the length (mbs x 1000 basically) and the type, which is usually audio/mpeg).

And then we do it again for iTunes...

<itunes:author>The Band</itunes:author>

<itunes:subtitle>We played CBGB last night eventhough it has now turned into yuppie condos.</itunes:subtitle>

<itunes:summary>We played CBGB last night eventhough it has now turned into yuppie condos.</itunes:summary>

<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>

<itunes:duration>11:00</itunes:duration>

</item>

Each episode of your podcast is defined as the items between the <item> </item> tags. To create a new listing, copy everything from <item> to </item> and paste it in your RSS (usually above the previous show but below the basic / <channel> information).

and don't forget this as the last line of your file...

</channel>

Now upload the file to your webserver (remember the exact address) and check the file by running it through the free XML validation programs that are on the net.

Podcast Directories

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 01:39:59 +0200

Welcome to the Links to Podcast Directories: the Yellow Pages of Podcasting!

AllPodcasts

Website: http://www.allpodcasts.com/

Submit here: http://www.allpodcasts.com/Update.aspx

Blinkx Podcast and Video Directory

Website: http://www.blinkx.tv/

Submit here: http://www.blinkx.tv/beta/PodcastSubmit/

BlogExplosion Podcast Directory

Website: http://www.blogexplosion.com/podcast/

Submit here: http://www.blogexplosion.com/members/podcast_main.php

BlogUniverse Podcast Directory

Website: http://www.bloguniverse.com/radlinks/

Digital Podcast

Website: http://www.digitalpodcast.com/

Submit here: http://www.digitalpodcast.com/add_anywhere.php?cat=1

GetAPodcast.com

Website: http://www.getapodcast.com/addfeed.aspx

Gigadial

Website: http://www.gigadial.net/

IdiotVox

Website: http://www.idiotvox.com/

Submit here: http://www.idiotvox.com/index.php?spid=7

Internet Archive

Website: http://www.archive.org

iPodderX

Website: http://ipodderx.com/directory

Submit here: http://ipodderx.com/directory/add

Loomia - Podcasts and syndicated media directory

Website: http://www.loomia.com/

Submit here: http://www.loomia.com/addfeed

Odeo

Website: http://www.odeo.com/

Submit here: http://odeo.com/create/import-feed

Ourmedia

Website: http://ourmedia.org

Submit here: http://ourmedia.org/publish

Open Media Network

Website: http://www.omn.org/

Submit here: http://www.omn.org/submitfeeds.htm

OpenPodcast

Website: http://www.openpodcast.org/

Penguin Radio

Website: http://www.penguinradio.com/podcasting/#version

Plazoo

Website: http://www.plazoo.com/

Submit here: http://www.plazoo.com/en/addrss.asp

Pocketcasting

Website: http://www.pocketcasting.com/

Submit here: http://directory.pocketcasting.com/

Podcast.net

Website: http://www.podcast.net/

Submit here: http://www.podcast.net/addpod.cgi

Podcast Alley

Website: http://www.podcastalley.com/index.php

Submit here: http://www.podcastalley.com/add_a_podcast.php

Podcast Bunker

Website: http://www.podcastbunker.com/

Submit here: http://www.podcastbunker.com/Podcast/...

PodcastDirectory

Website: http://www.podcastdirectory.com

Submit here: http://www.podcastdirectory.com/add/

PodcastHost

Submit here: http://podcasthost.com

Podcast Pickle

Website: http://www.podcastpickle.com/?p=home

Submit here: http://www.podcastpickle.com/actions/addCast.php

Podcasting News

Website: http://www.podcastingnews.com/

Submit here: http://www.podcastingnews.com/

Podcasting Station

Website: http://www.podcasting-station.com/index.php

Submit here: http://www.podcasting-station.com/submitrss.php

PodcastShuffle

Website: http://www.podcastshuffle.com/

Submit here: http://www.podcastshuffle.com/submitpodcast.cfm

Podcast Tools

Website: http://www.podcasting-tools.com/

Submit here: http://www.podcasting-tools.com/submit-podcasts.htm

PodCatch

Website: http://www.podcatch.com/

Ping URL here: http://www.podcatch.com/howToPing

Podfeed

Website: http://www.podfeed.net/

Submit here: http://www.podfeed.net/add_podcast.asp

Podfeeder

Website: http://www.podfeeder.com/

Submit here: http://www.podfeeder.com/add/

Potkast

Website: http://www.potkast.com

Podscope

Website: http://www.podscope.com/

Submit here: http://www.podscope.com/submiturl.php

Podsites.com

Website: http://podsites.com/index.cfm

Submit here: http://podsites.com/submit.cfm

PublicRadioFan

Website: http://www.publicradiofan.com/podcasts.html

RSS Network

Website: http://www.rss-network.com/index.php

Submit here: http://www.rss-network.com/submitrss.php

SingingFish

Website: http://search.singingfish.com/sfw/home.jsp

Submit here: http://search.singingfish.com/sfw/submit.html

Spanish Directory

Website: http://www.podcastellano.com/directorio-de-podcasts

Spanish Directory - Spain

Website: http://www.podcast-es.org/index.php/Directorio

Syndic8 Podcasts

Website: http://www.syndic8.com/podcasts/

Get reviewed at Podcast411

Website: https://sourceforge.net/projects/opda/

And you thought you would run out of choice...?!

Enjoy the ever expanding Pod-o-sphere!

The PLATFORM TEAM
;-)

Podcast Production Software

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 01:22:43 +0200

Podcasting Software (Publishing)

Software for producting Podcasts.
The main part of this overview was found on PodcastingNews, one of the largest Podcast Directories.

Audacity - free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.
Easy Podcast - a cross-platform GUI tool for easy podcast publication.

Windows Podcasting Software

BlogMatrix Sparks! - An all-in-one podcasting solution that lets you record, mix, share, publish, store and listen.
ePodcast Creator - An integrated podcasting application that lets you record, edit, create an RSS feed, and upload your podcast.
ePodcast Producer - All-in-one software for podcasting that will record, edit, create an RSS feed and upload your podcast, all from within one handy interface. In addition to the features of iPodcast Creator, Producer offers Real Audio compatibility, integrated CD ripping and other features.
Escapepodder - automatically generates an RSS feed and HTML for podcasts based on MP3s in a directory.
FeedForAll - an application that streamlines creating and publishing RSS feeds.
Folio First - knowledge base application with RSS & podcast support.
Free Podcast Maker - simple tool for creating podcast XML files.
MixCast Live - lets you record podcasts, create show notes and publish feeds.
Podcast Accelerator - podcast module for the NexGen Digital automation system.
Podifier - a simple to use application that automates the creation of an RSS feed, the enclosing of one or more MP3 files, and the ftp application to upload them to a server.
PodProducer - a free Windows podcasting application.
RecorderPro - RecorderPro produces professional-quality podcast recordings in MP3 format. The VoiceBoost feature performs the same signal enhancement used on radio broadcasts for clarity and presence. The recording undo feature allows you to record in sections for perfect presentations.
Synclosure - Synclosure is a RSS aggregator to flexibly download files in enclosures. It supports filter keywords, custom actions and a caching mechanism. (Source code available for other platforms).
Webmaster Podcaster - Windows app for creating RSS/XML feeds for podcasts.
WebPod Studio - software for creating audio and video podcasts. Comes in three editions: Standard, Professional and Enterprise.
Winpodcast - free application for creating podcasts.

Macintosh Podcast Software

Cast Easy - an application designed to help users create, publish, and organize new and previously published podcasts.
Feeder - an application for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds.
FeedForAll - an application that streamlines creating and publishing RSS feeds.
Free Podcast Maker - simple tool for creating podcast XML files.
Podcaster - app to create podcasts and enhanced podcasts.
Podifier - a easy-to-use application that automates the creation of an RSS feed, enclosing of one or more MP3 files, and FTP'ing files to a server.
ProfCast - an all-in-one presentation to podcast tool for the Mac. ProfCast provides tools for lecturers to create podcasts from their lectures, offering an integrated workflow for creating, recording and publishing podcasts.
RapidWeaver - easy-to-use blogging tool that supports podcasting.

Perl

Podcastamatic - a tool for automating the creation of webpages and feeds for podcasts based on MP3 tags.

Server-Side Software

Dircaster - drop this script in a directory and it will generate an podcast feed based off the MP3 files in that directory. To 'cast a new file, simply upload it to the directory containing this script.Requires PHP4 or better.
LoudBlog - audioblogging and podcasting software for PHP/MySQL servers
PodAdmin - a free web-based podcast manager.
PodPress - plug-in for WordPress that adds full-featured podcasting support.
QnECMS - (Quick and Easy Content Management System) is a commercial Web content management system that provides the ability to create podcasting as part of its Weblogging feature.
Remote Dircaster - auto-generates a podcast XML file, from mp3 files on any ftp server.
Widget Podcast - PHP/MySQL software that lets users manage and publish podcasts; supports iTunes.
WordPress - blogging application has basic support for podcasting.

Online Services

Apply Tools' Podcast RSS Feed Generator - form based online feed generator
AudioBlog - a podcast and videoblog recording service that enables people to post to blogs, post to RSS, upload audio and video, record MP3 files over the web, and phone in a post (to blog or RSS).
ClickCaster - easy to use podcasting solution that gives anyone with an Internet connection the ability to create, publish, listen and subscribe to an on-demand Podcast.
MyRSSCreator - web-based tool that lets users upload and host their podcast, as well as produce the rss feed for the podcasts. It also creates a podcasting index page, along with a page for shownotes. Users can have the service host the podcast file, or they can host it on their site.
Poderator - an online podcast feed generating service.
PodFeeder - an online service for searching for and sharing podcasts.
PodOmatic - a podcasting site that lets users create, mix, host, search, share, and download podcasts. The site provides up to 250mb of free podcast hosting.