Podcast Hosting. A Start.

Aaarrggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I’m not speaking pirate.
What’s frustrating me is researching free, or low cost, podcast hosting for class. My first thought was using ourmedia.org, as Dean and I had discussed. But the last few times I’ve gone to the site, the site no worky. Can’t have that.

Of course, this being the era of excess on the internet, everybody and their dog (or cat, no discrimination here) have free, or low cost, podcast hosting. But as I looked into our options, I was swamped by choice, too many choices, swimming in choices, drowning in choice.

So, as a public service to you guys, I am collecting a mix of links for you to review. Some are podcast host links. Others are articles relating to podcast hosting. This is just a start. If you find something you like, or dislike, post it via comments here or as a separate post on the blog for all to view. There is a good chance as I find, or learn, new stuff about podcast hosting I will update this post, probably through the comments section — so browse the comments!

And now, the links …

Switchpod.

(free: 200 mb per month; other plans range from $5 for 500 mb to $30 for 2000 mb; does not accept video uploading, $5 plan does; unmetered bandwidth.)

How to Podcast.

(includes tutorial on setting up an Our Media account.)

Podcast Spots.

(use their software to record and upload your podcast to the site.)

(demo for Podcast Spots.)

Shockpod.

(90 mb of space, 30 mb per-file upload limit, add inserted into RSS feed.)

Libsyn.

(paid site, ranging from $5 to $30 a month; $5 is for 100mb of storage. check out site to see how to measure what space you will need for hosting. have heard the site is slow, but Libsyn is an early player in this game and has respect for delivering quality at low cost.)

PodOmatic.

Podcast Hosting Services List.

(from Dave’s Imaginary Sound Space)

Odeo on Podcast Hosting on the Cheap.

Another listing, fro TipMonkies. Note: comments were late 2005, so some of these services may have changed.)

PodBean.

(free hosting, 100 mb space, audio and video.)

O’Reilly Media article on the subject.

Nophus.

Jellycast.

(from England, an interesting possibility; link to FAQ.)

CyberEars.

(more of a premium service.)

Okay to Play.

(podcast  hosting comparison chart; I have no idea when this was done but it might provide some basic information to compare.)

Blog Update.

Several of you are zipping right along with your blogs. Way to go. But there are a few of you — and you know who you are — who have not touched their blogs since Day One. Better pick up the pace. The first eight-week grading period ends Oct. 12, with grades due Oct. 13.

Class 06 Homework, Presentation, In-Class Interviews

First things first: the presentation for class 06 has been uploaded to the usual spot. This one is of note because it has the M-Audio MicroTrack documentation for your review and the timeline between now and the final projects. Time is passing by rapidly.

Also, because we practiced with the MicroTrack and microphone during class, we did not get to the end of the Emac3326 podcast, “episode 2”. While it was meant to be rough and to show the use of Soundtrack Pro, there is a “car cast” at the end where I discuss interviewing. Please at least skim this before class …

Because …

The past two weeks we’ve discussed the heart and soul of podcasting,  your passion and the ability to tell some sort of story, and the brains, the interviewing to bring it all to life. This is new to a lot of you, but it’s necessary for podcasting and videocasting success. After listening to your “interviews” from last Thursday, it’s clear that most of you are comfortable behind the mic — when you relax and be yourselves. That’s so important. Alfredo surprised me with his interviewing skill. Guy may be an old hat but he has something to say. You’ll get to hear their stories, and others, this week …

Except for the ones who did not figure out how to use the recorder or who held the microphone too far from their faces. This can be corrected. And, as I have said, get comfortable with the equipment, play around with it, do the testing, testing, testing thing while moving the mic to and from your face so you can find out the best placement for your podcast. Nothing is more frustrating than having to re-record due to a poorly placed mic.

Now, while you guys are on the verge of some good podcasts and videocasts, now comes the time when we need to knuckle under. All except for Rizwan & Co. owe me an outline of your show for this week’s homework. Some of you are fairly well defined, but I still need something from you that states what you are going to do, what the show’s intent is, and what the first show or two or three looks like. At a minimum, you will need an intro, the show, and the outro, but I’d like to see something a little more than a basic show. Be creative. Have fun. Throw in a song or two, or something else that interests you. As I said before, a half-an-hour show can go by pretty quickly with a little planning.

Class Five Presentation Uploaded

The “presentation” for the fifth class has been uploaded to the usual place.

Also note that the “emac3326 podcast” is there also. As a reminder, this was done in the .m4a format, or an enhanced podcast, for you to see artwork changing and so on. It will play on an iPod and in iTunes. If someone needs it in an .mp3 file, let me know.

Podcast and Videocast Projects

Attached is a pdf of all our podcasts and videocasts for the final project. Please read over the list and let me know if you see any mistakes. There are some of you I do not have a “final” decision for, so let me know as soon as you can because we have work to do.

Podcasts and Videocast Projects.

Link for download from Emac folder.

About Your Participation

I have updated most of you to “editor” status, meaning you should have more than enough rights to post to the blog when you find something interesting. As I noted in class, you do not have to post to this blog on a regular basis — I’d prefer you post to your blog, as that is what I will be grading the most. However, when you have something of interest for the group as a whole, post here. I will be communicating to you through the blog more than email. Email will be used for critical communication, so you cannot say I have not been to the blog in a week.

A few things of note:

When you post, please at least tag the post with your name. If a subject category exists, please use that as well. If one does not exist, and you think it’s important, you can add it to the category list. It’s simple. You should already know how to do it anyway.

If you want to add something to the blogroll, and it’s class related, use the blogroll tag/category. If it’s outside the class, uncheck blogroll and select the box underneath it, links of interest. That way we can keep the blogroll clean for class and use the blogs of interest for everything else. If need be, we can certainly create additional tags/categories.

Class Podcast.

Tonight we will listen to an ad hoc, experimental podcast that I will use in class. My plan is that while we listen to it we see GarageBand in action, iTunes, and can talk about the process. If anybody wants to download the file, it’s here.

By the way, since it was recorded by GarageBand the export is the .m4a, which can only be played via iTunes as it is an “enhanced” podcast. I forgot to convert to .mp3, which I will do for next week’s class.

First Impressions.

Guy has recorded his first podcast and had this to say:

GOOD news: recorded first podcast, it went ~alright~ nothing mind blowing. I did learn way way more than i thought i would about the format though. As it stands our rather rough pilot is living on my desktop in a bulky .wav format wanting a convert to MP3 and a good server to dwell upon for uploads. You mentioned some good servers last week, but they slipped my mind. Your recomendations?

As far as the servers, a free one is ourmedia.org.We’re gonna have to talk about this in class. I was hoping the emac server would be available, but it’s not. We still have a few classes before we need to start uploading, and that might be a good topic for next week. I’ll check other options at UTD and will let you know what I find out.

As far as the large .wav file, do you know how to convert to .mp3, either 64kbs or 128? We’ll be discussing that as well.

Thanks for the note. And in the future, I’d like us to post these directly to the class blog so all can share in your experiences. More on that in class.

Catching Up: Homework and Presentation from Class #4

I know, I’m behind. But as most of you have noted to me, you’re off having a good time on the weekend so few are stopping by the class blog. Even so, the weekend comes to a close and we’ve got work to do.

Homework Class #4

So, a reminder for the Class 4 homework. You spent time at the end of the class meeting fellow podcasters and thinking about your shows and/or collaboration efforts. I circulated the room and it seems that some of you have great ideas, while others are still searching. Do not dispair. We will be working on this again in this week’s class.
For those of you who do know what you want to do, please send me an email with what your show is going to be about and if anybody is participating with you. Some have said they want to do a podcast alone, while others are interested in forming teams. I am compiling a list to share with the class.
This list can also be used for those of you who are not sure what you want to podcast, or what team you want to work with. It will list each student, with a reminder from one’s personal synopsis, and his or her blog link will be included.

As for each week, keep blogging. It will affect your final grade. Some of you are posting frequently and others have not touched your blog for almost two weeks.

This Week’s Class

I need to meet with Professor Terry to iron out the details of the equipment checkout. My hope is we will get our hands on some of the equipment this week, and most likely next.

In anticipation of this, we will go over some of the basics of the M-Audio recorder we will be using and the microphones. I’m hoping to show you a few recording scenarios and the basics of GarageBand and Soundtrack Pro.

If interested, you can review the user’s manual for the recorder here. As usual, go the the Emac folder and look for the .pdf with M-Audio in the file name.

Class #4 Presentation

Also, if interested, you can find last week’s “presentation” at the same link above (it’s too big to upload here). If anything, the two diagrams, including the “wedding cake” podcast process, will be of interest and remind you what’s to come.

Class Three Presentation

Just for reference, the Class Three Presentation has been posted here. The file is Emac 3326 Class 03.pdf.

We only followed this loosely in class, as we spent much time discussing our blogs. I will re-introduce the stuff at the end in the upcoming class.