Hi Rick.
The tools to get your stuff into podcasting form are pretty simple...especially since it's already produced material!
I'm a Mac user and so I can tell you the specific tools that I use. Your mileage may vary.
For creating audio-only podcasts, I have been converting AIFF files into mp3 using Audacity, You can use itunes to convert the uncompressed audio into mp3, but it creates a duplicate file name (one being the original and one being the mp3 version) and just messes up my itunes library. Personally, I don't like to do any "work" in itunes...so I use Audacityas a file transcoder. Audacity is free and open source as is the mp3 component you will need to install Both are available for download at
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/mac
When you create an audio-only podcast, it's best to put your podcast logo into the mp3 file as album art. Again, you can do this using iTunes, but I've been using a shareware product called MP3 ID3X. This program just fits my workflow better. It can be downloaded here, is free to use, $18 to register:
http://www.three-2-one.com/321apps/main/global/index1.htm
For video podcasts, you can use Quicktime Pro to create your h.264 encoded episodes. If your videos are going to be fairly short in length, using Quicktime's "Expot to iPod" setting is a good solution. For me, it isn't a good option since my video episodes are usually 20 minutes or more in length. QuickTime's export to iPod setting has a fixed, really high bitrate and results in files that are too large for me to serve with my hosting plan. So, I use another inexpensive shareware program called ffmpegX to encode my video. I really like this program!! For 320x240 video, I use a bitrate of 500kbps for the video, for 640x480 I use 1000kbps. The resulting files are 50MB to 100MB smaller than what QuickTime creates, but (almost) visually the same quality. Free to use, $15 to register
http://www.ffmpegx.com/
Search this forum for other postes where I've talked about ffmpegx if you'd like more info on settings.
As for the iTunes directory...it's the most important. You will find that more than 9 out of 10 of your audience will find you through iTunes. However, there are a lot of other directories out there that you can list with and this will increase your "discoverability" from Google searches. The best place to get information is from this "directory of directories" from Podcast411. Submit your podcast to as many as you have time for:
http://www.podcast411.com/page2.html
I hope this helps. Post if you have any further questions!
Jon
TreeLine Productions
Fort Collins, CO USA
Currently producing these popular podcasts:
