How to Create a Podcast

What is a podcast?
Check out The Podcast Terminology Movie
Quick Time | Windows Media Player

You need:

  • a computer
  • USB microphone
  • server storage space (webhost)

Get your computer ready

Create the podcast

Create an RSS feed

Subscribe to the RSS Feed Using a Podcatcher

Get your computer ready

  1. Download and Install iTunes (free)
    Watch online video tutorial of this step.

    1. Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
    2. Select the appropriate platform, enter your e-mail address and click the Download iTunes-free button
    3. In the window that opens, click the Run button
    4. In the next window that opens, click the Run button
    5. Follow the Install Shield Window prompts
    6. An iTunes & QuickTime Set Up Window will open; follow the prompts

  2. Download & Install Audacity (free)
    Watch an online video tutorial of this step.
    1. Go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
    2. Click the Download Audacity 1.2.6 link
    3. Under Recommended Download, click the Audacity 1.2.6 installer link
    4. Select a download (i.e. North American location)
      Note: if nothing happens, look at the top of your browser window, a pop-up blocker may need to be bypassed (do this by clicking the bar with the blocked message) or click the .exe link at the top of the page.
    5. A File Download window will open, click the Run button
    6. You may be prompted to click the Run button a second time
    7. A Setup Wizard will open. Follow the Wizard (click the Next button through the steps until your reach the Finish button)
  1. Configure Audacity
    Watch an online video tutorial of this step.
    1. Before you begin, right-click the following link and select Save Target As: lame_enc.dll
    2. Save the file to the C:/Program Files/Audacity/Plug-ins/ folder
    3. Plug in a USB microphone to the computer
    4. Open Audacity
    5. Go to Edit > Preferences
    6. Click the Audio I/O tab
      • Check to make sure that your sound card is selected as the playback and recording device
      • Under Recording, in the Device drop-down menu select your microphone
    7. Click the Quality tab
      • Select 16-bit from the Default Sample Format drop-down menu
    8. Click the File Formats tab
      • Click the Find Library button
      • Navigate to the downloaded lame_enc.dll file (in the C:/Program Files/Audacity/Plug-ins/ folder)
    9. Click the OK button

Create the podcast

  1. Write a script
    1. Prior to recording your podcast it is a good idea to have a script prepared
  1. Record your script
    Watch an online video tutorial of this step.
    1. Open Audacity
    2. Click the record button record button
    3. Work from your script to record your podcast.
    4. Click the stop button stop button when you are done
    5. Click the play button play button to hear your recording
    6. When satisfied with your recording, go to File > Export as MP3
    7. Navigate to your Webhost folder (server storage location)
    8. Give the file a name (the shorter the better)
    9. Click the Save button
    10. An Edit the ID3 tags window will open
    11. Enter a title and artist and click the OK button
    12. Close Audacity
    13. Click the Yes button to save the podcast as an Audacity file which can later be modified,
      or click the No button if you are satisfied with the MP3 file you have created

    Note: If you record and make a mistake and or want to rerecord, click the record button again. You will see a second track appear below the first track. Delete the unwanted track by clicking the X to the left of Audio Track.
    audio

Create an XML file

An RSS (Rich Site Summary/Really Simple Syndication) feed allows syndication of the content of a website such as news, blogs or a podcast without the user doing anything other than subscribing once to the feed. Feeds are saved as XML files.

  1. Open a text file (go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad)
  2. Copy and paste the XML code below into the file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/DTDs/Podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/">
<channel>

<title> Title of your podcast series </title>
<description> A description of your podcast show </description>
<itunes:author>Your Name </itunes:author>
<link> http://webhost.bridgew.edu/yourusername/feed.xml/ </link>
<pubDate> Sun, 09 Oct 2005 21:00:00 EST </pubDate>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright> Copyright Year Your_Name </copyright>

<item>
     <title> Episode Title </title>
     <description> A description of your podcast episode </description>
     <itunes:author> Your Name </itunes:author>
     <pubDate> Thu, 16 Jun 2005 5:00:00 EST </pubDate>
     <enclosure url="http://webhost.bridgew.edu/yourusername/podcast_file.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" />
</item>

</channel>
</rss>

  1. Change the bold text to reflect the details of your podcast
    Note: plug in your BSC username where it says yourusername above
  2. Go to File > Save
  3. In the Save as type: field, select All Files from the drop-down menu
  4. Name the file feed and add the .xml extension (for example: feed.xml)
  5. Save the file to your webhost folder

Adding Subsequent Episodes to your Feed

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Go to: File > Open
  3. Select the feed.xml file saved on webhost
  4. Copy the section of code from <item> . . .</item>
  5. Paste it under the existing item(s)
  6. Change the unique information (title, description, pubDate, enclosure url, and length)
  7. Save the file as feed.xml in your webhost folder

Subscribe to the RSS Feed Using a Podcatcher

Podcatchers are applications that let you subscribe to a podcast series. A popular and free podcatcher is iTunes. You will need to download and install iTunes to subscribe to podcasts. Downloads are available for both Mac and Windows users.

Download and Install iTunes (free)
If you have not already completed this step, directions to do so can be found here

Subscribe to Podcasts
Watch the online video tutorial of this step.

    1. Open iTunes
    2. Click on Podcasts in the left menu
    3. Go to Advanced >Subscribe to Podcast
    4. Enter the Podcast’s URL (http://webhost.bridgew.edu/yourusername/feed.xml) in the window that opens. Click the OK button
    5. The podcast and all subsequent podcasts in that series will be downloaded to the Podcasts section of iTunes
    6. Share the Podcast’s URL with others so they can subscribe to your podcast

sources consulted in the creation of this document:
Ludington, J. (2005) Create Podcasts Using Your PC retrieved March 14, 2006 from http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/04/05/create_podcasts_with_pc.html

Yahoo Podcasts retrieved March 20, 2006 from http://podcasts.yahoo.com/publish/3